Cheap Flooring

[shadyru]

So I am about to take off for home depot and lowes but I am stumped on what I should buy for flooring?

-I am in a garage that is moderately acoustically treated (dont have the funds to go all out) a bunch of rockwall bass traps and diffusors

-I need flooring to go on top of the concrete in the garage (garage door no longer opens)

-My choices right now are linelouem, laminate, dri core, carpet or ???

- I would like something a little easier to install than laminate flooring (almost squares for easy snap)

-How is that rubber garage flooring for studio work?

- I want warmth, very easy to put together, floor is 16x15, and moderately cheap

Any suggestions???

[Ethan Winer]

Any of the floor materials you mentioned are fine, and even painting the cement you have now will be good. There is no advantage of wood versus cement or linoleum other than appearance.

--Ethan

[glassmaster]

Originally Posted by Ethan Winer

Any of the floor materials you mentioned are fine, and even painting the cement you have now will be good. There is no advantage of wood versus cement or linoleum other than appearance.

--Ethan

Another vote for stained concrete. Good looking and no maintenance (like a wood floor). If your garage floor is uneven, add a thin layer of cement to level it, and apply concrete stain.

[Jules]

Use trial and error.

Trial it the way it is, throw a second hand (persian looking?) rug over the floor and see how that goes first.. If all is needed is to stop a drum kit skidding around, get a big steel block or heavy v large brick (I used one covered in black gaffer tape - the 'Monolith')

A thin layer of carpet over concrete can work out great..

Just depends on the room.

Be a shame to buy and install a bunch of stuff and have sound worse that it was without it.

[Weasel9992]

Originally Posted by Jules

Use trial and error.

Trial it the way it is, throw a second hand (persian looking?) rug over the floor and see how that goes first.. If all is needed is to stop a drum kit skidding around, get a big steel block or heavy v large brick (I used one covered in black gaffer tape - the 'Monolith')

A thin layer of carpet over concrete can work out great..

Just depends on the room.

Be a shame to buy and install a bunch of stuff and have sound worse that it was without it.

I agree...use the money you would have spent to treat the room more completely.

Frank

[Glenn Kuras]

Stained concrete also looks pretty cool!!

[Disjointed]

+1 for concrete stain

painted concrete sucks

stain is relatively cheap, but a bit tricky to do yourself (use a good sprayer and a brush)

((i used a cheap sprayer - o-rings melted-, didnt brush, and i got a blotchy mess that i painted over anyway))

gl

[jdg]

the cost to stain about 800sqft of concrete floor was about $3k
that included professional sanding/grinding/priming/staining.

im sure if you DIY you could do it yourself much cheeper, but the process is not easy (esp if you have a f'd up floor already!)

in my garage->studio i put in cork floor. i hate it! shoulda went with the stain, it would have been much cheeper, just take longer.

also, DONT PAINT concrete! before the cork, it was painted (with concrete paint) and it did not last. they make special heavy duty concrete paint (for marine applications) but it takes as much prep as staining.

good luck!

[svart]

I stained 400sqft for like 50$ Got the stuff at Lowes. I used the "clearcoat" over the stain, like 4 coats of it. It looks cool but chips easy. I should have done the clear 2 part epoxy. I might still do it eventually.

[Paulonbass]

that stuff must smell pretty strong.

I'm sure there were fumes for a few days.

Greatful Dead anyone????????

Originally Posted by svart

I stained 400sqft for like 50$ Got the stuff at Lowes. I used the "clearcoat" over the stain, like 4 coats of it. It looks cool but chips easy. I should have done the clear 2 part epoxy. I might still do it eventually.

[svart]

it was water based mostly. Not much smell at all.

[Disjointed]

svart: you mustve used wood stain or something strange (which i actually tested on another piece of concrete)

it cost me about $250 in materials to do most of my 400sq' - like the stain in glenns picture, it is an acid based stain (muriatic), sprays our green and reacts to the chemicals in the crete, creating a beautiful finish, this stain will never chip, and sealed with a top coat to give it that glossy finish

this is who i bought from -concrete camo

gl

[alexp]

See this is what I need to do....

I have a concrete floor in my new place, and I dont have a whole lot of height in the ceiling, hence me not wanting to drop a subfloor and then flooring on top of that.

However, my concrete floor had lino covering it. I got most of it up, but some of it refuses to move, even after applying all kinds of solvents, and scraping till Im blue in the face. Does anyone have ANY ideas how to get this crap off of concrete? Sorry to hijack this thread, but I thought it may prove beneficial for anyone interested in going this route.

alexP

[Disjointed]

if solvents haven't worked (have you tried the right kind?, i think standard vinyl flooring glue nowadays uses mineral spirits as a solvent, or gas if youre feeling dangerous)

if not youre probably buggered...

you could always rent a concrete grinder, and grind/polish it smooth... it gives a nice exposed stone look

gl

[hduncan]

If you have oil stains on the concrete from cars, should you remove those before you stain the concrete?

[Disjointed]

yes, most definitely remove the oil stains... i believe the muriatic acid solution is mostly still water based, and the oil would repel it from soaking in and working

gl

[MichaelMackie]

If your room is low on absortion go with a spongy laminate.

[iyancrook]

It is done like this. I used the "clearcoat" over the stain, like 4 coats of it. It looks cool but chips easy. I should have done the clear 2 part epoxy. I might still do it eventually. It looks amazing and outstanding.