Workshop Flooring

[Dandan]

Hi all,
I've got a reasonably* smooth bare concrete floor in my workshop and i'm toying with options for covering it.
Originally my choice was between the cheap option of painting it myself (probably sub £200) which has absolutely no guarantee of lasting or being a particularly good finish, and the expensive option of getting someone to do it properly including grinding it back flat (around £1500) which should at least give me a perfect finish.

I think I might have found a middleground though, I knew you could get soft foam interlocking matting for standing areas, but it turns out you can get a thin, hard plastic version too which is suitable for covering a whole floor that is subject to quite heavy use, including moving machinery on castors.
I got a quote from this company http://www.paftektiles.com/ which was more than most at about £700 but some similar products are less than £500 for the coverage I need.
Pros I can see are it's versatile and can be changed based on use, I can lay it down in stages without having to empty my entire workshop.
Based on the condition of my slab I could lay this down with no prep in a couple of hours.

Does anyone have any experience of this type of product? I have to be honest i'm not sure i've ever seen it in the real world, would it stand up to mild abuse from a hobby woodworker?

*The floor is generally flat with an expansion crack or two, and small local pin holes but no major flaws

 

[LancsRick]

An alternative suggestion for you.

Stud out the floor, put in 50mm insulation, with 22mm chipboard over the top. Cost effective, hard wearing, nice to stand on. You can swap the studwork and insulation for EPS depending on the loads you will put on it.

 

[Dandan]

An alternative suggestion for you.

Stud out the floor, put in 50mm insulation, with 22mm chipboard over the top. Cost effective, hard wearing, nice to stand on. You can swap the studwork and insulation for EPS depending on the loads you will put on it.

Thanks but it's not really a useful solution for me, my workshop isn't too cold and I don't want to lose 75mm of height, my ceiling joists are at 2450mm so I can just about maneuver a full sheet around. Also I imagine that lot would come in around the same price as the interlocking tiles...

 

[paulm]

I recently sorted out the floor on my new workshop, sealed the concrete with Everbuild sealer to keep dust down and then added a few hard rubber interlocking tiles, each about 90cm square, where needed.

Works very well, these are much better than the cheap foam tiles, being easier to sweep clean, harder wearing and fine for wheeled equipment to move around. Got them from the local Bunnings (used to be homebase) and I can't recall how much but maybe ten or fifteen pounds each, but you only really need them in specific areas not over the entire floor of course. No point in having them under workbenches and static equipment etc.

 

[MattRoberts]

I've recently done exactly this. My garage had a terrible floor - very pitted and uneven. I toyed with the idea of grinding it all smooth, and also filling it with a self leveling compound.

I found a place that offered these tiles in recycled plastic. It cost about £350 to cover a 3x5m single garage.

I used an angle grinder with a diamond wheel to grind the worst spots flat, which was surprisingly easy to do, albeit incredibly dusty. After cleaning up, it was a very simple matter of laying the tiles. They interlock really well, and the joins are seamless on all but the most uneven of areas.

I'm very happy with the results, and it's proven to be very durable so far.

 

[Selwyn]

Ive painted mine with cheap floor paint from ebay. Used sbr diluted first to try and add a bit of longevity. I may need to paint every five years which is no hassle.

Considering some rubber flooring in some spots but at the moment i just wear Crocs!

 

[Dandan]

I've recently done exactly this. My garage had a terrible floor - very pitted and uneven. I toyed with the idea of grinding it all smooth, and also filling it with a self leveling compound.

I found a place that offered these tiles in recycled plastic. It cost about £350 to cover a 3x5m single garage.

Thanks Matt, that's exactly the kind of info I was after, do you happen to remember the brand of the tiles you bought? There are a million and one people selling them, all with proprietary interlocking systems so i'd be happier going for a brand that someone (you) has said fit together nicely.

 

[MattRoberts]

No problem. I got them from http://mototile.com/

Heavy Duty Interlocking Tiles - Recycled PVC - Colour:Grey, Tile Face Pattern: Diamondplate

 

[OscarG]

Whatever you buy, don't get the cheap Rolson ones. I've got those and they're useless. Too soft, nice to walk on and clean, but too difficult to roll mobile stuff around.