I'm from the UK and we've just had a new garage built measuring 44 metres squared (which is 474 square feet apparently!). I specifically requested a nice level concrete floor, which was poured in August last year and the builder has done a great job. I don't want to stick with concrete though because it's cold, dusty, rough and doesn't have the clean tidy look that I'm after. My parents' garage has a painted concrete floor so I've had a long time to decide that I don't want one. I'm sure my knuckles are still scarred from it!
I've had a really good read of this forum and others and am rather overwhelmed with all the information, so I wondered if someone could educate me and help me to decide what to do with the flooring.
Use of garage: Storing and maintaining my racing car (half a tonne/ton, will sit on stands most of the time), three bicycles and three surfboards. Most of these things will be dry when put away, so I'm not expecting any water in the garage, although my wife may occasionally park her road car in there.
Climate: temperature here usually varies between about -5C to +25C (23-77F) over the year, but 5C/10F above and below that is not unusual.
Garage Construction: Walls are render on the outside, then single skin of concrete block, 25mm (1 inch) insulation board (Celotex) and finally plasterboard. Ceiling is plasterboard, insulation wool and flooring for the loft. I'm fitting an electric radiator on each wall. The concrete floor has a thick damp proof membrane underneath and is re-enforced with the usual steel lattice.
What I would like: a clean look, smooth, comfortable temperature, easy to clean and not too much higher than the concrete floor (my car has very low ground clearance, comfortably under 25mm/1 inch, and needs to roll out of the garage to be loaded onto a trailer). It also needs to withstand cars on jacks and axle stands, although for road cars over a tonne/ton in weight this is a couple of times a year; most of my maintenance is and always will be on cars weighing half a tonne/ton.
So far I've looked at porcelain tiles (what I always wanted), but cost, labour and height (self levelling screed, adhesive and a quality tile adds up to quite a lot) is putting me off. Epoxy/resin appeals to me, but I realise it won't insulate the floor much and a pro fitting is out of my price range (I've just had a quote for nearly £4k/$6k!!), whilst I'm worried that a DIY effort won't last and will peel etc. PVC tiles are currently winning the race in my head, and I've ordered some samples to look at from a few suppliers. I'm a bit worried that PVC tiles will feel insecure underfoot and look a bit cheap and nasty though. The often quoted advantage that you can lift them up and move them to another house won't apply to us, as we plan on staying in this house until we move into an old people's home in 40 years!
Any thoughts would be really appreciated, thanks!
I've had a really good read of this forum and others and am rather overwhelmed with all the information, so I wondered if someone could educate me and help me to decide what to do with the flooring.
Use of garage: Storing and maintaining my racing car (half a tonne/ton, will sit on stands most of the time), three bicycles and three surfboards. Most of these things will be dry when put away, so I'm not expecting any water in the garage, although my wife may occasionally park her road car in there.
Climate: temperature here usually varies between about -5C to +25C (23-77F) over the year, but 5C/10F above and below that is not unusual.
Garage Construction: Walls are render on the outside, then single skin of concrete block, 25mm (1 inch) insulation board (Celotex) and finally plasterboard. Ceiling is plasterboard, insulation wool and flooring for the loft. I'm fitting an electric radiator on each wall. The concrete floor has a thick damp proof membrane underneath and is re-enforced with the usual steel lattice.
What I would like: a clean look, smooth, comfortable temperature, easy to clean and not too much higher than the concrete floor (my car has very low ground clearance, comfortably under 25mm/1 inch, and needs to roll out of the garage to be loaded onto a trailer). It also needs to withstand cars on jacks and axle stands, although for road cars over a tonne/ton in weight this is a couple of times a year; most of my maintenance is and always will be on cars weighing half a tonne/ton.
So far I've looked at porcelain tiles (what I always wanted), but cost, labour and height (self levelling screed, adhesive and a quality tile adds up to quite a lot) is putting me off. Epoxy/resin appeals to me, but I realise it won't insulate the floor much and a pro fitting is out of my price range (I've just had a quote for nearly £4k/$6k!!), whilst I'm worried that a DIY effort won't last and will peel etc. PVC tiles are currently winning the race in my head, and I've ordered some samples to look at from a few suppliers. I'm a bit worried that PVC tiles will feel insecure underfoot and look a bit cheap and nasty though. The often quoted advantage that you can lift them up and move them to another house won't apply to us, as we plan on staying in this house until we move into an old people's home in 40 years!
Any thoughts would be really appreciated, thanks!
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