garage floor covering recommendations

I've been trying to get our garage sorted and whilst it was fairly empty I was thinking of doing something with the floor. Its old bare concrete at the moment, and gets dusty,hard to clean plus I find screws and the like blend in well when dropped. In my ideal world I would be able to make it look like a laboratory but the real world dictates other things. So who out there has painted or coated their garage floor and do you have a product to recommend? It's about 32m2 in total to cover.

Been looking at epoxy two pack coatings like this

https://www.taindustrialpaints.co.uk/shop/non-slip-two-pack-epoxy-floor-paint/?attribute_pa_size=5l&attribute_pa_2pk-ns-colours=08-e-51-golden-yellow

I had a look at resincoat but that's too spendy. Are the bog standard floor paints any good or cheap rubbish that flake off as soon as you look at them? Also recommendations on colours? I like the idea of yellow or light blue, something light and easy to see stuff when I drop it.

I painted mine, never again! I used floor paint recommended for garages, followed the instructions, prepped the floor, put two coats on, It looked good for a couple of years then started to flake. Once it started to flake everything that I had sat on the floor would get covered, I used to get covered in it when I was kneeling down, Any wind blowing through the garage would chuck it all up in the air, it was a nightmare. I ended up buying some cheap, interlocking, hard rubber matting from B&Q, I bought it just to cover up the flaky paint but it seems to do a pretty good job.

Not sure if it was just crap paint that I used or the floor wasn't thoroughly cleaned that caused the problems but I personally wouldn't do it again, I read reviews some time after doing it where people had the same problem as I did. If you do it I would definitely recommend taking the time to search for a good quality paint and then have a look at the reviews.

I sealed mine with waterproof pva, it's kept dust down, hasn't peeled but it is prone to abrasion damage but so is paint, upside it's cheap.

I covered mine in a plastic garage floor covering from Costco was about £130 per roll ( I used 2 as its a double garage) pattern on it looks like metal decking plate.

Had it down for a couple of years or so and no problem easy to clean not been damaged by the bike stand. does the job

It seems to have gone up quite a bit now £ 189 https://www.costco.co.uk/Tyres-Automotive/Garage/Garage-Flooring/G-Floor-75-x-17ft-23-x-52M-Floor-Protector/p/112281

Don't do what I did:

1. Ran out of paint half way through job

2. Rushed to Lowestoft to buy a second can

3. Placed in passenger footwell. Drove home.

4. Braked...

you can guess the rest

We spend 5 hours cleaning the car out. Fortunately the stuff was water-soluble.

is stuff called floor tread still going thats what we painted one of our shed floors with years ago and it is still good

I just stuck a carpet down

I just stuck a carpet down

H’mm carpet would be great, in that m6 nuts wouldn’t roll / bounce off into oblivion, but could also hide spikey or slimey Things that can be knelt on.

Also carpet can harbour moisture.

There are several cementious composites that will do the trick far better than paint.

You want to spend a bit on quality if you don't want to have it coming out.

You can also consider epoxy resin. there are several videos on youtube showing how it's done and won't be too expensive when you consider how long it lasts.

Self-leveling concrete:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/mapei-ultraplan-3240-self-levelling-compound-25kg/4959F?tc=DA3&ds_kid=92700048793315993&ds_rl=1249416&gclid=CjwKCAjwi_b3BRAGEiwAemPNU7PjiqafPOEbiAOqPgZmU43WKi2lWqlk_qEXNJOmdXe86rhI7Lm6UxoCL_QQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Epoxy resin

https://www.ecfibreglasssupplies.co.uk

Call these guys, they are the most helpful bunch you can find and the cheapest in the market. They are the ones I used for the carbon fibre for my project.

Depend on budget, but anything half decent will go 500 plus for 30 m2

There are several cementious composites that will do the trick far better than paint.

You want to spend a bit on quality if you don't want to have it coming out.

You can also consider epoxy resin. there are several videos on youtube showing how it's done and won't be too expensive when you consider how long it lasts.

Self-leveling concrete:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/mapei-ultraplan-3240-self-levelling-compound-25kg/4959F?tc=DA3&ds_kid=92700048793315993&ds_rl=1249416&gclid=CjwKCAjwi_b3BRAGEiwAemPNU7PjiqafPOEbiAOqPgZmU43WKi2lWqlk_qEXNJOmdXe86rhI7Lm6UxoCL_QQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Epoxy resin

https://www.ecfibreglasssupplies.co.uk

Call these guys, they are the most helpful bunch you can find and the cheapest in the market. They are the ones I used for the carbon fibre for my project.

Epoxy, not so easy at least not first time and difficult to prepare surface. We do it on board ships all the time, not easy at all.

But yes looks business and easy to maintain

Carpet is Nogoer. Entrance to garage is off a byway so likely to bring dirt and mud in so needs to be easily cleanable.

I just stuck a carpet down

 

H’mm carpet would be great, in that m6 nuts wouldn’t roll / bounce off into oblivion, but could also hide spikey or slimey Things that can be knelt on.

Also carpet can harbour moisture.

I also have a hoover

Do you do your welding on the carpet [mention]Stu[/mention] ?!!

Depend on budget, but anything half decent will go 500 plus for 30 m2

Definitely not that much. The link I put is a two part epoxy coating, comes in about £100 which is probably cheap and not so good but might do the job.

Do you do your welding on the carpet @Stu ?!!

No I also have some foam anti fatigue mats I keep forgetting to lift up so just melt those

I need to weld proof my shed before there is a burny accident

Looking at a welding blanket or similar

I need to weld proof my shed before there is a burny accident

Looking at a welding blanket or similar

Asbestos is what you want.

[mention]goat[/mention] I don't do a lot of welding really so was thinking of the welding blanket so i could just roll it up out of the way when not needed rather than lining floor. If I did a lot then it would make more sense

Other option being to invest in a TIG but I think thats getting way ahead of my needs

Aargh!! As a mod I should be untouchable

Awaiting the "this wouldn't of happened to six as a mod" comments that will be incoming

I need to weld proof my shed before there is a burny accident

Looking at a welding blanket or similar

https://www.bigdug.co.uk/mega-deals-c411/single-garage-interlocking-floor-tile-set-mega-deal-p18846

Don't forget you will have to apply a self-leveling grout before you install this flooring.

£18/m2 doesn't sound too bad if the quality is good Not too sure how you clean a oil spill on it, there is no indication of chemical resistance so I will assume there is none.

Thinking about brake fluid and the likes I won't be too sure it will cope with it that well.

Still not a bad value and easy fitting.

https://www.bigdug.co.uk/mega-deals-c411/single-garage-interlocking-floor-tile-set-mega-deal-p18846

 

Don't forget you will have to apply a self-leveling grout before you install this flooring.

£18/m2 doesn't sound too bad if the quality is good Not too sure how you clean a oil spill on it, there is no indication of chemical resistance so I will assume there is none.

Thinking about brake fluid and the likes I won't be too sure it will cope with it that well.

Still not a bad value and easy fitting.

I had a look at some similar ones called duramat which are apparently resistant to most chemicals and solvents. Would be expensive to do the whole garage but I guess with the tiles I could do a smaller section and then do more later.