If you’re tired of looking at a cracked or stained garage floor, you have a couple of choices. If it’s only stained, you may be able to paint over it. You could have it professionally cleaned or repaired. Or you could look into garage floor coverings, like tiles made to cover garage flooring surfaces. There are a few different types of garage floor tiles: wood composite, rigid, and flexible tiles. Take a look at some of the important details about each different type of tile so that you can decide if one of them is right for your garage.
Wood Composite Tiles
You may have seen wood composite tiles used to cover basement subflooring systems, but they can also be used to cover your garage floor. They’re strong enough to support normal garage uses, and they’re also pretty easy to install. They come prepared with tongue and groove edges, which means that the only tools you need to put them together are a hammer and a block of wood – no gluing required. You’ll just need to fasten the tiles to the subfloor with concrete screws. You’ll need to make sure to leave a gap around the edges when you install the tiles, because the wood expands and contracts as the weather changes.
Wood composite tiles aren’t as well-protected as other types of tiles, so they require some type of finishing after installation. You can either use polyurethane, almost any type of floor finish, or a floor paint that isn’t water-based.
Rigid Tiles
Most rigid plastic tiles are made of PVC (polyvinyl chloride). If you’re familiar with PVC, you’ll understand why they might be a good choice for a garage floor. PVC won’t stain or wear easily, so if you change your own oil and do your own mechanical work, you won’t have to worry about oil, grease, or chemicals damaging your flooring surface. Like the wood composite tiles, these are easy to install – the interlocking tiles don’t require much in the way of tools, and you don’t need to be an accomplished handyman to install them.
If you want rigid tiles with a flashier look, you may also want to consider metal tiles. They’re more expensive, but they offer the resilience of metal along with a unique look and a range of colors and styles to choose from.
Flexible Tiles
There are several types of flexible tiles, from rubber to flexible PVC. Not all of them are appropriate for the part of the floor that you park your car on – rubber tiles might not stand up to that pressure, for example. But they can be used around a garage workspace, giving you a surface to stand on that’s easier on your feet than the harder surfaces. And if you convert your garage to a bedroom or workroom, you could use flexible rubber tiles for floor covering.
Flexible PVC, on the other hand, is certainly sturdy enough to support a vehicle. Like rigid tiles, flexible tiles are meant to clean up easily and are simple to install. They’re also easy to remove, so you can make changes easily as needed. Flexible tiles offer a variety of different styles and colors, so they’re a great way to update the look of your garage.
For more information about improving your garage from floor to ceiling, contact us for a free design consultation and estimate.
