# Garage flooring question



## Gobuckeyes (Nov 28, 2011)

I have carpet in part of my garage right now. I know how weird that is but the previous owners were strange like that. Certain aspects of our house make my wife and I seriously scratch our heads, but anyway. My wife wants to switch the non-car area of our garage to hardwood. I saw a few other people on these forum threads ask about this Floors to Your Home place but they didn't seem to get any thorough replies or answers. Unless, they got the answers send to them through personal messages. If we do try them out and go with hardwood than are there any specific floor coatings we need to check out? My wife and I both appreciate the help!
By the way, off-topic but did anyone catch the OSU vs Michigan game this weekend?


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## havasu (Nov 29, 2011)

No I missed that game but did laugh quite a bit while watching the USC/UCLA game!


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## Pretengineer (Dec 5, 2011)

I'm no pro... but I have been spending the last few months throwing ideas around and doing research as to how I am going to finish my garage floor. I do know that if you plan on laying wood over concrete, you'd better make sure the concrete is sealed well... By that I mean the entire surface and not just the cracks. It's my understanding that, even though there may not be any visible moisture, concrete is very porous and has the potential to, over time, allow the passage of moisture through itself and ultimately accumulate between the concrete and the wood, rotting the wood right out.

Upon learning all that, I basically decided to resurface the concrete (since it has to be sealed anyway). Some amazing looking things can be done with concrete alone. So that's another option to consider (if you haven't already).

Good luck bud.


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## T2Vette (Dec 5, 2011)

Gobuckeyes said:


> I have carpet in part of my garage right now. I know how weird that is but the previous owners were strange like that. Certain aspects of our house make my wife and I seriously scratch our heads, but anyway. My wife wants to switch the non-car area of our garage to hardwood. I saw a few other people on these forum threads ask about this Floors to Your Home place but they didn't seem to get any thorough replies or answers. Unless, they got the answers send to them through personal messages. If we do try them out and go with hardwood than are there any specific floor coatings we need to check out? My wife and I both appreciate the help!
> By the way, off-topic but did anyone catch the OSU vs Michigan game this weekend?



I never heard of using hardwoods in a non parking area of a Garage.  I would think maybe a laminent type floor might be better especially if the garage is not heated and cooled.  If the floor is crack free I would think it would be easy enough.
As for the Off Topic question, why yes I did and loved every minute of it, GO BLUE!  A buckeye might be a tuff nut to crack, it just takes a wolverine!
:youmad:


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## Leo21 (Dec 6, 2011)

carpet in the garage is weird but i can't say i've seen a lot of hardwood on garage floors either. does she just want it warmer than concrete or what? there are some nice finishes for garage concrete floors if looking nice is all you and your wife are after. like was said before, if the concrete isn't sealed properly, it can cause a big headache. i'd suggest using a nice finish instead of hardwood but let me know what you end up dong because i'm planning on fixing up my garage too.

leo


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## kevin54 (Feb 29, 2012)

If you are set on using a wood product, it would probably have to be a laminate seeing that you can't nail down hardwood to the concrete. You could get the glue down type, but if it were me and I was going to do it, lay down some 15# felt paper for a vapor barrier and use a snap together laminate that floats. But beware, if you have a high moisture content in the garage, the laminate has a MDF backing on it. The only other way to use a true hardwood would be to put down sleepers, a subfloor, then the hardwood nailed down. The big box stores also have square panels that lay down that have a rubber backing for use in basements before you lay down a laminate. But depending on the size of your area, it could add up.


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## scotty76 (Jul 3, 2012)

You can apply epoxy clear or pigmented coating to the wood.


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## GarageHowTo (Jul 26, 2012)

I'm a little late to the party here, but maybe someone will read this and benefit. If you want a hardwood floor in your garage, are you really after wood or wood-look?

In the "olden days" you could buy cheesy looking vinyl flooring that "looked" like wood, but it actually looked, well, cheesy.  Today, you can find some very cool vinyl flooring that actually looks like wood.  My favorite is Kardean LooseLay.  It comes in 41.3" long wood planks with a 20 mil wear layer (it's thick stuff - see their website for details).  

The best part is that you just lay it on the floor in the pattern you want and you're done.  The edges butt nicely together and you can just pick it right up again if you need to.  It stays put because of the rubber grippy strips on the bottom.  

One thing you want to remember is that your concrete garage floor needs to be nice and flat. If you have holes, cracks, uneven spots, etc., the edges of the vinyl will not fit perfectly together.

There are likely other suppliers for this type of flooring, but I am personally familiar with the Karndean brand.  And, no, I don't own the company or stand to gain anything by recommending it.  I first spotted it last May when I was at a conference in Las Vegas.

Here is the website:  http://www.karndean.com/en/commercial-flooring/range-overview/looselay.aspx

Is it cheap?  No.  It runs about $5 a square foot, but you avoid the headaches of putting wood in your garage and you can easily install it yourself.

Best of luck!


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## havasu (Jul 27, 2012)

What happens to this stuff when you turn the wheel of your car without vehicle movement?


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## GarageHowTo (Jul 27, 2012)

That's a great question that will require some testing. I will let you know what I find out.

As an alternative, there are several higher end wood-look glue down products that would solve this potential problem. The next time you are in a newer Safeway store, head for the produce department and look at the floor.  That is an example of the glue-down product.


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## WrightAlan (Oct 2, 2012)

The best thing is to have laminate flooring in your garage.


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## oldognewtrick (Oct 2, 2012)

WrightAlan said:


> The best thing is to have laminate flooring in your garage.



Are you sure you wouldn't rather have shag carpet?


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## Chris (Oct 2, 2012)

I like epoxy myself.


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## imported_joeyg (Nov 8, 2012)

Quartz epoxy. 

View attachment 004.jpg


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