All Season Garage Floor Mat

I live in the Midwest and I am forced to deal with the ever-changing weather that is hell on my garage floor.  So I decided on making a floor mat that would hold back the dirt and water but also be portable to carry outside to clean.

Materials Needed:
1. A poly tarp from your local hardware store $14
If you have a small vehicle you could use an 8"x12"
2. 6- 1”x1”x8’ wood studs $1 a piece = $6
3. Heavy duty Stapler
4. T-50 5/16 staples $2.50
Total cost $22.50

Lay out the tarp face down on the floor and then add the wood for the frame.
I used 2 studs for each side and 1 for the top.  Lay them end-to-end

Lets make the frame foldable by cutting a 2” gap in the middle of the top section of the frame.
Since my tarp was 10’ wide I added an extra piece of wood cut off from an extra stud.

Move the wood frame out to within an inch of the edge of the tarp.
Grasp the edge of the tarp and roll the stud and the tarp up on the short edge of the stud.  Now staple along that top edge.
Now continue to roll the stud and tarp inward until it lays flat with stapled edge now facing inside and the stud having a tarp covered face looking up.
Staple evenly every 6’ or so along this top face.

Continue this process around the frame tucking your corners down so every thing lays flat.  The tarp is attached and you are now ready to flip this mat over.

Grasp the edges and fold the tarp inward being careful of the sides.  Now because I didn’t want a lot of hardware and cost associated with this project the frame will be a little free moving while you fold it.
After you have folded it in half, stand it up, crease side facing up and unfold it back onto the floor with the green side now facing up.  You will have to straighten the sides out and even out the creases until it lies completely flat.

I added the last wood stud for a parking bumper so my wife would drive off the mat.
My truck fits nicely onto the mat with about 20” along the front and 12" along the sides to collect all the water and debris.  I didn’t add a frame to the bottom of the mat so I didn’t have to continually drive over the bump it would have create and since most garages are sloped towards the drives I was not worried about it.

You will notice by design that the tarp has a barrier rim around three of the four sides to trap any liquid from the vehicles.  Occasionally I will use a flat push broom to sweep all the liquid and debris off the tarp and out into the drive leaving my floor clean and dry.  In the spring you can fold up the tarp and carry it out in the drive for a good spraying off.
Hope you find it useful.