Me, not the floor.

Floor is bare concrete, would be nice if it was nicer. 5m x 3m. It’s 15/20 years old, plenty of grime, dirt, bit of oil a few divots (couple big, which will need filling whatever I do.) Not likely to see any vehicles – I’m getting rid of the motorbike and unlikely to get another. Still, it would be nice to have a decent hardwearing floor, not that keen on the soft playroom type interlocking tiles.

If go down the paint/epoxy route, that will mean proper degreasing, hiring a milling machine, etching, sealing. Quite a bit of time, and there’s lots of stuff in the garage that can’t really live anywhere else while I do it – tool chests, work bench, washer drier, bikes.

The high spec, pvc garage floor tiles look great, floor wouldn’t need prep (apart from the big divots), I could do half the floor, move stuff over, do the other side. But the nice ones are pricey (c £450 to do the whole floor) and the cheap ones are still not that cheap.

I’ve looked at rolls of vinyl flooring, could do that for 250ish, but I’d be getting into a lot more prep again to do a decent job.

Then I get stuck with the lack of a clear answer and do nothing until it bugs me again. It’s now bugging me again but I’m still stuck.

Anyone wrestled with the same problem? Anything I’m missing?

I asked a similar question a couple of weeks back: https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/workshop-floor-tiling-options/

Not quite the same requirements as it’s a wooden floor and I’ve no interest in painting/resealing it. Still not done anything yet but will likely get one of the products recommended on the thread.

But the nice ones are pricey (c £450 to do the whole floor)

Did this. Was worth every penny. Transformed the garage. AND I used 8 blue tiles for the KICKR 😉 Big Dug tiles. An epoxy floor will still be cold.

Do you have a photo @TiRed? I am in the same place as the OP, been going round in circles for 2yrs on whether to upgrade floor and insulate walls.

I wrestled with the same issue a few years back,

I painted it with garage floor paint, which required me to clean it, hoover, mop and bucket then another hoover.
I literally poured the paint out of the tin and then rollered it on, doing sections at a time so i could move stuff in the garage to one side then wait for that to dry and then move it back.

The main reason for painting it was to cut down on the dust. After a few months I decided to buy the cheap floor tiles from B & Q, they are spill resistant to most chemical and easy to cut, but they don’t fit very well, and if it gets hot, or I have the garage door open in summer then they lift off the floor.

If I were going to do it again, id get the expensive floor tiles, having something comfy to kneel on when you drop stuff is nice.

Our garage has a concrete floor. I do a lot of carpentry and it gets tough on the feet standing all day on a hard floor. I found an old large carpet/rug thing from Dunelm that wasn’t needed and put that down. It’s great. Warm in winter, comfortable and if you drop something it tends not to bounce and roll out of sight. And if you can’t find it, a quick go with the Dyson will pick it up and announce its return with a nice rattle.

Self-levelling compound? I did my workshop floor in it, about 10mm deep, in sections so I didn’t have to empty it out. Glued a thin batten to the floor with No More Nails to get the level/act as a dam. Used the Mapei stuff from Screwfix – mix what you need in a big bucket, slosh it over the floor and work it flat with a float. Dries in 24hrs. Reset the dam and away you go. I have the Halfords EVA tiles in my workshop but they’re not very tough/ too soft. Looking at the Big Dug tiles for my new bike shed

Grand, thanks all, thanks Alex for the other thread!

options of: a) Cheap tiles, b) extensive prep probably ending in “that’ll do” and still not being right, will end up with a floor that’s just as annoying as the current floor.

I figure the end point is me buying some decent/pricey floor tiles anyway, (thanks dcwhite for the glimpse into a possible future!) so I’ve just gone ahead and done that now.

www. garagetileshop.co.uk/product/13m2-single-garage-discount-bundle-with-free-ramps (copy and paste the address and take the space out after www. – the link “preview” took up the whole screen!)

I wanted light grey to brighten the room up, not everyone does light grey. These guys do, and for a decent price, and in stock (some other colours are made to order). Don’t know hoe warm and comfy they’ll be, but I’ve got some carpet offcuts in the loft, and I may still whack a strip down by the workbench if I need.

Had good results with the screwfix garage floor paint, although crack on soon as it needs a reasonable temperature to dry properly. Just went through wire brushing anything loose and filling a few hoover bags of dust before painting in two sections so I could move things back and forth.

I’d really like to go back and use self-levelling compound – lots of my stuff is on castors and it doesn’t roll brilliantly on the uneven floor. Do that as described above and you’ll have a nice flat surface for tiles, lino, etc.

With lots of time and a bit of money I’d love a porcelain tile floor in there. The DIY sheds do them for less than £15/sqm so not a huge outlay for a garage.

If go down the paint/epoxy route, that will mean proper degreasing, hiring a milling machine, etching, sealing. Quite a bit of time, and there’s lots of stuff in the garage that can’t really live anywhere else while I do it – tool chests, work bench, washer drier, bikes.

The high spec, pvc garage floor tiles look great, floor wouldn’t need prep

exactly my thought process. Went with PVC tiles from Duramat, had the whole thing done including moving everything around and back in again in a day (in a much bigger garage!) Looks so much better than painted too (did it red/dark grey checks!)

I put some cheap-ish floor insulation stuff from B&Q/Screwfix under it too, made it feel a little nicer & probably warmer, although difficult to quantify the effect!

Reminds me I must get round to painting the garage floor, been nearly 9yrs since I bought the paint 😬

Reminds me I must get round to painting the garage floor, been nearly 9yrs since I bought the paint

Ha! 7 years for me. Anyone want to buy some floor paint?

I used 2 rolls of this, joined together with duct tape underneath – and then at the far end of the garage where my bench is, I’ve used those cheaop fam interlocking tiles from Halfords

We put cheap “playroom” tiles down (& painted the walls white at the same time) it’s genuinely transformed the garage in to a nice place to be.

We’ll upgrade to a hard wearing version at some point, didn’t want to spend out too much at the time, but they’re surviving surprisingly well.

Now I’m wondering if I should buy some insulating underlay to go underneath. 2 rolls of this would add another £97. Might make a noticeable difference under 7mm of PVC? It’s an integrated garage, no radiators, door’s often open to the rest of the house.

https://www.diy.com/departments/duralay-3mm-laminate-flooring-glueless-wood-flooring-underlay-roll-7-5m-/551316_BQ.prd

Now I’m wondering if I should buy some insulating underlay to go underneath.

I used this stuff, can’t remember why I chose it specifically now although I’m sure I would’ve done a bit if research at the time 😃. https://www.diy.com/departments/diall-aquastop-5mm-extruded-polystyrene-xps-foam-laminate-solid-wood-flooring-underlay-panels/1570774_BQ.prd

Also used Duramat – 5m x 3m pack of checker 50 is £313 + delivery.

The cheapest way is just an offcut of carpet. Warm. Quiet. If there is any disaster on it just bin it and replace.

for example 3x4M for £72

https://www.jwcarpets.com/product-tag/carpet-roll-end-3x4m/?orderby=popularity

Not quite as tidy today but this is the pain cave. That’s not seen a lot of pain thus far into the autumn. There is a small bench where I am standing that encroaches slightly.

If you’re not going to have vehicles in there then chipboard t&g and a coat of floor paint is the quickest / cheapest / effectivest solution I’ve used.

You only need ‘garage’ paint if you’re going to have vehicles parked in there. I find epoxy garage floor paint annoyingly slippery

chipboard laid straight down (stagger the joints) doesn’t need fixing down so long as it’s fairly snug into the corners. It solves having to fill any holes and  It absorbs a bit of echo noise, is warmer underfoot than concrete and with a coat of paint is easy to sweep and keep clean. I have it in one of my workshops which has a rough old floor that had soaked up 150 years worth of oil in its former guise as an engineering blacksmiths shop. The chip board has been in there for a decade and still on good nick despite the roof being pretty leaky and the building being flooded a couple of times

Rolls of rubber flooring work great. The ridged stuff sweeps dirt better. Thicker means you can get away with almost no prep.

I used Setcrete self leveling compound from Wickes. The advantage is that it provides a proper wearing surface. I did it last summer, it’s great. I was thinking of putting down tiles after getting it leveled but can’t see the point now

dammit, maccruiskeen. garage is 2.4m wide with one wider bit. Could have done the lot with 9 of these. Then paint, which I have already.

https://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-P5-Tongue-and-Groove-Chipboard-Flooring—18-x-600-x-2400mm/p/164516

Hmmm.

moisture loves chipboard.

i need to do mine and i`ll go self levelling compound i think.

Yeah, there’ll be water. If we got a proper downpour with drains blocked it can come in under the door by a foot or so (horizontal, not vertical!). There’s a washer and a drier and a mains pressure hot water tank, and wet bikes. I’ll stick with the PVC mats.

Re: self levelling compound. Any idea whether it would work over old rough stone flags? They are pretty rough and cracked but sitting there solidly.

I’ve had self levelling compound “blow” off a floor before (6 months later, once the room is done), so I’d be really careful in prepping properly before using it again

I did mine with ronseal diamondhard paint. It’s probably about the weakest surface you could ever get away with on a garage floor, but I’d do it again for basically 2 reasons.

1) it was super easy, I just cleaned and then washed the floor with fairy liquid and then rollered straight on. A couple of bits lifted (er, where my motorbike has been leaking oil for a decade) so they got properly cleaned and repainted. Waaay less effort than trying to degrease the whole thing, I just let the paint decide where it needed done basically.

2) It’s not that tough, but, it’s a single part paint so you can just fill in damage. And literally anything will get damaged in a garage ime, sooner or later I’ll drop something heavy or spill something. So I’ll totally trade “lack of indestructibility” for “ease of repair”

Now I didn’t bother to level. I did a couple of little spot repairs in the floor but mostly I just didn’t bother. The paint covers a lot of sins.

Ahem something I have for sale in the classifieds may be of interest:

Latest Classified Ads

👍

Did ours with cheap garage floor paint which lifted in about a year due to the laitance. Ended up diamond grinding it (3 hrs for a 5 x 5 garage) then epoxy from Watco. As mentioned above, it can be slippery when wet such as bringing bikes in when you’ve washed them. On the plus side, I’m now much better at doing the splits!

The tiles I linked to above arrived today and I’m pretty chuffed! I’ve laid out a patch of 6 in the middle of the concrete, they go together well with a near invisible join, are warmer already even with no insulation underneath (which I might whack down first anyway, just cos – if I don’t do it now, I never will!)

So that’s Saturday sorted – stuff out, walls painted, ceiling painted (steady!) get some LET battens ordered. paint the workbench? (careful now!), sort the electrics (whoa there, neddy!) Then sort out all the other rooms in the house! ( 😀 )

I painted ours this summer.

Two coats of selant, two coats of paint.

I’m very happy with the lack of dust.

In hindsight I would have put some leveling compound down but it is pretty smooth anyway.

I brushed it yesterday for the first time and it was a lot easier than when it was bare concrete.

Carpet!

I have a cheap brown short pile carpet down in mine.

Easy to hoover up – I made a “shop vac” out of an old hoover, a big bird seed tub and a cheap cyclone.

warm

soft to kneel on

Just save an offcut to use as a mat in front of your bench / catch oil spills.

replace when it self destructs.

I used self levelling compound to take the worst of any dips out then used the Halfords foam tiles. I figured they were cheap enough not to worry about and would conform to any small irregularities. I’ve been really pleased with them, keep your feet nice and warm and the bonus of being able to kneel on the flor without when fiddling working on the bikes or searching for that thing you only have one of which you’ve just dropped.

BTW One advantage of the floor tile route I failed to mention, is that they can be easily removed and taken with you when you move. It’s not carpets and curtains. Laying them was both rapid and satisfying (buy that rubber mallet). The transformation was eyeopening. For reference, my previous garage had a painted floor. It really was money well spent, but if it were a double garage, I’d have probably gone cheaper.

My garage was 30-40 years old, concrete floor which was dusty, not too smooth, and not very nice. Did have a DPM though. I cleared it all out, swept it, hoovered it and then went to screwfix for some degreaser and own brand garage floor paint. Mopped the floor with the degreaser ruining the kitchen mop… and then painted it as per the can. Did this 3 years ago and its great, odd nick in the paint where I’ve dropped big spanners but thats it.

I also put several coats of white masonary paint on the walls which helped remove the dust and make it nice to spend time in, must of cost me £50 and my time.