Garage/Workshop Flooring Recommedations

[mikeycee]

Hi All!

Before I start to look at any new projects, I need to tap into the collective experience and intelligence concerning Garage/Workshop flooring if possible as I have literally no idea what I am doing or what do get

Iven been trawling the net for options... But to be honest it all seems so Expensive - I Never expected it to cost so much so not sure if I am looking in the wrong places or not.

Its a single Garage, currently with the normal concrete floor with horrible red paint that is flaking away all of the time covering bike tyres and everything else it floats up and lands on and is generally making the room a miserable place to be. I also think the cold concrete being slow to heat up during the daytime is not helping the condensation issue I have in there presently so hoping some decent flooring will insulate things a little bit to not only improve the atmosphere in there but to also make life there a little more enjoyable for the next project I will be starting work on hopfully in the coming months.

Floor is like this currently


Looking to bring in an Abba Sky Lift at some point, so it would need to be suitable to wheel that around also so not sure if that rubber stuff with the circles or the mock checker plate would be ok or not.

Maybe old office tiles which would suit me as I'm a tight B*stard, but worried how that will cope with fluid spills etc - I don't want it going all rotten and manky.

Would be interested to hear what you guys are using, Pro's / Con's and any recommendations as to where I can purchase something that would suit the job at a decent price. I've been looking at Ebay, and other hardware places on the net but looking at prices anywhere between £350 and £600.... So I want to get this right first time

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer!

[Rockburner]

Repaint it and then get some second hand office floor carpet tiles.

Oh - and don't make the mistake I did, and forget to paint the walls as well for better light.


IIRC I did two coats.


Two colours of carpet tile allowed for a visual differentiation of the areas of the garage.
(Many thanks again G.P. !!)




Spare floor paint also makes for a good bench work surface...

[Yorick]

Carpet is the only way. Always soft to kneel on.

I have a huge soft rug in the working part of my garage

[Mussels]

Unless your condensation problem is happening on the floor I can't see any flooring improving that.
I have a bare concrete floor and was looking at painting it after I sort out some tanking, the tiles idea sounds interesting but I'm not spending hundreds on it.

[KungFooBob]

Off cuts of carpets and old rugs from the home is what I have... I also have white walls

[iansoady]

Carpet is the only way. Always soft to kneel on.

I have a huge soft rug in the working part of my garage

A nice Axminster.....

[weeksy]

2017-07-02_12-12-29 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Carpet tiles, you'll need 55-60. About £50 on Ebay/Gumtree.

Only need to glue down the row at the front, the rest are fine and just fitted. Takes about 4-5 hours all in to get it done nicely.

best part is, if you spill something, you lift it up, replace with new ones.

[Yorick]

Carpet is the only way. Always soft to kneel on.

I have a huge soft rug in the working part of my garage

A nice Axminster.....

Nowt quite so posh

20210326_141208.jpg (520.99 KiB) Viewed 1339 times

[mikeycee]

Thanks Everyone for the feedback - Opinion seems rather unanimous!

There is a seller on Ebay selling decent looking tiles for £1.00 Each brand new and they are literally only 4 Miles from my house here in MK Which is handy. So the initial thinking is pick up 80 (They are in packs of 20) and follow Weeksy's guidance on the front row Gluing and just loading the floor up backwards from there. Going to get hold of some white wall paint also now and to do that before I do the floor however.... I have some additional LED Lighting in there as well as the Fluorescent tube in the middle but lighting is definitely an issue in there and looking at your photos I think this should certainly help.

Thanks again

[Dodgy69]

Great things used office carpet tiles . I got used grade B perfect. Also, not long after putting them down i had a flood in there, all soaked. Got them up,dryed them out lent against house then back down when wall fixed and all good. Very robust and as said, spray glue front row by door so wind doesn't lift then just place the rest.

Makes your garage a proper home for the bikes.

[demographic]

Don't go crazy glueing office tiles down. Even the ones in offices are hardly glued, mostly just the edges that are unsupported and could move side to side. So for you thats just the doorway I guess as the walls support the other edges.
Usually seems to be that spray glue.
You want to be able to remove and replace any manky ones.

Ive replaced masses of them when I've lifted and worked on computer floors and never glued a sigle one down. Whoever put em down in the first place didn't ever go nuts with the glue. Just slightly tacky seems the order of the day.

[Mussels]

Is painting a concrete floor really necessary before putting tiles down, anyone tried it without painting?

[Rockburner]

Is painting a concrete floor really necessary before putting tiles down, anyone tried it without painting?

Yes. Cheaply laid concrete exudes dust, so the glue won't stick for long and the dust will get everywhere again. (in fact probably even more than without the tiles: the slight movement of the tiles as you walk over them will cause movement between the underside of the tile and the surface of the concrete)

[ogri]

Painting the walls will also help reduce dusty floors

[Mussels]

I have a lot of painting to do, I think I'll experiment with a spray gun.

[Dodgy69]

Is painting a concrete floor really necessary before putting tiles down, anyone tried it without painting?

No need to paint,just a good sweep.

[mikeycee]

I think with the floor I will have a sweep and assess then. The actual concrete seems to be fluid tight and not letting any dust off from what I can see - Its just the horrible Sh*tty paint that's been used that is flaking to pieces

[mikeycee]

So, Made a start painting the brickwork today armed with a 10L Bucket of Masonry Emulsion, a Masonry Roller and a brush..... "This shouldn't take too long" I thought - With moving things around in the garage as I progressed I hoped I would likely have the bulk of the work done over the course of the afternoon..... How wrong was I!

On average I am looking at three coats needed for a decent finish. Four on the larger areas of mortar as it is sucking the paint up like nobodies business. Something causing the biggest headache is that I do believe a blind man has laid the bricks here and because of this the roller is just not able to fully cover the bricks and the mortar as it is so recessed and wonky so I am having to go over each bit by brush afterwards which is just so time sapping.

I jacked it in after two and a half irritating hours and went to watch the football and have a beer.... With only the doorway and far wall completed and nothing else

Will pick it up again in the week, and now I know what to expect going forward I will be able to adjust my mindset to suit before I start - But needless to say this part of the garage renovation project is not one I will enjoy and am looking forward to getting it out of the way quickly!

[Nordboy]

I use some of those large rubber surround entrance mats for the floor in my garage.

These sort of things https://www.kleentexshop.co.uk/wash-horse.php

[GuzziPaul]

I use these interlocking floor mats from halfords. https://www.halfords.com/tools/garage-e ... S4QAvD_BwE
One pack was enough for the work bench area, I got a second pack during lock down to protect the laminate floor where where my office chair wheel run the rest went down the side of the garge where I work on the bikes. They are soft and the hydraulic bench wheels will dig in but you can still wheel about on them. I also have about 4 or 5 office mats they put across trailing cables in the bench area but they are more of a dust trap.