The garage floor is typically the most neglected and unthought about floor around your property –but it is the one that takes the most abuse.
Whether it’s through parking a car there, using the space for heavy storage, or if you’ve adapted it into a workshop – your garage floor takes a beating.
This effect is even greater in professional garages where you might be conducting multiple oil changes a day or adding various fluids to engines, dropping heavy tools and throwing up sparks from welding jobs. Here are our recommendations for how to protect your garage floor and keep your property looking great.
Matting Tiles
Laying matting in your garage is an easy way of improving the flooring. We’re not talking about an elaborate Persian rug here – you need purpose-built, high-quality garage matting.
The easiest type to install is matting tiles, which are supplied in interlocking pieces that can be arranged as needed. You’ll want a heavy-duty polypropylene model to provide a hard-wearing, anti-slip surface.
Tiles can be removed and replaced individually if you somehow manage to damage them, and can be easily wiped or sprayed clean to keep your garage looking fresh.
Epoxy
Pouring a layer of epoxy over your concrete floor is a great way of giving the space a more finished look. Epoxy is also a good stain and spill repellent, so you shouldn’t get any stains or discolouration that you might normally associate with bare concrete.
Epoxy is very hard-wearing, but can be damaged by using the wrong kind of chemical cleaners – so be sure to maintain your new floor with care and attention.
Because of the way that epoxy is installed (by pouring in a liquid form), any irregularities or slants in the surface of your garage will be emphasised – so if you’re on a slope or don’t want to spend money on levelling the floor, epoxy might not be the way to go.
Rolled Matting
Matting can of course also be found on the roll. It will be slightly more complicated to fit as you’ll need to measure precisely and accommodate any slight deviations in ‘straight’ walls.
Not quite as good as tiles, in that if you tear or otherwise damage the matting, you’ll need to replace the whole thing. Rolled matting is still a great way of providing a more comfortable, higher-traction and easily cleaned surface in your garage.
Carpet
It seems like carpet would be the last thing you want to use for your garage flooring – particularly if you are a professional and more likely to suffer from fuel, oil, AdBlue or other liquid spills – but you can get super-hard-wearing carpet that is designed with the garage in mind.
Use in conjunction with spill trays to make sure that any leaks and spills don’t leave a lasting mark, and a carpet can be a nice looking alternative to concrete.
Concrete
While concrete is not the most attractive surface, or comfortable to stand or work on, it is hard-wearing, inexpensive and easy to maintain.
You can make the space a little better by re-skimming periodically – filling in any cracks or divots caused by temperature fluctuation, impacts or heavy weights and covering up any pervasive stains and spills.
Freshen up the look and get rid of the boring grey by giving it paint – just bear in mind that you’ll more than likely need to give it another coat every couple of years.
