Garage Floor Coverings Styles and Options

Garage floor coverings come in many styles and options. The most commonly used garage flooring types are tiles and mats. They are durable, versatile and reliable depending on the material, price and makeup.
Garage floor coverings in the form of tiles come in three types – flexible, rigid and wood. Every type of garage floor coverings mentioned above can create a great garage floor if professionally installed. It is worth considering their differences as well. Most floor tiles snap together easily and are sold in various shapes, from square to rectangle.

They can be quickly removed if something goes wrong. A major advantage of having tiles for garage is that you can create various patterns of your liking on the floor. The tiles can be installed to make cracked or stained concrete out of sight as well. However, note that tile floors for garages are expensive – around $3 per square foot. This is more compared to floor paint on concrete, epoxy option for garage floor or mats like some owners prefer. The trade-off in this case is that installation and maintenance is much easier and quicker than other types.

Rigid floor tiles are made up of PVC. They are resistant to oil, grease and chemical spills found in the garage, and are strong enough to support many cars and trucks at the same time. Flexible tiles are sold in a variety of interlocking floor options for garages. These tiles are also easy to install and remove if needed.

A major advantage of flexible garage floor tiles over rigid version is that they are comfortable when walking or standing. Flexible tiles come in interlocking forms that are easy on the foot as well. They are not as easy to clean-up like the rigid floors but can withstand lots of traffic. These types of floors may not be suitable for heavy vehicles and machinery. But they make a great area around workbenches. PVC tiles that are flexible on the other hand can complement this types of garage floor tiles. All these garage tiles can be found in any color, in any pattern as well as profiles.

Wood composite tiles, originally meant of basement sub-flooring, can also be used for garages as well. The special coating underneath these tiles keep the top surface dry and clean.

Professionals will use either DRI core panels or sub-flooring techniques to install wood composite tiles for garages.

The panels have edges that hold well during installation. Most of these products don’t require special glue or tools to snap together. Note that, these wood composite tiles will expand and contract with the change in weather. However, professional tile installers will make sure that an appropriate expansion gap is left around the edges to allow this to happen without damaging the adjoining parts. For better finish, floor paint or polyurethane is used.

Mats

Garage floor mats provide years of protection to garage floors. They come in all shapes and sizes, such as roll-out flooring, peel and stick interlocking mats and so on.