Flooring a garage

[xraymtb]

I'm sick of my dusty concrete floor in the garage and looking for something better. Ideally it needs to be comfortable to stand on, clean and easy to sweep and ideally cheap as well!

I've been offered laminate flooring for beer money but don't know if I can just lay it down or if it would need a subfloor or is it even suitable? What other options are there?

 

[mindthatwhatouch]

Laminate if its wood type finish will be slippery, especially with a bit of sawdust on it.

 

[Mike-W]

I had exactly the same problem,
i also know from experience standing on a hard floor is not good for my legs.
so when i put my workshop in my garage I put down ¾ " shuttering ply floor over a polythene membrane.
I actually screwed the ply to 2" x 1" roof battens spaced 18" apart that i put onto of the polythene that was laid down onto the concrete.
The battens were laid so that i had a gap from the floor of only one inch.
I have a very heavy bench sitting on the ply floor and a router table on wheels along with a cross cut saw that i can move around as i need to
(My workshop is fairly small at 10' x 8')
this works really well for me, its very easy to keep clean with a soft brush, the floor feels a lot 'softer' than standing on concrete and if feels less cold, no sign of any ware on the boards
My shuttering Ply was second hand (Douglas fir i think) so it was an inexpensive job.

BW
Mike

 

[Wildman]

seal the floor (paint) to prevent the dust and use duck boards job done

 

[Steve Maskery]

The floor is one of the things I got pretty well right in my workshop build.
DP membrane over the concrete. 50mm polystyrene insulation. One layer of 18mm OSB. Top layer of 22mm Caberfloor. It's not much more expensive than ordinary chipboard but it comes with a top layer which is non-slip and resistant to spills. It's a really good, comfortable, practical floor.

 

[xraymtb]

The floor is one of the things I got pretty well right in my workshop build.
DP membrane over the concrete. 50mm polystyrene insulation. One layer of 18mm OSB. Top layer of 22mm Caberfloor. It's not much more expensive than ordinary chipboard but it comes with a top layer which is non-slip and resistant to spills. It's a really good, comfortable, practical floor.

That sounds expensive! Perhaps I just need to paint the floor and get some rubber mats in front of the bench!

 

[JSW]

laminate-flooring-in-a-workshop-t92622.html

Mine has been down a few weeks now, no nasty slips so far, and much easier on the feet.

 

[yetloh]

The floor is one of the things I got pretty well right in my workshop build.
DP membrane over the concrete. 50mm polystyrene insulation. One layer of 18mm OSB. Top layer of 22mm Caberfloor. It's not much more expensive than ordinary chipboard but it comes with a top layer which is non-slip and resistant to spills. It's a really good, comfortable, practical floor.

That sounds expensive! Perhaps I just need to paint the floor and get some rubber mats in front of the bench!

I would strongly recommend getting something down over the concrete. If it's flat enough you can use flooring grade chipboard over a plastic DPC which is what I have and won't cost much. You will notice quite a difference in comfort and it will be warmer to the touch. Before I had the chip board I bought a 4' x2' anti-fatigue mat to use in front of my bench. It is a dense squidgy foam with a smooth surface and is really brilliant. I must have had it for about 10 years now and although it shows some wear there is clearly many more years of wear in it. At the time, I thought it was a bit pricey but now I think it was money well spent.

If you can't afford to do a reasonable job on the floor, a couple of coats of concrete sealant will solve the cement dust problem and an anti-fatigue mat will improve your comfort until you can afford to do a proper job.

Jim

 

[graduate_owner]

Cheaper than painting would be to brush on a coating of watered down PVA adhesive. I think about 5:1 is good enough (5 water to 1 PVA). You can use a banister brush to apply it, just slap it on and it really does seal in the dust. It forms a skin over the concrete. I don't know how durable it is though, but it would be cheap and easy to re apply to areas of heavy wear.

K

 

[xraymtb]

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/laminate-flooring-in-a-workshop-t92622.html

Mine has been down a few weeks now, no nasty slips so far, and much easier on the feet.

Good to know. It really is the cheap option given its almost free. What is yours sitting on? Did you put a DPC down?

 

[JSW]

Good to know. It really is the cheap option given its almost free. What is yours sitting on? Did you put a DPC down?

Laid it on some spare foam underlay for Lam flooring I had, it covers one half of the workshop as I said, where it ends and the car resides I chamfered the edge off and put a few screws in to hold the edge down, other than that it's free floating. If for whatever reason it perishes over the cold/damp winter it will go to the skip, which is where it was going anyway, few hours lost laying it I can live with.

 

[Selwyn]

Cheaper solution is wear crocs in the workshop! Bit springy so they help the joints

 

[tomf]

Steel toed crocs, now there's an idea. I would definitely buy some!

 

[xraymtb]

Cheaper solution is wear crocs in the workshop! Bit springy so they help the joints

To be honest it's more the dust that annoys me although I generally do wear Crocs in the shop anyway although I've never thought about why!