Hi all,

I’ve got a standard garage (6×3 metres) that is being converted into a workshop/mancave. The floor will not see much abuse. No car but a motorbike will be stored. Then just bike fettling and storage.

I’ve narrowed the flooring down to three options-
1. Paint- cheap, quick but looks rubbish and low durability
2. Epoxy- looks great, good value but mixed finish quality and may take a long time
3. Plastic tiles- quick, looks great but expensive and questionable durability

I don’t really like the idea of paint as it can looks very cheap.
I’m swaying towards the clip together tiles but prices look like £275+.

What would you use? Any suggestions for other flooring?

the plastic tiles are in fact very durable, and even if you do manage to mangle one, you can always replace individual tiles. they don’t need any sort of special floor preparation beforehand, don’t need to be stuck down, and best of all (probably) you actually do have to fit them using a hammer.

winner winner chicken dinner

I’ve narrowed the flooring down to three options-
1. Paint- cheap, quick but looks rubbish and low durability

Are you sure about that?

Grey PU floor paint will be very tough (the weakness is generally what it’s painted onto).

As used in commercial garages and industrial premises all over the world.

Good quality paint can look good and on a good clean surface last very well. I recommend bedec paints.

Grey PU floor paint will be very tough (the weakness is generally what it’s painted onto).

Talk to me about preparation…. I’m thinking the same as the OP but favouring paint. Floor is concrete but v. dusty.

I’m planning to sort out my garage floor, it’s dusty but also had oil and beer etc spilt on it so I don’t think a paint is going to work.

So I am looking at tiles, these are half price at the moment on Amazon…

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Interlocking-Fatigue-Flooring-128sqft-Easimat/dp/B003ELNOAK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1425410081&sr=8-2&keywords=garage+floor

Couple of old threads that are worth a read, lots more:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/garage-floor-paint-the-interestingist-topic
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/painting-the-garage-floor

I moved to this house which has a double garage. The floor was bare concrete and constantly shed dust.

Painted it with green garage floor paint 14 years ago. It could do with a re-coat this year. No worn through anywhere but the high traffic areas are beginning to show.

Great for removing the dust problem. No issue when the garage was flooded. Looked almost professional for the first 6 years or so.

Garage used for cars, bike maintenance, ‘experiments’ etc.

It is the experiments that meant I wouldn’t fit plastic tiles. The paint survived a couple of fires and and exploding hot water tank with nothing more than a wipe over and touch up where the axe head chipped into the concrete floor

Aldi occasionally do those tiles for much cheapness. Mine are probably 8 years old and are wearing well.

Cheers andyl – bookmarked for later in the summer when the contents of the garage can be left outside for a while (not the bikes, obv, they’ll be in the house!)

We have paint down, similar result to above, as in works exceptionally well and then in key areas we have the high density form tiles that lock together. All works a treat.

I have paint down on my man shed floor. Hasn’t chipped yet, still looks great after more than a year.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/fQQTFC]man cave[/url] by Jon Wyatt, on Flickr

Now the garage attached to the house, which my wife wants me to make look good, I’ve decided to put down ceramic tiles in. It’s 18sqm and I’ve seen plenty of places doing clearance tiles for £150. Putting plasterboard up will cost more than that.

andyl – Member
I’ve narrowed the flooring down to three options-
1. Paint- cheap, quick but looks rubbish and low durability
Are you sure about that?

Grey PU floor paint will be very tough (the weakness is generally what it’s painted onto).

As used in commercial garages and industrial premises all over the world.
As used on the entire ground floor of where I work, all concrete, been recoated once in the eleven years I’ve been there, looking a little shabby in places, but considering the daily traffic of fork trucks and pallet trucks, shoving large heavy pallets around, and very large plastic tubs full of waste paper which weigh around half a ton or so, it’s not done too badly.
In a garage which is only going to get light foot traffic, I’d say it’s the best possible coating, plus, once its coated, you could get some old carpet and lay on top, to make it a bit warmer, and deaden noise a bit, even better get some carpet underlay, then put some old Lino on top of that, the foam underlay warms things a bit, and the lino is good for spills and being able to sweep up debris.
Sure you could do that on top of the bare concrete, but painting it will seal the concrete, help keep some damp out.

Thanks chaps! I think I’ll go down the paint route. The bare brick walls are going to get painted white and I think I’ll go for a dark grey floor.
I guess prep is everything. I wont start until it gets a bit warmer.

Painted mine a couple of months ago. It’s up there as one of the best things I’ve done ever. Transformed the garage from a dusty mess to a pro-workshop. Well, apart from the mechanic.

I went for a green floor, mainly because I picked up a tin of green paint first, which looks okay and better than grey IMHO.

+1 for painting the walls white. My garage had plain grey concrete block walls and was quite claustrophobic considering it is a double garage. Painted the walls white and made a great difference. The original plan was to coat or plasterboard the walls but cheap white emulsion was enough to lighten the whole place up.

Excellent post – was just about to start my own ‘best ways to paint garage floor’

Going to jet wash the garage floor this weekend – seal it paint it over the coming weeks as it warms up. Sick of having to wash the bike before riding it with the concrete dust.

I probably posted this on one of the other threads but I used rubber ‘jigsaw’ tiles from Big Dugs eBay store. Yes it was expensive but it looks great. I got the edging strips too so it’s a very neat job. I had painted the floor previously but it looked scabby and the garage still felt cold, unless your floors been screeded it does look a bit rubbish up close.

The floor is heavy duty as I have a car in there, it’s easy to keep clean and it’s much warmer than a painted floor.

Love the floor and wouldn’t go back to paint.