A man cave dilemma, advice needed please
Discussion
Hi All,
I'm currently having a dilemma regarding the man cave floor having moved into our new build home.
The garage its self is brilliant and extremely spacious and has already been turned into a montage of my motoring history.
I've already white boarded the walls and fitted cabinetry that an F1 team would be proud of, however in my haste I didn't spend to much time considering the floor which I wrongly presumed would suffice my needs.
Now with every where else looking so neat and tidy whilst proudly displaying my photographs and assorted memorabilia my attention is drawn to the concrete floor thus leading me to ask for idea's on what is the best route to complete the cave.
Yes, I might have clawed in a bit sharpish here in hindsight without thinking......."hang on I should do the floor first", but hey ho its too late now..rolleyes
I recently had a quote to tile it in the usual black and white chequers but for the 34 sq/m's the quote slightly staggered me at what I thought was an eye
watering 3,723.00 of your earth pounds.
I daren't go to to her indoors with that figure as she'll do her nut, especially as she's still recovering from the cost of the fancy steel cabinetry.......mind you it is extremely smart so I've braved that b*ll*cking out and managed to survive that tongue lashing.
So do I carry on getting tilers round to rip me a new one or can you lot point me in differing direction from your own experience of whats best to use and what might offer a cost effective way of dressing up the man cave without the fear of divorce papers
.
So will it be tiles, vinyl flooring, seal and paint ?, I'm open to all idea's on how to finish the project so if anyone can help with advice from their own experiences I would be most grateful as the good lady in my life just doesn't understand such manly needs.
Many thanks Ed.
I'm currently having a dilemma regarding the man cave floor having moved into our new build home.
The garage its self is brilliant and extremely spacious and has already been turned into a montage of my motoring history.
I've already white boarded the walls and fitted cabinetry that an F1 team would be proud of, however in my haste I didn't spend to much time considering the floor which I wrongly presumed would suffice my needs.
Now with every where else looking so neat and tidy whilst proudly displaying my photographs and assorted memorabilia my attention is drawn to the concrete floor thus leading me to ask for idea's on what is the best route to complete the cave.
Yes, I might have clawed in a bit sharpish here in hindsight without thinking......."hang on I should do the floor first", but hey ho its too late now..rolleyes
I recently had a quote to tile it in the usual black and white chequers but for the 34 sq/m's the quote slightly staggered me at what I thought was an eye
watering 3,723.00 of your earth pounds.
I daren't go to to her indoors with that figure as she'll do her nut, especially as she's still recovering from the cost of the fancy steel cabinetry.......mind you it is extremely smart so I've braved that b*ll*cking out and managed to survive that tongue lashing.
So do I carry on getting tilers round to rip me a new one or can you lot point me in differing direction from your own experience of whats best to use and what might offer a cost effective way of dressing up the man cave without the fear of divorce papers
.So will it be tiles, vinyl flooring, seal and paint ?, I'm open to all idea's on how to finish the project so if anyone can help with advice from their own experiences I would be most grateful as the good lady in my life just doesn't understand such manly needs.
Many thanks Ed.
Edited by Ed50 on Saturday 28th May 12:01
Have a look at Swisstrax - probably one of the better DIY garage flooring solutions out there - https://www.swisstrax.com/garage-flooring.html
It's what I'd like to do my modest garage with, but I need to level the floor first.
a 40x40 cm tile is £6 (or £5 for the smooth version). 34 square metres equals about 213 tiles. Add about 10% for wastage / cutting and you'll need about 230 tiles, so you should be able to do your entire garage for about £1,400
It's what I'd like to do my modest garage with, but I need to level the floor first.
a 40x40 cm tile is £6 (or £5 for the smooth version). 34 square metres equals about 213 tiles. Add about 10% for wastage / cutting and you'll need about 230 tiles, so you should be able to do your entire garage for about £1,400
I used vinyl flooring on my concrete garage floor. Looks nice but it's easily damaged. Maybe a heavy duty one would have been better but I didn't think of that.
Another idea - but like you I left it too late - would be simple T&G flooring. Perfect if you're doing woodwork, maybe not so good if you're going to be doing mechanics and dropping oil.
Vinyl would be the cheapest option I think.
Another idea - but like you I left it too late - would be simple T&G flooring. Perfect if you're doing woodwork, maybe not so good if you're going to be doing mechanics and dropping oil.
Vinyl would be the cheapest option I think.
Use dotti ceramic tiles with grey grout. Hard as nails and cheap as chips. Any tiler can lay them, but must have a full tile bed rather than dot and dab.
My SGS jack rolls across them whilst taking the car load and doesn’t even chip the edges.
They also look great and there’s a few of us on here with them.
https://www.directtilewarehouse.com/p/anthracite-g...
I got mine from here and they can supply adhesive and grout and also give a discount if you ask nicely.
My SGS jack rolls across them whilst taking the car load and doesn’t even chip the edges.
They also look great and there’s a few of us on here with them.
https://www.directtilewarehouse.com/p/anthracite-g...
I got mine from here and they can supply adhesive and grout and also give a discount if you ask nicely.
Edited by JonnyCJ on Saturday 28th May 12:13
Hi Ed
Hope you’re keeping well and great to see you back on here.
I did my garage during the second lockdown at the end of 2020, although it’s much smaller than your space, just a narrow single garage. I bought some dark grey interlocking tiles from these guys.
https://garagefloorsdirect.co.uk/
They were 50cm x 50cm and were very easy to fit. Had to cut some of them with a jigsaw to complete the smaller spaces, and I was advised to leave a small expansion gap between the tile and the wall, to allow for temperature driven expansion/contraction. Cost me about £300 plus the best part of a day on my hands and knees. Weirdly, I found the fitting process somewhat therapeutic. For the price I think they look pretty good and eighteen months later no problems at all.
I’ve attached a couple of pictures, before and after.
Hope that helps a bit
Best Regards
Minglar
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/Y4Xns4j2[/url]
Hope you’re keeping well and great to see you back on here.
I did my garage during the second lockdown at the end of 2020, although it’s much smaller than your space, just a narrow single garage. I bought some dark grey interlocking tiles from these guys.
https://garagefloorsdirect.co.uk/
They were 50cm x 50cm and were very easy to fit. Had to cut some of them with a jigsaw to complete the smaller spaces, and I was advised to leave a small expansion gap between the tile and the wall, to allow for temperature driven expansion/contraction. Cost me about £300 plus the best part of a day on my hands and knees. Weirdly, I found the fitting process somewhat therapeutic. For the price I think they look pretty good and eighteen months later no problems at all.
I’ve attached a couple of pictures, before and after.
Hope that helps a bit
Best Regards
Minglar
[url]|https://thumbsnap.com/Y4Xns4j2[/url]
Thanks for the response chaps which is very much appreciated.
Reading with interest the options put forward thus far I have the feeling our friendly neighbourhood tiler was possibly chasing his arm with his pricing....
.......... the naughty boy.
Under pressure now as visitors are here for lunch and apparently I'm the chef so back to the kitchen I must go but I shall investigate further later.
Plenty of food for thought here.
Cheers
Reading with interest the options put forward thus far I have the feeling our friendly neighbourhood tiler was possibly chasing his arm with his pricing....
.......... the naughty boy.Under pressure now as visitors are here for lunch and apparently I'm the chef so back to the kitchen I must go but I shall investigate further later.
Plenty of food for thought here.
Cheers
JonnyCJ said:
Use dotti ceramic tiles with grey grout. Hard as nails and cheap as chips. Any tiler can lay them, but must have a full tile bed rather than dot and dab.
My SGS jack rolls across them whilst taking the car load and doesn’t even chip the edges.
They also look great and there’s a few of us on here with them.
https://www.directtilewarehouse.com/p/anthracite-g...
I got mine from here and they can supply adhesive and grout and also give a discount if you ask nicely.
Agree with this option , a friend got the interlocking tiles for his garage which looked nice but I fancied the dotti tiles and had them fitted.My SGS jack rolls across them whilst taking the car load and doesn’t even chip the edges.
They also look great and there’s a few of us on here with them.
https://www.directtilewarehouse.com/p/anthracite-g...
I got mine from here and they can supply adhesive and grout and also give a discount if you ask nicely.
Edited by JonnyCJ on Saturday 28th May 12:13
A year or so later he’s taken up his tiles and replaced them with a ceramic tile.
Much better job imho.
I quickly read that the Dottie tiles are suitable for garage floors but just wondered if anyone had suffered any cracking or breakages when in use.
I ask as our erst while tiler reckons I need special tiles and underneath membrane to avoid this...........is he sprouting bull do or is that a proper
consideration.
Wife now moaning that I'm on here typing whilst the luncheon burns........
, but the man cave is winning over my priorities it seems.
Another tongue lashing no doubt coming my way......
I ask as our erst while tiler reckons I need special tiles and underneath membrane to avoid this...........is he sprouting bull do or is that a proper
consideration.
Wife now moaning that I'm on here typing whilst the luncheon burns........
, but the man cave is winning over my priorities it seems.Another tongue lashing no doubt coming my way......
You need a level floor and full trowelled tile bed. Nothing else.
If your floor is concrete it may have some high and low spots, so a self levelling screed will sort them out and give you a totally flat base to work from.
My dottis have been down 2 years and still good as new.
Price up the tiles by your area and then ask a tiler to price to do a self levelling screed. No more than 3-4 days’ work so 800ish.
If your floor is concrete it may have some high and low spots, so a self levelling screed will sort them out and give you a totally flat base to work from.
My dottis have been down 2 years and still good as new.
Price up the tiles by your area and then ask a tiler to price to do a self levelling screed. No more than 3-4 days’ work so 800ish.
Edited by JonnyCJ on Saturday 28th May 14:55
JonnyCJ said:
No more than 3-4 days’ work so 800ish.
I'd love to know where you found a tiler who will work for £200 a day The tiler I used to tile my whole place from top to bottom, was brilliant and Id use him again in a heart beat, but it didn't cost £200 a day. He turned up in a very nice 911 Turbo to collect the payment at the end. 
M1AGM said:
Anyone have any issues with tiled garage floors getting slippery when wet? I’ll be doing my garage at some point but am put off tiles as I have motorbikes too.
Not all tiles are slippery. You can get decent quality tiles in various finishes to commercial standards of grip in wet weather. They dont have to be expensive either. Just shop wisely.M1AGM said:
Anyone have any issues with tiled garage floors getting slippery when wet? I’ll be doing my garage at some point but am put off tiles as I have motorbikes too.
We have just put down some porcelain tiles for a patio that are really grippy even when completely soaked . My garage has an epoxy paint that has zero grip when wet .
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