Recommendations for an Old Garage

[Picklerick]

Hi Folks,

Happy to do my first post on this forum! I'm moving next weekend to a new home with a detached "garage". The house is from 1938 and it looks like the garage was made around the same time which is constructed out of terra cotta blocks. I hope to turn this into more of a workshop than a garage and don't intend on storing cars in the space. Just a couple motorcycles and 9 or so bicycles. It's just shy of 300 square feet, so not very big at all. I'm just happy to have a garage in Arlington VA next to a house we could afford!

Coming from a background as a bicycle mechanic I know the value of a clean and uniform flooring for a work space. The floor in my new workshop looks like it's got 40+ years of different sealants and paint spills and I'm trying to figure out what the best path forward would be. I'd prefer not to have to grind the floor or remove all of the paint. My guess is that the concrete would fail the moisture test.

With all of that, what would you recommend? Could I use Rust Bullet over the paint I can't scrape off? Should I got with a flooring tile or a mat instead?

There are a couple photos below, that show bits of the floor with the previous owners junk and such.

 

[Jack Olsen]

My floor was older -- from 1925, and had a two-foot addition hand poured to lengthen it at some point -- and that new section had sunk down. I also had ~85 years of oil stains from parked cars.

I found ceramic tiles on sale at my local Home Depot, and hit the concrete with a $50 power washer and filled the low spots with vinyl patching concrete (should have used self-leveling mix, but I didn't know any better back then). Even with all my ignorance about setting tile, it turned out great -- MUCH better than dusty, stained concrete.

.59/sf for the tile. Off the top of my head, I don't know the total for the thinset and grout and equipment, but I'd wager it was under $500 for the whole project. That was 9 years ago. I appreciate it every time I go out there.

 

[-Brent-]

Even though it's what you'd like to avoid, I rented a machine from HD and scrubbed the floor (I didn't have paint on mine) and then ground it. Afterwards I applied a densifier to stop the dusting.

If I were to do any more to the floor I would polish it.

Edit: FYI, my garage was built in 1945. The floor never had any attention until this past year.

 

[Picklerick]

Wow. I love the tile. I think that would work super well since I hope to do some minor metal fabrication work in the new workshop. I see it at regular price for around $.79 a square foot from the big box stores, which isn't bad at all.