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It only seems at first that it doesn’t matter what the floor will be in the garage. As you begin to understand, a sea of nuances immediately arises. In the article we will talk about the advantages and disadvantages of the possible options and how to make the floor in the garage with your own hands.
What floors in the garage are better
In general, three types of floors are made in garages:
- Earthy. The cheapest option, but with a lot of disadvantages. It’s just compacted soil – “native” or imported – it doesn’t matter. There is no other coverage.
- Concrete. It is very durable and reliable, but it requires a substantial investment and a significant amount of time for its arrangement: sand and gravel bedding, waterproofing are required, and, if desired, insulation, reinforcement, a rough screed, on top of which a finishing coating is made. It can be different:
- finishing screed;
- floor tiles or porcelain tiles;
- self-leveling floors, including polymeric ones;
- rubber floors (rolled, slabs or in the form of crumbs);
- wooden (stationary or ladders).
These are concrete-based pouring floors, but there are also polymeric ones.
- Wooden. This option is good because it regulates humidity, in a garage with wooden floors it is warmer than with concrete or earthen. Cons – fragility, tendency to rot, high absorbency.
- Paving slabs. As one of the options for the “cold” floor. The paving slab floor in the garage is durable, easy to repair, neat and practical.
As you can see, there are not so many options. Let’s take a closer look at their advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages and disadvantages
Earthen floors in the garage are very simple to install, practically do not require material investments, you can replace a damaged section of the earthen floor at any time. This, perhaps, is all the pluses. With more serious cons:
- in dry weather they are dusty, in rainy weather they get wet;
- spilled can be removed only by replacing part of the coating;
- cold, there is no possibility of warming;
The earthen floor in the garage can be made as a temporary option or as a base for a wooden one. Such floors can be found in garages in summer cottages, where the car is located for a very short period of time. In major garages, they still make a more solid foundation.
The floor in the garage of paving slabs can be considered as one of the options for earthen. It’s just more practical. There are more layers during its construction, as well as more money is required for its construction – more crushed stone and sand are poured onto the ground, in which tiles are laid. But the functionality of this option is much higher. Cons – possible high humidity, and if the sand and gravel cushion is not compacted enough, the floor may “sag” in places of greatest load, and if the quality of the tile is low, it can collapse under the influence of aggressive substances, which are more than enough in the garage. Another minus is that dirt clogs into the seams, it is not easy to clean, and the problem of absorbency remains: paving slabs are hygroscopic.
The wooden floor in the garage does not suit everyone due to the fact that it is fire hazardous and prone to decay. Although, if the groundwater is low and the floor is done correctly, it will not rot. The fire hazard can be combated by impregnating the boards with flame retardants – agents that reduce the combustibility of wood. But these are not all shortcomings. It is also not very pleasing that dirt, spilled liquids, which have a far from the most pleasant smell, are absorbed into the boards. The floor of a wooden garage floor looks very untidy, and there is no way to remove all this from wood fibers.
The advantages of a wooden floor include the fact that they are warmer than the other two options. In addition, when installing a floor from boards in a garage on logs, the gap between them can be covered / laid with heat-insulating materials, which will make it even warmer. It is difficult to talk about the price: in some regions, boards, even thick ones, are inexpensive, in others they cost a lot of money.
The concrete floor in the garage is the most common and popular. It is durable and can be insulated. Moreover, just a concrete coating has not been left so often in recent years – many materials have appeared for finishing the floor in the garage, which make its operation much more comfortable.
The disadvantages of the concrete floor in the garage have already been named: this is a large amount of work, a long period of time required for its installation, a rather high price, even if you make a concrete floor in the garage with your own hands. If the final coating is the same concrete, then the absorbency of liquids and odors is also added, which are also impossible to remove. An unpleasant moment – concrete absorbs moisture from both the soil and the air. For concrete, this is bad – it only gets stronger, but for a car – not good. So with a high level of groundwater, it is necessary to make good waterproofing, and, possibly, a topcoat that does not let moisture through. A great option is polymer self-leveling floors or a rubber coating for a garage.
How to make an earthen floor
First, all construction debris that may accumulate there during construction is removed from the garage. Next, the entire fertile layer is removed. Completely all, to the “clean” soil without vegetation and roots. The thickness of the layer can be different – somewhere 10-15 cm, and somewhere 50-60 cm. Regardless of this, the entire fertile layer must be removed. It has a lot of organic matter, microorganisms, insects. Organics will rot, spreading the appropriate odors, and microorganisms – contribute to the appearance of mold, fungi, insects – are also not the best neighbors.
Having reached the clean soil, they level it, pour the same clean soil in layers of about 5 cm (you can dig a hole somewhere nearby or bring it in). Each layer is well compacted. Well, if there is a vibration platform, a roller or some other similar device. If not, you can make a manual rammer yourself. There are two options:
- thick steel plate, with a T-handle welded in the center:
- a cut of a log of a solid diameter in a crossbar-handle nailed at the top.
Each layer is compacted with this rammer. So, ramming in layers, they fill up the pit to the ground level, it can even be a little higher. The top layers are molded, creating a slight slope towards the door so that water that has entered the garage drains.
To create a more usable floor, the upper layers are replaced with clay, but it is very difficult to compact it, but it is necessary to achieve a high density. Another option is to pour a certain amount of gravel on the compacted earthen floor and drive it into the ground with a rammer. Here, most likely, you will need a vibration platform. But it turns out a solid foundation in which even the wheels do not leave marks. The advantages of this option also include the fact that there will be much less dirt in the garage.
On this, we can assume that the earthen floor in the garage is made by hand. Not the best option, but definitely the cheapest.
Paving slabs in the garage
The beginning of work is exactly the same: we remove the fertile layer, level and ram the soil. Next, add gravel. The minimum layer is 10 cm, and which one you get depends on the depth of the resulting pit. Just keep in mind that there will still be a layer of sand of 7-10 cm on top, and paving slabs, the thickness of which should be more than 6 cm. This is so that you can correctly calculate the height of all layers and bring the floor level to the required level.
Sand, crushed stone and all other materials are poured in layers no more than 5 cm thick, leveled, then rammed to a high density. A layer is considered compacted if no footprints remain on it.
To exclude or reduce the suction of moisture from the soil, a layer or, preferably two, waterproofing must be added to this sequence. It can be roofing material, other rolled waterproofing material, dense polyethylene film (density not less than 250-300 microns), hydro-vapor-insulating membrane. The material is spread so that one canvas overlaps another. The strips are glued together. If this is a film, you can use double-sided tape, if roofing felt or other similar material, the edges can be coated with bituminous mastic. Where to place waterproofing? Better, probably, between soil and sand, and also between sand and dry mix for laying paving slabs.
In general, for a garage, you can use a layer of geotextile. This is a non-woven material that is used in Europe in the construction of roads. It perfectly redistributes the load, and the floor in the garage will never sag under the wheels if there is geotextile in the pie. In this embodiment, it is better to lay it between the second layer of sand and the dry mix.
They lay paving slabs both on a concrete screed and on asphalt, which is also sometimes laid in the garage. Then a pile of dry backfill or sand 5 cm thick is poured, leveled, lightly tamped, and tiles are laid in it.
To make it easier to navigate with the thickness of the existing layer when installing floor layers in the garage, their dimensions can be beaten off on the walls of the garage. If the distance from wall to wall is small, these marks will suffice. If the area is solid, in some places you can drive in pegs, on which you can also mark with the thickness of each layer. This greatly simplifies the process. After all the layers are covered, the pegs are pulled out, the holes are covered with sand and rammed with at least the same peg.
Another trick: so that less dirt clogs into the seams between the tiles, the sand is mixed with cement, the gaps between the tiles are filled with this mixture, the remnants are carefully swept away. Then you need to take a spray bottle and moisten the surface well, leave for a day or two. If you see that somewhere there is cement on the surface of the tile, it is better to immediately wipe it with a rag. If he “grabs” you will suffer for a long time. Why not hose down the floor? Because the drops are too large and will leave ruts. From the sprayer, it is more mist that flies, not drops.
We make a wooden floor in the garage with our own hands
And in the case of a wooden floor in the garage, there will be no differences at the first stage: it is necessary to remove the fertile soil, level and compact the bottom of the resulting pit. Then it is fashionable to lay a layer of waterproofing on the bottom (roofing material, waterproofing, film, membrane), on it a layer of sand or gravel. Sand and gravel need to be compacted, but the density is not so critical, but it is important to bring the bedding “into the horizon” – you check how evenly the “pillow” lies with the help of a level, but not small, but not less than a meter.
With insulation
Logs are installed on this bedding – a beam of large section. Step – no more than a meter. It is advisable to guess so that the wheels of the car are above the log or not far from it, and the rest can be distributed as it will.
Before laying, the logs are impregnated with a protective impregnation against decay (for wood in direct contact with the ground), and then treated with flame retardants (reducing flammability). From decay, the logs can be saturated with mining, but their flammability will only increase. So this is not a very good option, albeit cheap. You can also use sleepers. They are already impregnated, but have a persistent characteristic smell.
Further, the space between the lags can be filled with insulation. The best option is polystyrene foam. If the budget allows, take extruded with a density of 35 kg / m3. It does not rot, fungi and microorganisms do not multiply on it, mice do not eat it. In addition, it does not pass or absorb water. In one fell swoop and insulation and waterproofing. The layer thickness is at least 5 cm, but 10 or more is better. If there is still room, you can fill in broken bricks, expanded clay. These materials are not the best solution, as they are hygroscopic (absorb moisture). Instead, you can use a new material – granular foam glass. It is many times “warmer” than expanded clay, does not absorb water, and does not have such a high cost. In principle, only foam glass (in granules or batt) can be filled between the lags. You’ll be fine too. But in any case, it is not necessary to fill up the entire space, under the very boards. A ventilation gap of at least 5 cm is required. Then the boards will not rot.
Boards are laid across the installed logs. This is an ordinary edged board with a thickness of 40-50 mm. When laying, do not try to lay them very tightly. It is better if there is a gap of 3-5 mm between the boards. That’s all, the do-it-yourself insulated wooden floor in the garage is finished.
Legs on poles
There is a variant of the “cold” wooden floor in the garage – on the posts. A layer of gravel is poured onto the leveled soil, compacted. Brick columns are placed on the gravel with the same calculation, so that logs can then be laid on them. The distance between the columns is about 1 m. That is, if the width of the garage is 4 m, then two columns at the edges and two in the middle. Since the distance between the lags is also 1 m, then such rows of columns are located every meter. After two weeks, the solution is seized and logs can be laid on the posts.
Roofing material is laid on each column in two layers. It can be replaced with coating with bituminous mastic (twice). If the height of the columns turned out to be unequal, pieces of wood, plywood and other similar materials can be laid between the lags and columns. It is important that they hold tightly, and the lags are set to the level. Next up is floor boarding.
concrete floor in the garage
The most versatile floor is concrete. And it’s not just about finishing it, but also about how it can be done. Speaking specifically about how to make a concrete floor in a garage with your own hands, you must first of all start from what kind of foundation you have. If it is a monolithic slab, there is very little work. If the surface is not smooth enough, it remains to fill in the leveling screed, and then proceed to laying the finish coat. If the differences do not exceed 1 cm per square meter, you can immediately lay any of the suitable finishing materials.
Layer order
With any other foundation, the beginning of work coincides with all those described above: we take out the fertile layer, level it, ram it. Further, also without news: we pour crushed stone in layers, ramming, the total thickness of crushed stone is from 10 cm. The next layer is sand.
But further – there may be options. If you want an insulated floor in the garage, lay the heat-insulating material. Better – extruded polystyrene foam with a density of 35 kg / m3. It will support both the weight of the screed and the machine. You can’t say the same for everyone else. You can use a bulk heat insulator such as expanded clay, but it is ineffective, and even absorbs moisture. Then under it it is necessary to lay a layer of waterproofing. Better – granulated foam glass. It has low thermal conductivity and does not absorb water. It is problematic to use ordinary polystyrene foam (polystyrene) and mineral wool – they can be crushed under weight, which will lead to loss of thermal insulation efficiency.
A film is spread on the thermal insulation layer, a reinforcing belt is laid on it. Here again there are two options: tie it from reinforcement (8-10 mm in diameter in 20 cm increments) or lay a finished metal mesh (wire from 6 mm with a cell size of 10 cm). If you choose a mesh, you overlap it with at least one cage and tie it together (with knitting wire or plastic clamps). Pour everything with concrete (M 250 brand is more than enough), level well.
To make it easier to level concrete in the garage, beacons are set at the right level. These are even planks – special metal, metal pipes, in extreme cases – wooden planks (they are far from always even, and even moisture can lead them). They are set so that their upper face is set to the same level. The distance between the planks is 40-60 cm less than the length of the rule. The solution is poured in portions. Leaning the rule on the beacons, it is stretched, leveling the surface. Gradually fills the entire perimeter. Please note that for the normal setting of concrete, it needs a temperature of about + 20 ° C and sufficient humidity. That is, it is better to fill the floor in the garage with concrete in the summer. But if during this period it is too dry, you will have to water the screed – a sufficient amount of moisture is also important. To make it evaporate less, the screed is covered with a film or burlap. If with a film, each time watering the screed, it must be removed and spread out. If burlap is laid, you can water from above. Under these conditions, the screed will gain its design strength in about 28 days. After that, you can already move on – lay the finish coating.
Another option in the video.