Garage flooring options

[rivarama]

I am amazed to read how much people can do with their hands... besides changing a lightbulb and pleasing Mrs Rivarama, I am pretty useless with mine.

 

[safrane]

Spot and board the wall and it will only take a day, and a quick skim of board finish and some scrim of the joints and your done.

 

[lifes2short]

Spot and board the wall and it will only take a day, and a quick skim of board finish and some scrim of the joints and your done.

dot and dabbing an external wall with plasterboard probably not a good idea

 

[lifes2short]

I had a go at plastering a small ceiling and it looked like a relief map of the moon

that would be the "distressed" look then

 

[Wack61]

My hair had the distressed look as well

 

[safrane]

dot and dabbing an external wall with plasterboard probably not a good idea

Is it not the internal walls of the garage then???

 

[lifes2short]

Is it not the internal walls of the garage then???

the OP of question was talking about rendering, so I'm assuming it's the outside of the wall, otherwise your dot and dab is a good option for internals, although you can beat good old traditional wet plastering

 

[Wack61]

Spot and board the wall and it will only take a day, and a quick skim of board finish and some scrim of the joints and your done.

That's what I tried doing, it didn't go well, on my 1st house in 1984 I pulled all the lath & lime ceilings down in a 3 bed house and re boarded them , my best mate was a plasterer, I watched him , it was 10 years later I had a go at it and realised it's not as easy as they make it look

 

[rivarama]

Is it not the internal walls of the garage then???

It is for 2 internal walls indeed - airbrick. I could board them as you said - I would prob lose 7cm on each side which would reduce what is a tight space already (see picture). Will start w a couple of coats of white paint and see where it gets me. If I don’t like the result I will go to plan B eg rendering.
Will post pictures of the project as I go along.

 

[lifes2short]

It is for 2 internal walls indeed - airbrick. I could board them as you said - I would prob lose 7cm on each side which would reduce what is a tight space already (see picture). Will start w a couple of coats of white paint and see where it gets me. If I don’t like the result I will go to plan B eg rendering.
Will post pictures of the project as I go along.

why on earth do you want to render an internal wall instead of plastering, those look like dense concrete blocks to me which trust me will look shite if painted, below is photo of an airbrick, sorry that was bothering me

 

[rivarama]

why on earth do you want to render an internal wall instead of plastering, those look like dense concrete blocks to me which trust me will look shite if painted, below is photo of an airbrick, sorry that was bothering me

View attachment 57005

Point taken on airbrick LoL... my wall is indeed made of concrete blocks.
My original thought was to avoid plastering those internal walls as the garage isn’t heated and can get to low single digit temperature during the winter. I was afraid the plaster would crack as a result making it look horrible overtime. I am not sure the plastering could be done on those bare concrete blocks directly without some sorted of rendering first.
Now I am just totally confused... ****

 

[rivarama]

Scrap the above post. I watched a few dot and dab plasterboarding videos on YouTube - it might be the way to go. Thanks for all you input. Keep you guys posted.

 

[rockits]

You can get some really really nice painted finishes on blocks. We did it at my dad's old factory. We prepared it all so cleaned and a few base coats of thin emulsion then they came in and sprayed it. Looked awesome.

Was an off white base with different colours of fleck in it. A satin towards gloss finish. I am seeing him Saturday so will try to remember who we used or what it was called.

Much better than boring white paint and much less pain than sh1tty plasterboards. Although plasterboards are an insulator of course which is a bonus.

This painted finish was very very hard wearing, easy to wipe clean and much better paint than emulsion. Didn't discolour one bit in way over 15 years when he closed down.

 

[midlifecrisis]

Painting walls is probably the best way for breeze/concrete/thermalite blocks as Dean says. No real skills involved unless you're completely useless with a brush. No need for plasterers or boards, 3 or 4 tins of quality paint (maybe one cheapie for the Base Layer) and in a weekend it'll transform the place.

 

[lifes2short]

ok, here goes again, those rough cast dense concrete blocks you have will look terrible painted and make your garage look really awful, if we are talking about painting the smooth lightweight blocks such as celcon/thermalite then yes they will actually look rather nice if painted but only if they were laid neatly with nice smooth pointed joints. Don't waste your money with dot and dab plasterboard especially in a garage, if you want a hard wearing tough finish then wet plaster is the way to go, do it once and do it properly is my motto

 

[lifes2short]

I was afraid the plaster would crack as a result making it look horrible overtime.

if applied properly by an experienced plasterer it will last forever and not crack, assuming your walls are dry and not damp, looks like your garage is well built and dry

 

[zagatoes30]

A good plasterer is worth the cost, they know what they are doing are super fast and end up with a great finish. I can still see the difference between the room our good plasterer did compared to the one the council used when building a disabled space for our son on a grant (lowest cost gets the job contract). Always been in the plan to redo it at some pint but now we are moving it can stay as is.

 

[conaero]

Paint it, its only a garage...just my twopenethworth.

What about carpeting the lower metre so to protect the doors.

So, paint the blocks white or light grey, carpet the lower metre all the way round with charcoal or darker grey capet and spray glue it on, then add an Italian stripe at the top of the carpet and paint the floor with this, job done:

Leyland Trade Heavy Duty Floor Paint Frigate Grey 5Ltr - Screwfix

Order online at Screwfix.com. A hardwearing, protective satin finish. Based on polyurethane alkyd resins which have been designed to withstand spillage and repeated cleaning. Ideal for use on most concrete and wooden floors in garages, warehouses, workshops and factories. Touch-dry in 4-6 hours...

www.screwfix.com

You could also paint the upper section with a white versions of this paint as it fills the holes really well and reduces the coarse finish.

 

[conaero]

For an extra bit of 'cheesing' mark the 2 car bays out with this:

Facilities Management Products | BiGDUG

Buy high-quality facilities management products from BiGDUG. We have an extensive range of facilities management products for your warehouse or factory.

www.bigdug.co.uk

You can also get the red and green tape and do the Italian stripe

This company also do some very good soft interlocking flooring too:

BiGDUG Essentials Interlocking Vinyl Floor Tiles

Customise, insulate and protect almost any floor with BiGDUG Essentials Interlocking Vinyl Floor Tiles. Our hard-wearing vinyl floor tiles slot together just like a jigsaw, making them extremely easy to install. They're also very durable, so they have long lifespans for use in workshops and...

www.bigdug.co.uk

 

[EnzoMC]

I installed heavy duty floor tiles from PAF Systems / Tiles. These are great, heavy duty, easy to clean and chemical resistant - I've used a car jack with no marks or dents - would highly recommend.

only thing I don't like about any tile system is the movement in the winter, mine shrink a few mm which over a double garage it causes one or two tiles to buckle a little. I installed underlay on mine so maybe this causes them not to freely move ?

If and when I look to refurb the garage I'll go with what Mark suggested - these will look very nice, just need to check their resistance to chemicals / stains

I'm in the same boat too - I think I've settled on these non-slip porcelain tiles which seems to be pretty heavy duty, whilst looking good too:

Anthracite Dotti Commercial Tiles with R9 Anti Slip Rating | Trade Prices

Hard wearing porcelain floor tile with a commercial R9 slip resistant rating. Ideal for domestic or commercial use at trade prices from Direct Tile Warehouse. Free Samples.

www.directtilewarehouse.com