Garage flooring

[MrChips]

Skyedriver said:

How do porcelain tiles cope with using a trolley jack & axle stands?

The general advice is that if they're laid on a solid bed then they should be absolutely fine. I felt I didn't want to take the risk so threw some chipboard under the car to be sure. I'll probably make up some bits the right size to use longer term.

[swabyk]

Guys,
Thanks for the endless info in this topic, but I still have questions, maybe you can help?

I have a 36m2 double garage being renovated into a little workshop, no heavy traffic, just me tinkering with an old beetle. With regards to the flooring I have a couple of questions;

I have a flat cement floor currently, very dusty!

1) Anyone laid lino onto this type of floor in a garage? any good or bad experiences?
2) How about office-type carpet?

And lastly, Im mulling over porcelain tiles, one guy told me he can lay them for £300, another guy told me its £1,600 and I need 'Ditra matting' between the floor and porcelain tiles. Does anyone whose had porcelain tiles had to put matting underneath? or can the tiles go straight down onto the floor?

Thanks guys, sorry for all the questions, the choices are driving me crazy!!

Ken

[VerySideways]

Office carpet tiles are great in that they're well insulated (if you get the thick ones) and of course easily laid and very easily replaced.
If you get them from a second hand office furniture place they're also dirt cheap...

[mikeiow]

VerySideways said:

Office carpet tiles are great in that they're well insulated (if you get the thick ones) and of course easily laid and very easily replaced.
If you get them from a second hand office furniture place they're also dirt cheap...

I'd echo this!
We picked up enough for £100 off ebay, never used! Very comfy underfoot, & I am sure makes the garage warmer.
Added a few more black ones so there are 'tyre tracks' for the car to roll in on, looks fine.
We used a light tack spray carpet adhesive just to hold them in place, but they woudl be pretty easy to remove to swap if needed.

Obviously not much use for a lot of dusty carpentry I guess....but if I expect a proper mess, I do the work outside!

[Olivera]

swabyk said:

1) Anyone laid lino onto this type of floor in a garage? any good or bad experiences?
2) How about office-type carpet?

Imo both are poor choices if you are actually working on cars. Lino will split/rip too easily if you are jacking cars up or doing any heavy work. Office carpet will soak up oil and coolant etc and be a mess in no time.

Go for a sealed and painted floor or proper garage flooring.

[sleepezy]

swabyk said:

Guys,
And lastly, Im mulling over porcelain tiles, one guy told me he can lay them for £300, another guy told me its £1,600 and I need 'Ditra matting' between the floor and porcelain tiles. Does anyone whose had porcelain tiles had to put matting underneath? or can the tiles go straight down onto the floor?

I recently laid porcelain - in the end I did it myself as it's easy, I liked the challenge and I had the time (and it meant I could buy more tools). I was quoted £600, for a single+ garage, labour only which I thought was taking the proverbial, partly hence why I did it myself.

I did a load of research on how to do it, nowhere mentioned waterproof matting, just ensure the surface is reasonably level - mine wasn't so used up a whole heap of self levelling compound.

I may have done it all wrong but it looks good, feels solid and doesn't seem to be going anywhere fast!

One thing to note - buying new the prices for porcelain tiles + cement / rubber tiles is roughly similar. This is true but I doesn't include the cost of the self levelling compound I needed for my 50year old garage floor which was very bumpy. In the end it was worth it but I must have blown £200 on compound alone!

[mikeiow]

Olivera said:

Imo both are poor choices if you are actually working on cars. Lino will split/rip too easily if you are jacking cars up or doing any heavy work. Office carpet will soak up oil and coolant etc and be a mess in no time.

Go for a sealed and painted floor or proper garage flooring.

I kind of agree....an oily carpet would be a little undesirable!

We have an old office carpet protector under the fun car to catch any drips, but on the flip side, the benefit of carpet tiles that that they are dead easy to replace....& if you are in there, it is far warmer underfoot (we nip out in socks/bare feet quite happily to get things now!)

But yes, if I was properly tinkering and making mess, something more solid and less absorbent would be better

[VerySideways]

Shouldn't an oil leak be a rarity rather than the norm?
Or if it is the norm, why not get one of those shallow steel trays like they use in museums?

[swabyk]

Hi All, thanks for the swift replies. I wont be doing any heavy mechanical work in the garage, tinkering on a beetle engine at most.....Im thinking as its a garage to sit and listen to the radio whilst pottering a carpet/carpet tile would be a nicer environment to be in?

[Skyedriver]

mikeiow said:

VerySideways said:

Office carpet tiles are great in that they're well insulated (if you get the thick ones) and of course easily laid and very easily replaced.
If you get them from a second hand office furniture place they're also dirt cheap...

I'd echo this!
We picked up enough for £100 off ebay, never used! Very comfy underfoot, & I am sure makes the garage warmer.
Added a few more black ones so there are 'tyre tracks' for the car to roll in on, looks fine.
We used a light tack spray carpet adhesive just to hold them in place, but they woudl be pretty easy to remove to swap if needed.

Obviously not much use for a lot of dusty carpentry I guess....but if I expect a proper mess, I do the work outside!

Echo Echo
I did our tandem double out with s/h carpet tiles stuck with spray glue. Quieter, warmer, and unlike painted floors they stay put where as paint lifts and scratches in time. Have an old carpet under the car just in case (possibly a bad idea as it can hold moisture) but have jacked cars up off them without problem. Have spult half a can of black paint on them but they are black!
Only concern I have is the backing, may be flammable...

[RichUK]

swabyk said:

Does anyone whose had porcelain tiles had to put matting underneath? or can the tiles go straight down onto the floor?

We laid straight onto the existing concrete floor, no matting used. But we did use proper industrial tile adhesive to ensure there wasn't any flex due to weight / weather etc.

The tiles were laid in December and we've used the garage to work on two race cars, tiles are absolutely fine and very easy to keep clean too.

[Timja]

What have those of you with porcelain tiles done around the edges on the walls done? Skirting in cut tiles/specialist shaped tiles or just the walls?

Also, my neighbour suggested to me about having a Resin floor as this is what he used in workshops for years and hardwearing. How do these compare in cost to porcelain tiles?

[RichUK]

Timja said:

What have those of you with porcelain tiles done around the edges on the walls done? Skirting in cut tiles/specialist shaped tiles or just the walls?

Also, my neighbour suggested to me about having a Resin floor as this is what he used in workshops for years and hardwearing. How do these compare in cost to porcelain tiles?

We cut tiles in half and made upstands with the cut edge of the tile facing down onto the floor. Really finished it off and means it doesn't matter if it gets too wet in there.

[So]

RichUK said:

We cut tiles in half and made upstands with the cut edge of the tile facing down onto the floor. Really finished it off and means it doesn't matter if it gets too wet in there.

That appliance had better only contain beer and ice creams, otherwise you lose 10 man points.

[Carpartmark]

Came on here a few weeks back to see if there was any suggestions. I eventually bought some from www.flexi-tile.com - have to say, pretty easy to install. Opted for their recycled version as they are the cheaper (Only come in Black or grey though ). I was told there may be a bit of a rubber/plasticy smell when I ordered them, but wasn't anything more than expected. Can't complain.

Edited by Carpartmark on Tuesday 31st October 11:04

Edited by Carpartmark on Tuesday 31st October 11:05

[8-P]

Carpartmark said:

Came on here a few weeks back to see if there was any suggestions. I eventually bought some from www.flexi-tile.com - have to say, pretty easy to install. Opted for their recycled version as they are the cheaper (Only come in Black or grey though ). I was told there may be a bit of a rubber/plasticy smell when I ordered them, but wasn't anything more than expected. Can't complain.

Edited by Carpartmark on Tuesday 31st October 11:04

Edited by Carpartmark on Tuesday 31st October 11:05

They look good.

[Rich135]

That looks great. I opted for 2pack epoxy garage floor paint, which looks ok, but not very even (shiny in some places, matt in others, even though I applied it all in one go).

Luckily a friend of mine has offered to give me 4 rolls of rubber "lab" flooring which I will put on top of everything at the weekend. Here is the pain finish (washing machine etc will be moving as soon as I have done the utility room!)

[Carpartmark]

8-P said:

They look good.

Thanks. I'm pleased with the finish.

[Venturist]

Has anyone any experience with plastic/rubber tiles that look somewhat like a proper tiled floor of some sort?
I'm wondering what to do with the garage at the house I'm moving into soon, but it's rented so nothing permanent. I like the idea that the initial spend isn't gone forever too, even if I moved and couldn't use the tiles in the new place, they could still fetch a few quid on ebay.

The only thing I have found is Ecotile slate effect which looks like this (pic pinched from another PHer);

[Accelebrate]

Our garage came tiled by a previous owner...



They're a great surface, very easy to clean, seems very durable. I've always used a jack and axle stands directly onto them without issue (and for heavier stuff than an MX5 too). I dropped a small trolley jack from waist height recently, the trolley jack came off worse!

The only downside is that they're a bit chilly and hard on the knees, hence the offcuts of underlay