Who has the best Garage on Pistonheads?

[Craikeybaby]

There are cheaper options.

[RegMolehusband]

Cheap and nasty. You should get samples to see what I mean. You definitely get what you pay for.

[Craikeybaby]

RegMolehusband said:

Cheap and nasty. You should get samples to see what I mean. You definitely get what you pay for.

I've got a few here - the cheap ones are, as you say, cheap and nasty. There is a middle ground though.

[uk66fastback]

I was talking about paint, Reg. Epoxy resin is better than any other floor paint imo.

[phil1967]

VladD said:

What paint have you used? I painted my last garage floor, but it just got pulled up by the car tyres.

Johnstones garage floor paint, 4 coats all from Homebase. I also bought 4 carpet tiles for the tyres to rest on.

I considered epoxy but my floor had previously been painted red (it never lifted though) and I decided I wanted to have a nice bright white room.

[Storer]

It all depends on how you use your 'motor shed'.

Carpets or tiles are not great if you park her up wet or change her fluids.......

Epoxy resin is the best if you need to mop up any fluids, having used or giving her going over!

Park her over winter for a week or two (or more) and carpet under wheels is good to prevent hard spots in the tyres (cold concrete contact hardens the rubber).

So the flooring depends on if she is a 'trophy car' or a 'DIY keeper'.

Alternatively, you could have both. Somewhere you 'house' your P&J and somewhere you 'caress' her!

Edited by Storer on Friday 31st March 01:47

[So]

We used ecotile.

Postitives: - Easy to lay.

Negatives: - They are staining badly.

- Where we park one of the cars the tiles are rucking up, presumably due to the movement of the wheels.

- Ecotile was a PITA to deal with as a company.

[kambites]

Craikeybaby said:

RegMolehusband said:

Cheap and nasty. You should get samples to see what I mean. You definitely get what you pay for.

I've got a few here - the cheap ones are, as you say, cheap and nasty. There is a middle ground though.

I've got cheap(ish) ones and they're fine, with the caveat that you can't really use a trolley jack directly on them. It's OK with the Elise, but anything heavier means the jack's wheels leave permanent indents in the tiles. I've spilled a variety of corrosive fluids on them and it hasn't done them any harm; they're pretty easy to clean (can be mopped or jet washed without any apparent ill-effects).

They're these ones, to be precise:

http://www.bigdug.co.uk/mats-flooring-c402/interlo...

For a home garage, I see little reason to pay more.

Edited by kambites on Friday 31st March 07:51

[Jonny TVR]

kambites said:

I've got cheap(ish) ones and they're fine, with the caveat that you can't really use a trolley jack directly on them. It's OK with the Elise, but anything heavier means the jack's wheels leave permanent indents in the tiles. I've spilled a variety of corrosive fluids on them and it hasn't done them any harm; they're pretty easy to clean (can be mopped or jet washed without any apparent ill-effects).

They're these ones, to be precise:

http://www.bigdug.co.uk/mats-flooring-c402/interlo...

For a home garage, I see little reason to pay more.

Edited by kambites on Friday 31st March 07:51

Wish I had used these rather than spending many days painting and waiting for it to dry etc and only to find that once I put my car on it starts to come away, like all the other times I've painted garage floors. These look good value

[RegMolehusband]

kambites said:

I've got cheap(ish) ones and they're fine, with the caveat that you can't really use a trolley jack directly on them. It's OK with the Elise, but anything heavier means the jack's wheels leave permanent indents in the tiles. I've spilled a variety of corrosive fluids on them and it hasn't done them any harm; they're pretty easy to clean (can be mopped or jet washed without any apparent ill-effects).

They're these ones, to be precise:

http://www.bigdug.co.uk/mats-flooring-c402/interlo...

For a home garage, I see little reason to pay more.

Hmmmm, but they clearly aren't fine if a trolley jack leaves permanent indentations. I wonder what would happen to them if somebody used axle stands on them with high point loads?

Cheap tiles (i.e. poorly designed and manufactured using second rate recycled materials) tend to click when you walk on them, have a poor finish, indent with heavy loads, fade, often have unattractive intrusive joints, and a short guarantee.

I do have to declare a vested interest, but just thought I should highlight some of the pitfalls of going for the cheap option.

[Jonny TVR]

RegMolehusband said:

Hmmmm, but they clearly aren't fine if a trolley jack leaves permanent indentations. I wonder what would happen to them if somebody used axle stands on them with high point loads?

Cheap tiles (i.e. poorly designed and manufactured using second rate recycled materials) tend to click when you walk on them, have a poor finish, indent with heavy loads, fade, often have unattractive intrusive joints, and a short guarantee.

I do have to declare a vested interest, but just thought I should highlight some of the pitfalls of going for the cheap option.

How much more expensive are better quality ones? I don't work on my cars so its simply to make it look nice

[RegMolehusband]

Tiles from Dura are about £46 a square metre, similar ones from Garagepride are £28-£36 per square metre, anything considerably less than that and you have to take a close look at performance, appearance and warranty.

I know many PHers couldn't justify spending this sort of money on their garage floor but as most of us are the powerfully built director type, with lovely cars and home, a quality permanent job on the garage floor is the only way.

Edited by RegMolehusband on Friday 31st March 12:39

[liner33]

RegMolehusband said:

Hmmmm, but they clearly aren't fine if a trolley jack leaves permanent indentations. I wonder what would happen to them if somebody used axle stands on them with high point loads?

Cheap tiles (i.e. poorly designed and manufactured using second rate recycled materials) tend to click when you walk on them, have a poor finish, indent with heavy loads, fade, often have unattractive intrusive joints, and a short guarantee.

I do have to declare a vested interest, but just thought I should highlight some of the pitfalls of going for the cheap option.

I have tiles and if i am using axle stands i pop a piece of plywood under the stand. Mine have lasted about 9 years now , epoxy floor paint didnt last one year the tyres lifted it

[Jazzy Jag]

RegMolehusband said:

I know many PHers couldn't justify spending this sort of money on their garage floor but as most of us are the powerfully built director type, with lovely cars and home, a quality permanent job on the garage floor is the only way.

Edited by RegMolehusband on Friday 31st March 12:39

What, no Goatee?
pfft!

[100 IAN]

Anyone used 'studded rubber' (oo err misses...!) flooring?

At just over £8/sq.M its far cheaper than tiling and if you've got a decent flat floor to start with it should be much quicker/easier/cheaper to lay as well.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RUBBER-FLOOR-MATTING-SAF...

Naturally you get what you pay for / Its not as good as the finest porcelain tiles money can buy, yarda yarda yarda.....

but as a half way house between bare concrete and prestigious Mayfair showroom wannabe what do the collective think?

[V8RX7]

100 IAN said:

Anyone used 'studded rubber' (oo err misses...!) flooring?

At just over £8/sq.M its far cheaper than tiling and if you've got a decent flat floor to start with it should be much quicker/easier/cheaper to lay as well.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RUBBER-FLOOR-MATTING-SAF...

I've been tempted but I don't think it will stand up to much use and will soon look tatty - black will also be gloomy.

I've considered Altro commercial flooring too - offcuts are quite cheap but again whilst it will handle being driven on I'm unsure about jacking / axle stands etc

[Hasbeen]

I have indoor/outdoor carpet in the parking, working area of my garage workshop. This is a foam rubber backed polypropylene, [I think] carpet that was in the warehouse office at the company I was running.

When we redecorated I discovered this was bonded into a single sheet, & only stuck down around the edge. I took it home & cut a 4 metre by 6 metre square from it, & threw it in the car parking area.

It has survived a lot of jacking & axle stands, & was once soaked by 26 litres of petrol when a new [Mexican I discovered] fuel hose split. I pulled it out, degreased & washed it over a fence, & put it back with no problem.

Not beautiful, but it is much kinder on this old back & knees than anything else I've used.

[scoobygaz1]

Not mine but my bosses I'll take a picture of the whole building.

Edited by scoobygaz1 on Saturday 1st April 20:20

[TheLordJohn]

What does your boss do? Those cars are mint.

[Gunk]

Does he he know you're publishing photos of his garage on the Internet?