Garage Floor Covering - Any Suggestions?

[eyeboy]

Hope this is the place for this...

i have a concrete floor in my garage and i want to 'paint' it with some sort of rubbery-no-slip material...

I've seen a few things advertised but somebody here must have the scoop on the best solution...

scoop away!

[MotoCreations]

Most of the garage floor finishes are some variation of expoxy.  Depends mostly if you are going to do yourself or if someone commercially is doing for you?

standard Questions: Do you need chemical resistant?  Self apply?  Condition of material beneath? One color or multiple? etc.

For the workshop area, I have started to love using those plastic snap-together grids.  They don't hold up well against liquids, metal chips, chemicals, etc -- and always look dirty -- but they are GREAT insulators from ice cold winter concrete floors that sap all heat out of your legs. (plastic w/airgap is better insulator than the rubber pads)  I buy a box or two a year and lock together around the mill, lathe, toolbox or where I know I'll be standing alot during the winter.

[lazarus7]

i renovated my fathers car shop 2 years ago for fathers day....
completely emptied garage, pressure washed and let dry.
acid etched concrete floor and let dry.
2 part epoxy paint, mix and roll on before it hardens/ sets....
2nd coat a couple days later.
done....
benjamin moore paint.
was fairly expensive, but has held up to EVERYTHING with minor upkeep....
used industrial grey, is plenty cool, and easy to spot dropped parts...
DONT mix any non-skid, grippy stuff in the paint;
it sucks on your knees when youre working on suspension, etc....

[Popeye the Sailor]

Paint it a nice, solid colour. It'll be easier to find the dang bolt you just dropped.

[jerryz]

In the UK most people use old carpets and change them when they get too oily

but pros use non slip epoxy paints  usually grey or light green to help with looking for dropped parts.

[WTSDS]

Anything is better than bare concrete. I have a couple of 5 x 8 foot 5 ply wooden boards found in a building site dumpster.

Whenever I move house they get chucked onto whatever type of garage flooring is there, and when it's time to move on there's no paint or oilstains, dings from dropping heavy stuff,  or centrestand scratches to repair.

If I'm doing some major mechanical work in winter I put a board down on the loungeroom floor and bring the 'bike or whatever indoors.

Wood is pleasant stuff to walk around on, and apart from an occasional sweep  there's no maintenance.



 

[hypurone]

I went this route. It is made by Race Deck. I looked at a bunch of brands. This was was the toughest. I got samples and then let my bikes' kickstands sit on the samples overnight without the pucks under them. Big diff between brands. Like another poster said, it fully insulates you from the cold & hard ass concrete. I can work all day now with out the aches and pains I had when working directly on the concrete. So far it has been impervious to: oil, coolant, ATF etc. Tho I usually wipe it up right away if i see it. Really easy to sweep and wet mop clean after the rainy season.

[eyeboy]

i'm planning on doing it myself, 'cuz i want it done right... lol.

i was looking at this rustoleum epoxy floor covering, 2 parts, one coat. pretty inexpensive. i do like the look of those checker-plate tiles though! looks pricey! nice garage btw!

[EEL]

Couple of things about an epoxy flooring that you might want to check the stats on before you purchase

1) Make sure you check the material's point load characteristics. The kickstands exerts a significant point load and can cause some epoxies to dimple and spall off.

2) Most flooring finishes are say non slip but only in normal conditions. If you throw in a puddle of water or other fluds you can many times get a hazardous surface. You generally want to get a place mat in all entry locations into the garage(except maybe the garage door).

[eyeboy]

Couple of things about an epoxy flooring that you might want to check the stats on before you purchase

1) Make sure you check the material's point load characteristics. The kickstands exerts a significant point load and can cause some epoxies to dimple and spall off.

2) Most flooring finishes are say non slip but only in normal conditions. If you throw in a puddle of water can many times get a hazardous surface. You generally want to get a place mat in all entry locations into the garage(except maybe the garage door.

good advice. at the moment we (GF and myself) each park our bike/scooter on a sheet of plywood, would probably continue to do so... the slippery-ness is something i will have to watch out for, i'm pretty spilly sometimes...

[hypurone]

i'm planning on doing it myself, 'cuz i want it done right... lol.
i was looking at this rustoleum epoxy floor covering, 2 parts, one coat. pretty inexpensive. i do like the look of those checker-plate tiles though! looks pricey! nice garage btw!

Yeah, wasn't cheap for the materials in comnparison to the paint-on stuff. I did the install myself, wifey helped with separating the tiles out of the boxes. They came in a four square of the same color setup, so had to separate them all so I could do the checkered flag pattern. Thanks for the props!