Garage / workshop floor

[Dan Adamson]

Hi, looking for some advise or suggestion please on what to do with my garage floor, it’s a new build single car garage and the floor is currently concrete, part of main slab of the house throughout the ground floor.

The concrete is level to an acceptable standard but it’s not smooth it’s very rippled as if it’s been just finished with a board dragged across and not smoothed and polished.

I have my workbenches which are fixed in so either of the following options would have to fit / workaround the posts of the benches, not a huge issue but still a thought.

I’ve been thinking of either screeding on top of the concrete or buying those heavy duty (15mm) gym rubber flooring matting but then also thought of the resin option (know little to nothing about this method).

Anyone got and suggestions or advice which may be the best solution for a hobby workshop floor?
Thank Dan

 

[Sachakins]

Id go for the garage floor rubber interlocking mats or sheet rather than gym mats.
Gym mats are great for comfort use, but not so good if you got stuff on castors. Castors act as a point load, not ideal on gym mats as they are designed for more even loading. So something like a lathe on legs would really need spreader boards under them.

So does depend on what you going to be using tool wise.

See the differences here. Good info but shop around as these are great but dear I think.

https://www.tufferman.co.uk/collections/mats-flooring

 

[Sachakins]

and the floor is currently concrete, part of main slab of the house throughout the ground floor.

It may not be, as most garage floors are about 3-4 inch lower than the house floor if it's an integrated garage. If it's rough rippled as mine was you nay still need a skim of self leveling cement or to board the floor with ply then add garage mat flooring.

 

[Jaydee]

Hi. I’ve got PVC tiles in my single garage from the garagetileshop.co.uk they have made the world of difference. It’s quieter, and warmer underfoot. Nice uniform look. Easy to clean, and heavy wheeled equipment rolls nicely over it. It takes static loads well and doesn’t deform. I did use self levelling screed first so not sure how they’d cope on a rougher floor. If not too rough I think they’d be ok. I suppose you could try them first and if there was a problem you could take them up and lay screed.
Good luck with whatever solution you choose.

 

[flying haggis]

I have old carpet in my garage/workspace/dumping ground! When we had a new lounge carpet I re used it and the underlay, lovely and soft to stand on.

 

[sneggysteve]

These are excellent - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124252637543?var=427366653658

 

[simonridout]

I have used stable mats, they usually come in 1 metre squares , which can be interlocking or 6’ X 4’ rectangles. I used the latter, laid loose but constrained by a brick course all round. Once down they do not move due to their weight and can be cut with a Stanley knife (other brands are available). Sufficiently thick to iron out the rough surface that you described. Warm and quiet underfoot and forgiving to dropped objects.

 

[RobNichols]

Has anyone tried the Halfords floor mats:

https://www.halfords.com/tools/gara...ack-floor-mat-set---120cm-x-180cm-336870.html

At £8 for 6 panels that looks like a cheap way of flooring a workspace.

There's even an alternative that would wake you up in the morning:

https://www.halfords.com/tools/gara...red-floor-mat-set---100cm-x-200cm-336878.html

 

[Sachakins]

Has anyone tried the Halfords floor mats:

https://www.halfords.com/tools/gara...ack-floor-mat-set---120cm-x-180cm-336870.html

At £8 for 6 panels that looks like a cheap way of flooring a workspace.

There's even an alternative that would wake you up in the morning:

https://www.halfords.com/tools/gara...red-floor-mat-set---100cm-x-200cm-336878.html

They look like tha standard soft EVA foam floor mats.
They are warm and comfortable as a standing mat, but no good for point loads.

 

[MikeJhn]

Was your garage floor laid with a DPC underneath it? Makes a lot of difference to what you can do with the surface.

 

[simonridout]

I would be suspicious about those Halfords mats. I could not see the thickness in their description. You need something 15-20 mm thick to even out the surface irregularities.

 

[Inspector]

Look into concrete grinding. Either by a contractor, renting a machine and doing it yourself or buying an import machine and selling it when you are done. Once the floor is flat/smooth enough then you can decide whether to seal it and call it a day or put a floor paint/epoxy coating on it.

Pete

 

[BucksDad]

I have the linked Halfords mats for use with an above-ground swimming pool. They are soft and won't work well for machines

 

[Sachakins]

You can hire floor grinders if your floor is that rough. Then you can choose from a range of solutions.
It may not be cheap to hire, but it makes your flooring options wider and cheaper, so overall cost may be cheaper.
Done well, you could just floor paint it afterwards, then use the cheap eva foam mats just where you mainly work and push'em around as needed
So no need to do whole floor.

I suppose it really boils down to how often your in there and for how long and your budget.

But I would take out the benches, clear the entire floor and then cover the entire floor.
Nothing worse than changing your layout later and realising you got flooring gaps, trust me, as I did it that way original, and regretted it 12 months later and then redid the whole floor with one piece flooring.

Example of grinder hire

https://www.nationaltoolhireshops.co.uk/product/htc-gl270-floor-grinder-hire/

 

[Rewby]

When I smoothed my garage concrete floor I primed with SBR then used an exterior floor levelling compound.Lovely smooth finish and never cracked or chipped.Been done 4 years now and thats with machinery on castors/heavy use.

 

[Steve Blackdog]

Sorry to hijack this thread, but I am in the process of building a workshop with a concrete floor. I am at the pre-fit-out stage.

I wasn’t planning to go for an ultra smooth finish, but reading this thread, perhaps I should reconsider things. I was going to seal and paint the floor but not fill the ripples. Am I making a mistake?

 

[Steve Blackdog]

When I smoothed my garage concrete floor I primed with SBR then used an exterior floor levelling compound.Lovely smooth finish and never cracked or chipped.Been done 4 years now and thats with machinery on castors/heavy use.

Interesting. Do you recall the details of the product you used? Also how thick/deep is the compound?

 

[Dan Adamson]

Sorry for late reply forgot all about this post until Steve’s latest comment, with it being a new build it’s an already insulated and damp proofed concrete floor it’s part of the main slab for the ground floor of the house. The only issue is with it being a garage the builders just left a rough finish rather smoothing it over.

After some thought I’m going to screed the floor the smooth and then maybe paint it afterwards but it’s looking more likely a job for next summer so I can remove everything from the garage and do it properly.

@Steve Blackdog the smooth flooring is really only good so any machines on castors will move around freely and not rock on any bumps or lumps, I’d never actually bothered about mine until I built a table saw table and put it on castors.

 

[Steve Blackdog]

Sorry for late reply forgot all about this post until Steve’s latest comment, with it being a new build it’s an already insulated and damp proofed concrete floor it’s part of the main slab for the ground floor of the house. The only issue is with it being a garage the builders just left a rough finish rather smoothing it over.

After some thought I’m going to screed the floor the smooth and then maybe paint it afterwards but it’s looking more likely a job for next summer so I can remove everything from the garage and do it properly.

@Steve Blackdog the smooth flooring is really only good so any machines on castors will move around freely and not rock on any bumps or lumps, I’d never actually bothered about mine until I built a table saw table and put it on castors.

I’ve just had a look at resin based self levelling compound, which looks pretty good - very hard when it has cured and very smooth.

Not sure if this is any good but probably cost effective in the long run.
https://www.resincoat.co.uk/en/concrete-repair/323-resincoat-self-levelling-compound.html

 

[Old.bodger]

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/thread...ed-concrete-garage-floor.122106/#post-1348116