Garage Flooring

[Carl]

I'm finally getting round to sorting out the garage floor but am unsure what to use.

The garage is only 3 years old so the floor is in good nick, but very dusty.

Area is about 25m2 (double garage) and I don't want to spend much more than £100.

Anyone have any useful advice, tips, or knowledge of a hole in a tile warehouse

[Ted]

No knowledge of tile warehouse's, sorry.

Had 2 garage's now, one I just painted with floor paint from B&Q and the other has some old carpet from a house clearance  (keeps the tyres warm and more comfortable than hard floor)

TED

[stu.graham]

I used garage floor paint on the concrete floor, keeps the dust down, hard wearing and easy to clean. Screwfix or B & Q.

HTH

Stu

[JeffC]

industrial black office carpet , should be in your budget     mines been down 3 years and good as new still  

[Darren B]

Painted 2 garage floors using B&Q stuff.  Had same problem with dust before but now very good...especially for cleaning up those little spills of fluids.

[Gavin]

While on the subject, I have a newish garage and whoever built it just before I brought the place used block paving for the floor.I have never seen this before and it is rubbish for keeping clean etc because all of the ruts between the blocks.Anyone any ideas what I could do with it again on a budget and without ripping it all up ?

[studbuckle]

You could put some self levelling floor sealant on it, might take a bit to fill up the ridges but should work.

I've just sealed the 10 year old concrete floor in my garage ready for painting. Mix of PVA and water, couple of coats and it's ready for painting.

At the last house I didn't do this first and the tyres lifted the paint very quickly

[hilux]

At the last house I didn't do this first and the tyres lifted the paint very quickly

You need to use a surface hardner, paint lifts when its only bonded to friable surface.

the floor is in good nick, but very dusty.

Ditto above

[Blatman]

At the last house I didn't do this first and the tyres lifted the paint very quickly

You need to use a surface hardner

On the unpainted floor, or the paint?

[MAT1800]

I have a newish garage and whoever built it just before I brought the place used block paving for the floor

Anyone any ideas what I could do with it again on a budget and without ripping it all up ?

How about some tile grout between the blocks?

[Martin Keene]

I've just sealed the 10 year old concrete floor in my garage ready for painting. Mix of PVA and water, couple of coats and it's ready for painting.

Make sure you leave it for long enough to dry out. Ideally up to a week. We only left ours for a little over 24 hours and it was no where near long enough and the paint hasn't stuck in a lot of places.

If I was to do it again I'd use a two part epoxy based paint.

[steve_m]

If I was doing my garage again I'd use a thin layer of the self leveling concrete stuff, then some cheap vinyl tiles.  Kneeling on a little concrete spike is not to be recommended    

I also sealed the walls and painted them white, makes a huge difference.

[Carl]

Thanks for the info.

Still not sure about paint, will it chip off under axles stands?

Tiles seem to expensive, so I might try some rubber matting

[ChrisG]

Ive heard mixed reports about the cheaper paints such as those from B&Q, they often peel off a bit when hot sticky tyres are rolled over them or chip when things are dropped on them. I used something called Jotun Jotafloor (google it), its a proper industrial 2 part epoxy floor paint that only a handful of places sell and its brilliant stuff, you could take the angle grinder to it and I doubt it would shift!

For a double garage it may be slightly over your budget as it cost me about £100 for enough to do my single garage (2 cans), but that was very rough old concrete that absorbed a lot and needed 2 coats, so you may only need 2-3 cans to do a smoother less absorbent concrete floor.

Edited to add: Actually, my garage is about 20ft long so slightly bigger than your average single garage, maybe 15m²

[hilux]

On the unpainted floor

No, on new concrete.

Abrade the surface laitance (loose particles with a stiff broom - a wire brush if you`re really keen) hoover or brush thoroughly and brush on the hardner. This ensures all particles are bonded and gives a good key to the paint.

PVA sort of does the same but `sticks` the surface particles together and will not stand the twisting of tyres or lots of trolley jacks etc

FWIW I am a career builder/project manager and have done this on many floors (factories and warehouses etc)

I HIGHLY recommend  WATCO whose products will maintain and repair your floors brilliantly. Cheapest isnt best but I have used their products for years. They last for years too so possibly worth it in the long run.

You can colour match your floor to your car

HTH