Did anyone his garage with laminate flooring?

[redisthefastestcolour]

Hi,

I'm new here on this forum. Hi to everyone here. I've read many threads here, and it's awesome, what you did in your garages!

I'm from Germany (excuse my bad English, please) and I want to make my garage looking awesome, too!

Some years ago, I've found a picture in the net of a living room with a Ferrari 308 parking inside. Since then, I have this picture in my mind, but my wife would kill me, if I would put my Audi R8 or another of my beautiful rides in our living room, although there would be room enough for one, only for my Dodge Ram SRT10 it would be critical.

So I decided to give my garage a bit of the style of a living room. Until now I have stereo, TV, computer, a comfortable chair for resting, some vintage gas pumps, neon advertising signs, tools, a workbench and so far.

Because I'm using my cars only when it's not raining (except of my daily driver, which is parking outside of the garage), I'm thinking to make a wood style laminate floor in my garage.

I've asked in several flooring stores about using laminate in a garage, and nobody knew a case of using laminate floor in a garage. Everybody told me, not to do this.

Has anyone of you ever tried a laminate floor in his garage? Can you recommend for using it in a garage?

Best regards from Germany
redisthefastestcolour

 

[bdamico]

Hi,

I'm new here on this forum. Hi to everyone here. I've read many threads here, and it's awesome, what you did in your garages!

I'm from Germany (excuse my bad English, please) and I want to make my garage looking awesome, too!

Some years ago, I've found a picture in the net of a living room with a Ferrari 308 parking inside. Since then, I have this picture in my mind, but my wife would kill me, if I would put my Audi R8 or another of my beautiful rides in our living room, although there would be room enough for one, only for my Dodge Ram SRT10 it would be critical.

So I decided to give my garage a bit of the style of a living room. Until now I have stereo, TV, computer, a comfortable chair for resting, some vintage gas pumps, neon advertising signs, tools, a workbench and so far.

Because I'm using my cars only when it's not raining (except of my daily driver, which is parking outside of the garage), I'm thinking to make a wood style laminate floor in my garage.

I've asked in several flooring stores about using laminate in a garage, and nobody knew a case of using laminate floor in a garage. Everybody told me, not to do this.

Has anyone of you ever tried a laminate floor in his garage? Can you recommend for using it in a garage?

Best regards from Germany
redisthefastestcolour

you want wood grain porcelain tile.

 

[James-W]

I have not heard of anyone putting laminate flooring in a garage. I can’t see any reason why it couldn’t be done, but I doubt it would be very durable if you park cars and have other heavy objects moving around on the floor. I suspect the floor would get all scratched up very quickly and start looking really bad.

 

[kwfloors]

No don't do it if your going to put cars in there. The reason is, laminate is a floating floor with click lock tongue and groove on most. It is put over a thin pad, thus when you drive your car in, the weight would damage the tongue and groove system from the flexing. There a some solid vinyls like LVT that could work but vinyl is soft and rocks in the tires would poke holes in it. It depends on what your use of the garage is to make your decision on what to use. Where are you?

 

[redisthefastestcolour]

No don't do it if your going to put cars in there. The reason is, laminate is a floating floor with click lock tongue and groove on most. It is put over a thin pad, thus when you drive your car in, the weight would damage the tongue and groove system from the flexing.

Would it be better when the pieces of the laminate would be glued together in the click lock?

I think, that the flexing would be minimal, the floor of my garage is very smooth and level. I intend to put a thin layer of cork between the laminate and the floor.

It depends on what your use of the garage is to make your decision on what to use.

I'm using my cars only a few days only just for fun and only on dry and sunny and warm days. No wet conditions, the only humidity on the floor is the water dripping down of the air-condition of the car when coming home. For this it will exist a solution, I hope.
There are weeks not using one of my cars. The other days, usually only on weekend, I'm using my garage to have a hour or two only for me, listening to my favourite music, day-dreaming, enjoying the look of my cars and the other things in my garage ...

So my garage for me is not only a garage, but also a little bit of a living room and a little bit of a museum and a little bit like a zen-garden.

I like the racedeck very much, but for my purpose it is looking too much technical.

I suspect the floor would get all scratched up very quickly and start looking really bad.

I've tried to scratch several types of laminate with a iron nail, and there are some very poor materials but also some very scratch resistant laminates.

you want wood grain porcelain tile.

I would like to have the look of wood for my garage. For sure wood grain porcelain tiles would be more resistant to the tires, but it is a cold floor and to remove them later will be difficult, when I want to change it some day.
Real wood is too soft, so I'm planning with laminate.

Where are you?

I'm in Germany, the home of the autobahn, near Munich, the capital of the bavarian beer and Oktoberfest.

 

[Srt-What?]

Pics or it didn't happen

 

[kwfloors]

Even cork would flex under the flooring. I would say if your going to do it, don't put anything under it. That way it won't move. Another killer of laminate floors is moisture. You would need to remove any water right away to not damage the laminate. I would be careful driving on it as it can be slippery.

 

[mrvm]

Laminate is fairly tough and dent resistant compared to hard wood but it will not survive the harsh conditions in the garage. Moisture, dirt, humidity, high/cold temps and maybe the occasional oil drip (spill) or condensation are very tough for any wood or laminate floors. Might be okay flooring as a showroom but definitely not for daily vehicle usage.

 

[G60ING]

So my garage for me is not only a garage, but also a little bit of a living room and a little bit of a museum and a little bit like a zen-garden.

I'm in Germany, the home of the autobahn, near Munich, the capital of the bavarian beer and Oktoberfest.

Amen

 

[JakeKohl]

It can be done...here's a thread with more info:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=132579&highlight=wood&showall=1

 

[02 Camaro]

SnapLock makes the RaceDeck tiles but they also make wood look dance floor tiles.
They are basically smooth RaceDeck tiles with a very convincing (like a photo) parquet laminated to the top surface and finished with a durable clear surface.

You can see them at: http://snaplockdancefloors.com

 

[Garage Flooring]

We have done a couple of jobs with the Envy product... Hardly enough to say it will work 100% of the time but so far it looks amazing and no complaints on performance. That said I would not try it with a .99/Sq.Ft product from your local home center.

 

[redisthefastestcolour]

I will try it!

On Saturday I've found a special offer of a very scratch resistant laminate by a good brand manufacturer in my local home center not for .99$/Sq.ft but for unbelievable 0.30$/Sq.Ft. I've tested it with a very sharp edged key and the scratches were nearly not to see. It's the cheapest laminate I've ever seen, but it's really no cheap quality. So I couldn't say no.
I've bought only two packets for testing and I'm very satisfied with it. So I will buy more and put the laminate in my garage.

Sitting in my garage and watching the test-part of the laminate I had a new idea yesterday: I have wires from the ceiling for each car for stand-by charging of the battery now, because I'm using my cars not very often. I will put thin wires between existing floor and the laminate to get the electric socket straight under the cars.
And I intend to install a second electric socket under the cars for the parking lights of the cars. I like it very much at the car dealer when the lights of the shown cars are illuminated. For each "electric socket" I want to use only two simple flat screws in the laminate. The connectors will be neodymium magnets at the end of the wires.
For a short time I thought about some aditional LED's in the floor, but I think I will do some "painting" with black paint like the tire marks in the attached picture.

 

[Trey T]

Are these wood floor garage will be used to do fabrication and other projects or will it be a "man cave" w/ floor rugs, couch, bar, poker table, etc...?

 

[redisthefastestcolour]

Are these wood floor garage will be used to do fabrication and other projects or will it be a "man cave" w/ floor rugs, couch, bar, poker table, etc...?

Yes, it will be a man cave, like I wrote in my first post:

So I decided to give my garage a bit of the style of a living room. Until now I have stereo, TV, computer, a comfortable chair for resting, some vintage gas pumps, neon advertising signs, tools, a workbench and so far.

and in another post:

So my garage for me is not only a garage, but also a little bit of a living room and a little bit of a museum and a little bit like a zen-garden.

I didn't know the meaning of "man cave", when I wrote that.

 

[Hpozzuoli]

I would use the tile that looks like wood. Laminate will not last. I assume you get snow etc in Germany. A few days of a snowy car dripping on laminate and it is all over. My dehumidifier leaked on the 2 day old laminate I put in my basement. It buckled the floor in a matter of hours. I spent $1400 on the floor, used it 2 days, and threw it away. Not too mention I didn't like the hollow sound it produced when walking on it.

In a harsh environment like a garage use tile, epoxy (pain in the ***), racedeck, or just paint.

 

[Trey T]

Cool. I think if it's more of a "man cave" than a fabrication/repair garage, I think wood floor is appropriate.

Yes, it will be a man cave, like I wrote in my first post:



and in another post:



I didn't know the meaning of "man cave", when I wrote that.