My Man Cave - Laminate flooring in my garage

redisthefastestcolour · Jul 27, 2014

Almost everybody told me, not to do that, but I couldn't resist:

I started with laminate floor in my garage yesterday. As I described in this thread ( https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=253979 ) I'm not using my rides very often and only in dry conditions, not in winter, and my garage is more a man cave than a garage.

Now I have the first 6 ft. width and the first pics. My garage is separated in two halfs. I hope to finish the floor in my first 2-car garage next weekend.

If the floor will survive the low temperatures in the winter without any cracks or other damage, I will do it in the second half.

INTMD8 · Jul 27, 2014

Looks great! Love the R8 too

Jinks · Jul 27, 2014

Actually looks pretty good! I doubt it would stand up to shop work activity & I wonder about tire staining, but it might just work out. Let us know how it goes.

Kracin · Jul 28, 2014

with a floor like that you'll have to lift the car up and clean the tires all the way around after parking it, gotta keep it clean!

internetdude · Jul 28, 2014

Nice!

marty_p · Jul 28, 2014

Nice! Please keep us posted on its 'wear factor' as time goes.

redisthefastestcolour · Aug 18, 2021

2021 Update: Seven years have passed, I can't believe, but the 0.30$/Sq.Ft floor is still like new, I would do it again.

I had some leaks in the past, one time the injection pump of my VW Rabbit lost much diesel, another time my GLAS lost gasoline but the laminate flooring was not damaged at all. I have to add, that I've glued the click lock of the boards together with white Polyurethane glue. Not glued to the concrete, there is a vinyl film between concrete and laminate. The floor is floating.
No scratches by working, no stains by the tires, not even by brand new tires, no cracks, waves or bubbles by temperature and humidity changes during the seasons.
Only a few very small dents by stones which were impacted between the tire profile.

bikerneil · Aug 18, 2021

I love it. Thank you for updating.

CombatNinja · Aug 21, 2021

So you're saying that this laminate floor meant for a living room holds up to garage use better than pretty much every flooring meant for garage use, then? Makes total sense.

kelpaso1 · Aug 21, 2021

When I did the floor in my last house I left a few pieces of laminate on the patio. After the fall being rained on, the winter covered in snow, and then spring rains for a month, I went to clean them up and throw them away. When I looked at the peices I was surprised they still looked like new. No swelling, warping, nothing. Pretty tough ****.

redisthefastestcolour · Aug 23, 2021

CombatNinja said:
So you're saying that this laminate floor meant for a living room holds up to garage use better than pretty much every flooring meant for garage use, then? Makes total sense.

No, I don't say, that it's better than a floor meant for garage use, I say, it's much better and durable than I hoped, it was much cheaper and (in my opinion) much prettier and much easier to clean than a floor meant for garage use, and it's more than good enough for my needs. Especially the fact, that there are not at all any stains by tires or liquids after seven years, is more than astonishing.

Visit the picture thread of my vintage style garage, please, and you will see: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=264361

I intend to add more pictures there, when I'll be back from my windsurfing holidays. For example, i wrapped my tool cabinet with digitally printed vehicle wraps in vintage style. So it is now looking like a scratched and rusty vintage tool cabinet.

bucolic · Aug 23, 2021

redisthefastestcolour said:
No, I don't say, that it's better than a floor meant for garage use, I say, it's much better and durable than I hoped, it was much cheaper and (in my opinion) much prettier and much easier to clean than a floor meant for garage use, and it's more than good enough for my needs. Especially the fact, that there are not at all any stains by tires or liquids after seven years, is more than astonishing.

Visit the garage picture thread of my vintage style garage, please, and you will see: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=264361

I intend to add more pictures there, when I'll be back from my windsurfimg holidays. For example, i wrapped my tool cabinet with digitally printed vehicle wraps in vintage style. So it is now looking like a scratched and rusty vintage tool cabinet.

You didn't say it but you darn well might have proved it LOL! Some of that laminate is pretty tough stuff. Now maybe if you were rolling jacks on it all day, creepers, toolboxes, and doing commercial work in there it might not be the best choice but for a home user just parking his vehicles and doing day-to-day activities, it looks like a viable alternative and you proved it with 7 years of user testing! Looks great!

mtesh73 · Sep 3, 2021

How did you handle the termination of the laminate flooring at the garage door lip? I am thinking about going this route as well.

redisthefastestcolour · Sep 11, 2021

mtesh73 said:
How did you handle the termination of the laminate flooring at the garage door lip? I am thinking about going this route as well.

I've made a bevel (approx. 30 degrees) with an electric planer.
I'll take a picture, when I'm making photos of my wrapped tool cabinet, and will post it here.

Shiftless · Sep 11, 2021

Just putting a bevel on the last strip is fast, simple and you’ve proven that it works!
Thanks for posting an update.

mtesh73 · Sep 11, 2021

Ok, thanks for the information. Looking forward to seeing how you made it.

redisthefastestcolour · Sep 26, 2021

Today I've shot some photos in my garage.
Here's the picture, which is showing the bevel.
I was wrong in my memory, the angle is 45 degrees, and I've made it with a chop saw.
The whole floor including the termination is swimming. When the sun is shining onto the floor, when the door is opened on a hot day for a longer time, the termination is bending upwards. Then the termination is some millimeters off the floor, but it doesn't matter, when I'm driving in or out.
A better solution would be, to fix the termination with a transition profile.

Many other new pictures of my garage you can see in that thread: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=264361

mtesh73 · Sep 26, 2021

Got it. Cool. The bevel looks like it will work fine. I do like the finished look of a transition strip though. Thank you for the ideas.

DHC-2 · Oct 1, 2021

When that laminate absorbs some moisture from condensation on the slab...and it will, it's gonna stink.

redisthefastestcolour · Oct 5, 2021

Hi,
there's a vinyl film between the concrete and the laminate. There is no bad smell in my garage at all.

The only smell, you can notice there, is the smell of gasoline and oil.

Rorin67 · Oct 5, 2021

Nice work - looks great!

My garage was 1/2 covered in laminate flooring just as you describe, as the previous owner used it as a home office. I used it to park the car and the laminate held up surprisingly well for the 3 years I used it that way. I think our climates are similar, so moisture was not a real concern.

Mark in Baltimore · Oct 7, 2021

Your floor looks fantastic! Thanks for sharing details and following up after all of these years.

Spacep0d · Dec 21, 2021

redisthefastestcolour said:
2021 Update: Seven years have passed, I can't believe, but the 0.30$/Sq.Ft floor is still like new, I would do it again.

I had some leaks in the past, one time the injection pump of my VW Rabbit lost much diesel, another time my GLAS lost gasoline but the laminate flooring was not damaged at all. I have to add, that I've glued the click lock of the boards together with white Polyurethane glue. Not glued to the concrete, there is a vinyl film between concrete and laminate. The floor is floating.
No scratches by working, no stains by the tires, not even by brand new tires, no cracks, waves or bubbles by temperature and humidity changes during the seasons.
Only a few very small dents by stones which were impacted between the tire profile.

With EVs it would be even lower risk. I love the look and kudos to you for doing it! The price seems right, and a whole lot of people know how to install it....and there's no health risk from a botched job (like epoxy/polyurea).

drmarkr · Dec 26, 2021

DHC-2 said:
When that laminate absorbs some moisture from condensation on the slab...and it will, it's gonna stink.

You missed that fact that he just recently gave his SEVEN year update on the flooring.....and it's still working great for him? Probably would be stinking bad by now, if it was gonna.

mygarageone · Dec 26, 2021

redisthefastestcolour said:
Almost everybody told me, not to do that, but I couldn't resist:

I started with laminate floor in my garage yesterday. As I described in this thread ( https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=253979 ) I'm not using my rides very often and only in dry conditions, not in winter, and my garage is more a man cave than a garage.

Now I have the first 6 ft. width and the first pics. My garage is separated in two halfs. I hope to finish the floor in my first 2-car garage next weekend.

If the floor will survive the low temperatures in the winter without any cracks or other damage, I will do it in the second half.

Awesome , I was thinking about that in my garage but choose carpet tiles instead . Easier to pull one tile and replace than Laminate .

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