laminate flooring in a garage

[Sundowner]

I searched this to death both her and abroad via google and found little of value, so I thought I'd start a new thread on the topic.

here's the deal: I have pergo in my house living area and the stuff is nigh indestructable. it's withstood scraping, scratching, floods, grit trampled into it, and most impressively, the constant, full-thorotte, powersliding-on-his-claws of a 95 lb fur bearing wrecking ball I lovingly call "the moose".

the basement, on the other hand, has had a premium roll-on floor coating applied to it, faithfully following the reccomended instructions, and it has faired poorly. it stains, chips, scratches and gouges with relative ease.

now reason I bring this up is beucase in the process of building my garage, I will be installing a concrete floor, but the idea has occured to me to use laminate flooring, which can now be had very affordably, rather than a roll-on coating.

has anyone here used laminate flooring in thier garage? I plan on using the space as a hobbyist to work on a project car, but also as a woodworking shop.

 

[joa65]

I agree that it is strong and would make a nice floor out there. I would be concerned about water/moisture though. Both from above and below.
I used some leftover laminate to cover my workbench. It has been on there for 3~4 years and still looks pretty good. It is a little scratched and I have accidentally drilled a hole in it, but overall, I am very pleased. Clean-up is very easy, and someday, replacement will be cheap and easy.
Jeff

 

[Sundowner]

the moisture is my worry, exactly.
no matter what I do, there will be a gravel sub-base under the concrete floor with a perforated drain pipe in it and and a plastic vapor barrier on top of it. In addition to this, I was thinking of painting the concrete floor with dry-lok prior to laying out the rosin paper and the laminate flooring.

 

[nonhog]

Hmmmmm I could see this in the "Showcase" portion of my shop where I park my bike .

 

[IDASHO]

I was thinking of painting the concrete floor with dry-lok prior to laying out the rosin paper and the laminate flooring.

It isnt under the flooring moisture you need to worry about. Over time the flooring itself will absorb moisture. Then it will buckle, pucker, ect...

 

[SC-Eric]

the basement, on the other hand, has had a premium roll-on floor coating applied to it, faithfully following the reccomended instructions, and it has faired poorly. it stains, chips, scratches and gouges with relative ease.

Just curious... what are you calling 'premium'?

 

[rwhite692]

It's an interesting concept. I would think that the best choices would be the "rustic" styles with a lot of color variations to hide scratches, stains, the occasional welding burns, etc.

 

[Steve1968LS2]

It isnt under the flooring moisture you need to worry about. Over time the flooring itself will absorb moisture. Then it will buckle, pucker, ect...

Then why doesn't it do it inside the house?

 

[thegarageguy]

because your home isnt quite exposed to the elements like a garage.

 

[rwhite692]

I'm inclined to think that those of us in the drier (western) regions of the country with mild climates (not much temperature swing) could get away with it. I have seen this stuff surviving quite well even in residential bathrooms.....This stuff has come a LONG way since it first came to market in a big way in the mid 90s. There were a lot of problems with moisture back then...Of course the moisture resistance performance varies by brand...

In my case, I am building hobby cars only in my garage, it will never have dripping wet daily-driver vehicles pulling in. The only direct moisture that it would see would be an occasional spilled beer or maybe a splash of antifreeze...

I would think a piece of plywood would be needed under jackstands to prevent "pinpoint" compression damage, but I'm willing to do that...

I'd like to get a couple samples and test them for solvent resistance (gas, oil, acetone, laquer thinner, etc..)

Since you can get really good laminate flooring at deep discounts (seems there is always a pallet full that some builder is looking to get rid of on Craigslist for a buck a square foot or sometimes even less), floating one of these floors in the garage is mighty appealing.

I could do my 24x36 garage for about the same cost as doing a "good" epoxy job. And it would also feel a little less cold underfoot in the wintertime... AND...having a nice, rustic looking "wood" floor would look really cool, I think.

....I think I just might try it. -Rob

 

[Steve1968LS2]

because your home isnt quite exposed to the elements like a garage.

I'm inclined to think that those of us in the drier (western) regions of the country with mild climates (not much temperature swing) could get away with it.

I guess that's where my thinking comes from. Here in SoCal we go a lot of the year without using the AC or heat in the house. So, I would say the climate in the garage isn't much different from that in the house.

I could see issues in very wet/cold climates though.

 

[FunfDreisig]

...
now reason I bring this up is beucase in the process of building my garage, I will be installing a concrete floor, but the idea has occured to me to use laminate flooring, which can now be had very affordably, rather than a roll-on coating. ...

But does it come in a black and white checker board square pattern?

Funf Dreisig

 

[RonBou]

If you do this please post some pics. Very unique idea.

 

[Kevin54]

here's the deal: I have pergo in my house living area and the stuff is nigh indestructable. it's withstood scraping, scratching, floods, grit trampled into it, and most impressively, the constant, full-thorotte, powersliding-on-his-claws of a 95 lb fur bearing wrecking ball I lovingly call "the moose".

I'm glad to hear it holds up to all of that because we are getting ready to do a rather large room and have two dog. One with four huge ballmits. LOL!!!
I don't think I would want it in a garage though due to major wear from car tires and with the way the back of the laminate is, would wick any moisture and deteriorate rather quickly. It may be resistant to moisture, but is not waterproof. And with you being in New Jersey, you have to have salt, slush, gravel, grit, and snow like we have. One season of that and it would probably be trashed. I would also be concerned for something like black mold when water would be laying under and being absorbed up into the backing.

 

[Jononon]

It would probably work well in a woodshop, but I don't see it surviving rolling loads in a garage. As soon as the tongue and groove starts to break up (and moving a fridge-freezer over it, at a point where the substrate isn't absolutely flat, is sufficient to cause damage - ask me how I know ) the edges of the laminate start to crack and chip as the boards move against each other.

Isn't the more tried and tested route of VCT going to be cheaper ?

 

[kwb210]

I think I would do the wood in the areas around work benches, entry etc, then coat the parking area/work area with some kind of epoxy/paint/coating etc (lots of choices). I agree it is not to much trouble to drop a piece of plywood down when using a floor jack or jack stand, not sure what would happen with the oil, anti-freeze etc. It seems no matter how hard i try to keep oil off the floor, geez, there it is again! Kind of like carrying my dirty socks into the laundry room only to look behind me and see that I left a trail of dirty socks.

 

[JB740i]

I hate the laminate flooring in my house with two dogs. Not sure what brand since it was here when we got here but it was only 2 years old.

Any accident by them during the night results in a buckled floor. I need to get our house built and get moved out of here before they ruin the whole thing.