Garage floor leveling and finish - help please!

mothermachine

mothermachine

mothermachine

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Joined
8 Oct 2004
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Hi folks,

My garage floor is a bit of mess. There's no poured concrete or resin, it's just basically compacted soil that has been carpeted over - yes...really. The previous owner was an upholsterer and decided this was a good idea...! It actually covers most of the garage floor quite well but the soil edges are showing and we're getting soggy soil coming through - this is also where my drum kit is placed, in one corner, so I need a proper floor surface that is solid and level here.

The floor is quite uneven, so I'm looking for advice about:

1) how to level it quickly and cheaply
2) a reasonable finish that is safe to drive on to and park and also for general use (will have shelves, a drum kit and other items).

I'm currently thinking that I will rip out the whole carpet, attempt to level out the soil/ground as best as I can, lay down some kind of waterproof underlay sheets if such a thing exists?, then put *something* on top of that... not sure what. Ideally one single thing to do the whole job would be best...

Any advice would be very welcome!

Cheers,
 
randal said:
Dig down, membrane, hardcore, concrete?

Then when dry, seal and paint.
Click to expand...
YUP
Only way to be sure :D
Seriously do the above,although i would dig down,compact at least 6" of hardcore/all-in,membrane then 6" of concrete
If you plan on having a car drive onto it you don`t want to skimp on concrete
Possibly if you are into motors consider digging a pit??:)
 
:( That all sounds way, way beyond my feeble DIY abilities or budget for professional work. I mean the surface I've been driving on to seems totally solid, so I'm going to look further into this. There is a good chance that the bulk of the ground actually is concrete, with the carpet over the top, then the surrounds around the outside are soil.

I think I'm going to have to take the lot up and have a good inspection...
 
ANDARIAL said:
Seriously do the above,although i would dig down,compact at least 6" of hardcore/all-in,membrane then 6" of concrete
If you plan on having a car drive onto it you don`t want to skimp on concrete
Possibly if you are into motors consider digging a pit??:)
Click to expand...

This.

It's worth putting a single layer of reinforcement in the concrete too - nothing heavy, just something like A142 - to stop it cracking.
 
They can't have seriously just laid carpet over a dirt floor! A pic would be good, but I would be quite surprised if there isn't already concrete underneath.
 
Uther said:
They can't have seriously just laid carpet over a dirt floor! A pic would be good, but I would be quite surprised if there isn't already concrete underneath.
Click to expand...

Why not it's how houses used to be?
Our house before we renovated had a brick floor layed directly onto the mud below. 1890's style!
 
OK update! The good news is that there is concrete as a base foundation... phew. On top of this, across most of the floor, is some kind of MDF/chipboard in squares approx 1m square. On top of this he's laid a carpet and secured it around the edges with wood battons screwed down into the ground/MDF.

So.... given that, would my idea of removing the MDF and carpet and laying down rubber garage mat work ok? Ideally I'd like to use resin but that's probably some serious cost and would no doubt require a degree of leveling - I have no idea if this concrete base is level.

Will post a few photos shortly.
 
Photos:

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You can hopefully make out the grey MDF/chipboard sheets on top of the concrete, with the wood batons and carpet.
 
Last edited:
You could rip up carpet and board and put some of that stable rubber matting down - it's about 1" thick and 6x4 or 8x4 - just butt and cut - about 40 quid a sheet.

dave
 
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