Garage Flooring

[Little Jim]

Our garage has the standard builder's floor of poor quality screed so is a constant source of dust.  I want to put some sort of covering down to give a much better surface to work off.  The likes of carpet and vinyl are out because they wont last 5 minutes.  I quite like the idea of an epoxy coating but the hassle of having to completely empty the garage fills me with dread and will not be easy.  Ceramic tiles would be OK, I could install an area and then stack the crap on that bit and move on and lay the next bit, but it is a lot of work still.  The other alternative I've found is interlocking pvc tiles which are made for garages - they claim that you can jack a car up off them without any damage to the tile.  I expect they are harder to lay than the first glance would suggest, but they don't need to be stuck down or grouted so ought to be easier to lay than ceramic tiles.

Has anyone any experience of these or any other suggestions.  I really only want to do this once so I'm not after the cheapest solution, rather a good, long term solution.

[MikeFromLFE]

It's a issue I've thought about ever since we bought our house.
My 'half a solution' has been to put down cheap Lidl artificial grass matting, topped with Aldi 'flooring' interlocking rubber mats which are sold to (I think) caravanners as outside temporary flooring. It's not ideal, but is relatively inexpensive, and seems fairly durable.

Sent from my Moto E (4) Plus using Tapatalk

[andytheflyer]

I had the same problem since my garage is part of the house and we heat it with a storage heater as a drying room with an airer that pulls up to the ceiling.

So it's always very dry, and hence the floor used to be dusty.

I painted it with Ronseal red floor paint and that's solved the problem.  It looks smart, is washable, and makes absolutely no dust other than what I make in building model aeroplanes. It's dead easy to clean up with my shop vac, and I give it a wash occasionally if there's been a wet and muddy dog in there.  The paint is slightly rubbery I think - it gives a hard surface, but it always feels slightly rubbery, as though it gives a bit.  Only problem I had was parking a car on it for a while, the paint stuck under one tyre and pulled off, but maybe that's because the paint was too fresh.  And it's not solvent proof - wipe up solvents quickly or the paint comes off!

I have to touch up the well-trafficked areas every 4 or 5 years, but other that that it's fine. 

[robgul]

In the workshop area of the cycle shop I manage I have some plastic "checkerplate" tiles that slot together with a sort of jigsaw edge.   They are pretty tough, seem to be resistant to oils and chemicals (although I use a large cardboard sheet under the workstand - using the large side of boxes that bikes come in - that collects drips and gets replaced when dirty)

Raleigh sell the tiles - trade price is about a fiver a tile + VAT - they are 45cm square and you can also get an edge tile that's jigsaw one edge and chamfered on the other edge to slope to the floor surface (if not tiling wall-to-wall)

Rob

[Little Jim]

Mike: I've seen comments about the rubber tiles, which are cheaper than the pvc ones, to the effect that a heavy load will damage them.  I've got a tool chest on wheels which would therefore probably wreck them.

Andy: my neighbour painted his floor, and like you have found, the car tyres have proved to be a fairly efficient method of removing the paint and it doesn't seem to matter how old the paint is - he did his last summer and he still moans about it happening, although he does keep putting more paint down on the stripped bits!

Rob: they sound like the ones I've seen - similar to these 

[robgul]

Mike: I've seen comments about the rubber tiles, which are cheaper than the pvc ones, to the effect that a heavy load will damage them.  I've got a tool chest on wheels which would therefore probably wreck them.

Andy: my neighbour painted his floor, and like you have found, the car tyres have proved to be a fairly efficient method of removing the paint and it doesn't seem to matter how old the paint is - he did his last summer and he still moans about it happening, although he does keep putting more paint down on the stripped bits!

Rob: they sound like the ones I've seen - similar to these

Precisely.

Rob

[Quisling]

I've used garage floor paint on two floors with good success, even on a shockingly unstable dusty floor.  Two generous coats normally does the trick.  Give the floor a good sweep to get the worst of the dust up (often impossible as you just keep loosening more floor!) and the first generous coat tends to stick all the loose bits together (these paints are often water based acrylic).  The second coat forms a hard seal over the top.  No reason you can't do a bit at a time and then move your garage belongings onto the previously painted bit once its dry if you're prepared to do the job over a week or two. 

It may need top up paint to patch repair occasionally in highly trafficked areas, and definitely won't be brilliantly durable if there's a lot of tyre scrubbing, but I've found it works well where there's just foot traffic, general bike maintenance etc.  Giant tins of the stuff are normally available in Wickes and the such like places. 

[chrisbainbridge]

I went with the floor paint. First layer was thinned (with white spirit I think) and then left to dry before the second layer at full strength.  I do not keep the car in the garage but it is very effective at keeping dust down.  I also painted the breeze block walls with white emulsion for the same reason.

[andytheflyer]

Which reminds me.......it's time i repainted the worn bits again.........

[Canardly]

Reading this with interest as want to deal with garage floor. Epoxy would be best but silly money.

[Brucey]

re ceramic tiles; these are conventionally laid on small blobs of mortar, so that the height can be adjusted, but this leaves the tile unsupported in places, which then leaves it vulnerable to impact damage.  I did my kitchen floor in quarry tiles, (which are stronger anyway) and used a full mortar bed under each tile.

 It took absolutely ages to do, but if similarly laid onto a concrete garage floor, you could safely drive cars onto it and maybe even use jacks etc, where with more conventional ceramic tiles, conventionally laid, this would probably break them.

Paint is a lot easier.

cheers

[Moleman76]

There are a number of portland-cement based "leveling" products which can be mixed and poured onto rough concrete to give a smooth surface.

A few things to consider:
1.  May need to clean the concrete surface to remove grease and other bond-breaking contaminants.
2.  Most are "self-leveling", so if your floor slopes much, may just flow to the low point and out the door.
3.  Most are pretty strong, so cracking is not too likely, but talk with the supplier to pick the one that would be best for your used.

And, of course, all you'll end up with is smooth concrete.  Then, epoxy, or other durable coating (may wish to add / broadcast onto not-dry paint some sort of sand or other mild abrasive grit - ground-up walnut shells are used by some manufacturers.  The rubber tiles, or padded ones for under-foot comfort (maybe only where you walk, not where car drives).