It would be wrong to leave a clay or unpaved floor in the garage, since the subgrade is not particularly strong and, as a result of constant loads and influences, will sag and deform over time. In addition, the soil easily absorbs various toxic substances and gasoline, so it will not be possible to get rid of the unpleasant odor in the box. Another thing is the wooden floor in the garage, this wear-resistant, attractive and durable coating will serve you for many years. Unlike a concrete floor, a wood covering retains heat better in the room, does not generate dust and looks more attractive.
Garage flooring requirements
Before making a wooden floor in the garage with your own hands, you need to study the requirements for such a coating:
- Wood surface must be resistant to mechanical damage, so it is better to choose solid wood boards.
- The flooring must withstand well the effects of harsh chemicals. For this, the wooden floor is treated with special impregnations, and also covered with protective compounds.
- The plank floor must be fireproof. To protect it from fire, the wood must be impregnated with fire retardants.
- The surface must be moisture resistant. For this purpose, the boards can be coated with oil or varnish, but it is worth remembering that when moving across the floor, your feet should not slip.
Important! When choosing the material and method of flooring, it is important to give preference to inexpensive and reliable structures, take into account the ease of installation and the duration of operation.
How to choose wood for your garage floor?
Before making the floor in the garage from planks, you need to choose the right wood for this room. Laying walnut and mahogany boards under conditions of increased loads, humidity and exposure to aggressive substances is impractical.
Give preference to conifers, as they have high wear resistance and strength. The best way to do your garage floor is oak. Due to its high strength and hardness, this breed will last for more than one decade.
When choosing wood, consider the following rules:
- to avoid deformation of the floor covering in the garage, use only well-dried wood (overdried or damp boards are not suitable);
- for the device of the frame from the lag, choose only whole bars without cracks and other defects;
- after calculating the amount of wood, always take a 15 percent stock.
How to treat wood before laying?
To protect the wooden floor in the garage on the ground from putrefaction and damage by insects, all wood elements are treated with antiseptics. Products must be primed before laying. The primer is applied in several layers. All products dry well after applying impregnation.
Sometimes antiseptics are applied only from the seamy side of the board. Sodium fluoride and borate-based mixtures are suitable for these purposes. An odorless white powder is diluted in water. After preparation and application, the composition does not change the color of the material, does not reduce its strength and protects metal structural elements from corrosion.
Advice! To protect against moisture, the bars are coated with water-repellent, deep-penetrating solvent-based impregnations. They create a protective thick film. Oil analogues are allowed to be used for processing only absolutely dry wood.
The floor in the garage made of planks must be protected from fire. For this, the wood is treated with fire retardants. These are special substances that increase the fire resistance of the material. Fire retardants are applied to logs and boards prior to installation. It is better to use formulations based on copper hydroxide.
Step-by-step installation technology
If you are making a wooden floor in the garage with your own hands, then the best option is to install a wooden structure along the logs. This will distribute the load evenly over the entire deck and transfer it to the ground. In addition, if insulation is laid between the lags, then the room can be additionally protected from the cold. Structures on the logs allow you to hide the defects of the base. Various engineering communications are laid in the space under the floor.
Note! Log floors are not suitable for low garages, since such a structure raises the floor level by 6-10 cm. In this case, the wooden floor in the garage is made on a concrete base.
Laying a wooden floor on a concrete base
The concrete base does not need any special preparation, therefore, work on laying the plank floor begins at any time.
At the same time, the following recommendations are adhered to:
- for laying, boards with a moisture content of no more than 10% are used;
- preliminarily arrange a frame of 50x50 millimeter bars, which are installed with a step of 400-500 mm;
- the lighthouse bars are laid first with a step of 2 m;
- for fixing to a concrete base, dowels are used, which are fixed with a step of 500 mm;
- then intermediate bars are laid and also fastened to the base with dowels;
- then proceed to the installation of the flooring;
- the boards are laid out perpendicular to the frame bars and attached to them with nails or self-tapping screws.
If the concrete base is sufficiently flat and does not have serious defects, then the plank flooring is performed without using a frame made of bars. Thickened floorboards are suitable for installation. Before use, they are impregnated with linseed oil to protect them from moisture and painted. After drying, proceed to the installation of the plank floor. The boards are laid along the entire length of the room and fixed to the concrete base with nails or self-tapping screws.
Laying a wooden floor on the ground
It is somewhat more difficult to install a wooden floor on a subgrade. First, the base is carefully prepared, and then the floor is laid in several stages:
- The ground surface in the garage is leveled with a hoe or rake.
- Next, sand and gravel backfill is performed. In this case, first a layer of sand with a height of 15 cm is poured, then an interlayer of expanded clay or gravel of the same height follows. If desired, the thickness of the gravel layer can be reduced to 10 centimeters.
- Then the sand and gravel cushion is spilled with water and tamped well. The best way to do this is to use an electric rammer (hand roller, vibratory plate or hand rammer).
- We lay the waterproofing material over the entire surface and put it on the walls to a height of 10 cm. The joints of the material are glued together with mastic or tape.
- Let's start installing the lag. For this, bars with a section of 100x100 mm are suitable. First, we install the timber around the perimeter of the room. It will distribute the load from the car and the weight of the entire flooring. At the corners, we fix the lumber with metal corners to each other. Using a level, we check the horizontal position of the bars. If required, we put cut boards or plywood under the elements.
- With the ends to the entrance to the garage, we also install logs with a section of 100x100 mm. The step between them is no more than half a meter. To fix them to the lighthouse bar along the perimeter of the room, we use metal L-shaped products or self-tapping screws.
- Pour expanded clay or sand into the resulting voids between the logs to insulate the floor of the room.
- After that, we start laying the floorboards. They are placed across the log and attached to them with self-tapping screws at two points. To make the floorboards fit snugly to the logs, holes are drilled in them for fasteners. To do this, use a drill, the diameter of which is 1 mm less than the diameter of the self-tapping screw.
Advice! Before laying, strips of roofing material are attached to the edges of each board using a stapler to better isolate the room and reduce cracks.
When installing a wooden floor on the ground, brick or concrete posts can be used as a support. This method is suitable for garages where the dirt floor is well below ground level. Thanks to the arrangement of the posts, they do without a sand and gravel layer and waterproofing. A distance of 800 mm is made between the rows of columns, and the pitch of the columns in one row is 300 mm.
Attention! So that the floor in the garage does not bend under the weight of the car, boards with a thickness of at least 5-6 cm are taken for its device. The floorboards must be covered with linseed oil and painted.
How to cover the wood surface after installation?
After assembling the structure, the question arises, how to cover the wooden floor in the garage? It is not worth leaving the boards without a finishing protective coating, since this way the surface will not be protected from mechanical stress, absorption of fuels and lubricants and moisture.
The following compounds are used to protect the floor:
- Covering the floor with varnish you get a durable, transparent and moisture resistant coating. For the garage, wear-resistant polyurethane-based varnishes are ideal. Such coatings protect against premature decay of boards, do not crack, withstand temperature and humidity changes, and do not lose their original qualities during operation.
- Painting the floor with paints increases the aesthetic appeal of the coating and protects it from short-term exposure to moisture. For boxing, organic solvent based paints are suitable.
The garage, like any other room, needs some finishing, albeit not as beautiful and expensive as in the apartment. For example, here you can insulate the walls, paint them or revet them with panels. They also often equip a wooden floor in the garage, because thanks to such a covering, the room can be made much more comfortable and warmer than in the case.
Wood is one of the most easy-to-work materials used for interior garage flooring. You can work with wood quickly, because the installation is quite simple. However, before exploring the information on how to create a wooden garage floor, you should familiarize yourself with other flooring options that can be equipped in this room.
Most often, for arranging the floor inside the garage, a cement-based construction mixture is used - a concrete floor is poured. This is especially true for such premises that are used very intensively and for their intended purpose. For example, in the garage, a car is often repaired and it is not uncommon for various technical fluids to get on the floor. It is the concrete floor that is ideal in this case - it practically does not absorb chemical compounds (if removed immediately) and is easily cleaned of them.
Attention! If oil or gasoline is left on the concrete floor for a long time, then they, absorbed into the pores of the concrete, can no longer be removed.
The service life of such a floor is more than 20 years, however, if during installation the pouring technology was violated, there is a risk that the base will quickly become covered with cracks and become unusable.
Porcelain stoneware slabs are also one of the most commonly used flooring materials inside a garage. They look attractive, are very practical and reliable. Porcelain stoneware does not absorb any substances, and therefore it is easy to put it in order just by washing. But the arrangement of such a floor will cost the garage owner a pretty penny - this material is very expensive, therefore only wealthy people usually use it. Also, all the work on laying this material is very laborious, and the material itself is considered somewhat fragile in relation to mechanical shock.
Attention! It is advised not to install porcelain stoneware immediately after the construction of the garage. It is best to wait about 2-3 years for the soil under the building to settle down a little.
Features of a wooden floor
If it is decided to carry out all the finishing work in the garage independently, then experts recommend using only the simplest materials, with installation and installation of which there will be no problems. One of these materials is ordinary wood, because even those who have only a general idea of construction and work with materials can cope with its processing.
The wooden floor is much inferior in price to the two previous options, both in terms of installation and in terms of the cost of materials. This is a fairly warm coating, which will be much more comfortable to move on, and in winter, if the garage is not equipped with a heating system, a wooden floor will allow you to better keep warm inside it.
On a note! A wooden floor inside the garage is relevant if the vehicle does not particularly need constant repairs, and it does not spend so much time inside the garage.
Advantages and disadvantages of a wooden floor
The properties and characteristics of any material can be divided into positive and negative. Knowing them, it will be possible to make the right choice and decide whether such a foundation is needed. Thus, we highlight the main advantages of using wooden floors inside the garage.
The disadvantages of a wooden garage floor are listed below.
Choosing wood for your garage floor
When creating a wooden base in a garage, it is the choice of wood as the main finishing material that plays a decisive role. It is important to approach the purchase of boards with full responsibility. The material should not be damaged, it should not have chips, cracks, knots that may fall out over time. It is not worth buying damp or old wood, darkened boards. The fresh board has a pleasant yellow color and a rich fresh wood aroma.
It is important to pay attention to the dimensions of the board: its thickness should not be less than 2.5-3 cm, and its length should not be less than 2 m.In this case, the stronger the pressure exerted on the coating by the vehicles standing on it, the more reliably you need to choose boards or lay them so that they do not bend. And the thicker the board, the greater the distance can remain between the logs.
For laying the flooring, wooden logs are usually used, which must also be quite strong and of high quality. Usually it is a thick beam with a thickness of 10x10 cm. Also, for the installation of a wooden floor, concrete pillars can be used, or the planks are laid directly on a concrete base.
Attention! Before making a purchase, it is important to make all the calculations and calculate the required number of boards so that later you do not have to buy them additionally and spend money on transportation again. Calculations are made based on the area of the room. It also calculates the amount of fasteners - nails, metal corners, etc.
Grooved plank floor
The best material for finishing a garage floor is a tongue-and-groove board, which has special connecting elements - grooves and protrusions. During the laying of the flooring, their presence will make it possible to firmly connect the individual elements and reduce the risk of crevices.
Prices for tongue-and-groove floorboards
tongue-and-groove floorboard
Chipboard or plywood floor
As a material for creating a wooden base in the garage, you can use sheets of plywood or chipboard. But the laying of these materials can only be done on a concrete base. Otherwise, the floors may break. In this case, the strength of the flooring will directly depend on the thickness of the plywood or chipboard. So in this case, it is better to buy thicker versions of the material, and preferably those that will not allow moisture to pass through. It is best to paint these types of flooring after installation.
Attention! Chipboard does not like temperature changes, so it is not recommended to use it in a garage that does not have heating.
Table. Ways of arranging a wooden floor.
| Option for creating flooring in the garage | Description |
|---|---|
| The most common and best option for arranging a wooden floor inside a garage is installing boards on wooden logs. In this case, the entire support of the flooring will fall on them. In turn, the logs are installed on any base - concrete floor or soil. The bars are attached over the entire area of the subfloor - it is most convenient to connect them together with the help of metal corners. The installation of the latter is carried out so that they are located parallel to the entrance to the garage and have a maximum step of 50 cm. The main disadvantage of laying the floor on logs is that in this case the level of the base rises. Here you need to consider how the entrance to the garage will be equipped as a result. Otherwise, an uncomfortable step may result. |
| This option is suitable if the concrete screed is already poured in the garage. Previously poured concrete is covered with material. However, experts recommend even in this case to create a base from the lag. Dowels or anchors will help to fix the boards to the concrete screed. But the laying of the tree can only be done on a flat base. If it is severely bent or damaged, it is preliminarily recommended to fill it with a self-leveling mixture so that the floor level is the same everywhere. Otherwise, the boards or plywood may simply break. Also, the installation of boards cannot be carried out on top of a wet screed. |
| If a sub-floor is already made of wood in the garage, then it can be simply strengthened and decorated with clean fresh planks. In this case, the floors become much stronger and can withstand significant loads. The boards are fixed with fastening material and are positioned perpendicular to those previously laid. Installation can only be carried out on a solid base. If the subfloor is partially damaged or destroyed, it is better to dismantle it and rebuild it. |
| Wooden floors can also be installed over the ground. Before starting work, the fertile layer is removed, the soil is covered with sand, gravel-sand mixture or expanded clay. The poured material is carefully compacted. The method resembles the installation of a floor on logs, only in this case it is imperative to equip concrete or brick supports for them. Also in this case, the laying of insulation and waterproofing material is especially important. Otherwise, the floors will be cold and will rot quickly when exposed to moisture from the ground. |
Chipboard (particle board) prices
DIY wooden floor in the garage
Let's consider in stages how the installation of a wooden floor in the garage is carried out. Work begins with preparation. First of all, the preparation of the base is carried out. This, depending on the selected type of arrangement of a wooden floor, can be filling the screed, arranging a sand cushion, leveling the finished base with a self-leveling mixture. All construction waste is also removed, there should be no interior items in the garage, etc.
Thermal insulation with an ecowool floor is another possible option
If the installation of brick foundations or concrete posts is required, then when placing them, it is necessary to focus on where the car will be placed. This will help you navigate where the strength of the floor should be maximized. The distance between each column should not exceed 1 m. If the base is concrete, then there is no need to install supports - it is enough to put logs on top.
Features of installing a wooden floor in the garage
Before starting work, it is important to study and take note of the following rules. They will help you to lay the board as efficiently as possible.
- The lags are always installed perpendicular to the direction of the vehicle exit from the garage.
- A compensation gap of several centimeters wide should remain between the wall and the flooring, so that in the future, when the level of humidity and temperature changes, the boards do not deform.
- There is also a gap of 3 cm between the lags and the wall.
- The floorboards must be secured in the direction of travel of the car inside the garage.
- All wood materials are treated with protective agents prior to installation. Otherwise, they will quickly deteriorate.
- The moisture content of the board should be around 12%. Do not stack raw material.
- The logs or base of the floor must be strictly horizontal and leveled.
- The area under the deck must be ventilated.
Installation of wooden floors in the garage
Step 1. Before use, floorboards and future logs are treated with means that protect them from moisture or decay. The material dries well, it is advisable to do it outdoors under the sun.
Step 2. Roofing material is cut into small strips, which are then nailed with a stapler to the ends of the boards, the lag and to those places that will contact the concrete supports.
Step 3. The boards that will be used as logs are installed with an edge on a base partially covered with sand inside the garage. They are stacked on timber supports installed along the walls of the garage. Fastening to the base is done with galvanized tape.
Step 4. Sand is poured into the voids between the boards and compacted. Then the sand is well leveled.
Step 5. Floor boards are laid across the edge-mounted boards. They will be oriented in the direction of travel of the machine. In this case, laying is carried out from the edge of the inspection pit to the walls. The boards are nailed to the logs with nails. Individual boards are tightly adjacent to each other.
Step 6. If necessary, all boards and beams can be sawed in accordance with the taken measurements of the room.
Attention! All work on sawing boards is best done in goggles and a respirator.
Step 7. After finishing work on laying the boards, their surface should be painted or varnished in order to protect the wood coating.
Video - Installation of a wooden floor
Floor surface treatment
Table. How to cover a wooden floor?
| Means | Description |
|---|---|
| It allows you to preserve the natural color of the wood, but at the same time forms a film on the surface, which will protect the material from moisture. The material does not crack when the temperature changes, is very stable, does not deteriorate for a long time. |
| It will help to give the floor absolutely any color. Protects the surface from moisture ingress. However, paint can peel off over time and does not hold as well as varnish. |
| This tool protects the boards from insects, fungi, etc. Among them there are those that have fire-fighting properties. |
Advice! A solution of silicate glue (for 1 liter of water - 400 g of glue), copper sulfate (100 g for 10 liters of water) or boric acid (50 g for 5 liters of boiling water with the addition of 1 kg of salt) will help to replace the antiseptic.
Insulation of floors
It will not be superfluous to insulate the floors during the creation of the flooring. To do this, not only moisture-proof, but also heat-insulating material is placed under the floor between the logs. It can be polystyrene, mineral wool, etc. The work of laying pieces of insulation is simple, but it will allow, by slightly increasing costs, to create a warmer floor in the garage, which will undoubtedly respond a hundredfold in winter, when the issue of preserving heat energy inside the garage is particularly acute.
A wooden garage floor is one of the easiest and fastest ways to create a solid, reliable and durable base. The main thing is to carry out all work according to the rules and in accordance with certain requirements, and then the flooring from the boards will serve faithfully for many years.
The arrangement of the garage has many nuances, as an example - the choice of flooring for the room. Many car owners prefer to make a concrete screed, appealing to the strength and durability of such a coating. At the same time, wood flooring also has many advantages, which our article will tell you about.
To understand what is best for your garage, you need to familiarize yourself with the positive and negative sides of this option.
Advantages of wooden garage flooring:
- Ease of installation, you can do all the work yourself.
- Durability of the coating - with appropriate treatment, such floors will last no less than concrete ones.
- Easy replacement of worn parts and repair.
- Health safety when working on the floor.
- Wood absorbs excess moisture from the air, which means it contributes to the long-term operation of the car body and engine.
In addition, dust does not form on such floors - a characteristic feature of a concrete screed. They are more environmentally friendly and safer to operate, and after processing they also become very practical. At the same time, this option is not always acceptable, because there are also negative aspects of use.
Disadvantages of a wood floor:
- Lubricants and moisture are easily absorbed into the structure of the tree. This problem can be partially solved by using a special coating.
- A tree untreated with an antiseptic is a tasty morsel for all kinds of pests.
- Wooden boards are susceptible to rotting and the formation of mold and mildew, especially in unheated rooms.
- The fire hazard of such premises is higher than when using flooded floors.
Having weighed all the pros and cons of such a coating, you can safely proceed with the installation. From a cost point of view, this will turn out to be a little more expensive than a cement screed, but the costs will pay off with interest. If we consider the concrete floor with a special polymer coating on top, then the installation of wood does not seem so expensive.
Installation of wooden floors in the garage
The garage floor must be able to withstand increased loads. First of all, this is the weight of the car itself, therefore, to complete the work, it is necessary to purchase the thickest beams and boards. It is quite possible to make such a coating on your own, this process will take less time and effort than pouring a concrete base.
There are the following options for creating wood floors:
- Planking on a concrete floor.
- Making floors from scratch.
If in the first option it is necessary to make a minimum of effort, then the technology of creating floors from the very beginning requires more detailed consideration.
Making a wooden floor in the garage
The preliminary work does not take much time. It is necessary to remove the layer of earth in place of the future floors. A sand-gravel "cushion" is also used to strengthen the flooring. It must be well tamped, if necessary using special equipment. Layer height - 15 - 20 cm, after which it is necessary to provide waterproofing. For this, roofing material, dense film or any other material with suitable characteristics is used. Further work is detailed below.
Algorithm for installing wooden floors:
- The basis of the design is props for the lags. You can make them from bricks laid on a previously concreted surface. A layer of gravel and sand is necessarily poured into the dug holes, after which the supports are concreted.
- The second option is much easier - to make concrete piles. To do this, two layers of roofing material are placed in the pits, and then they are poured with a concrete mixture. It is also desirable to perform metal reinforcement. The dimensions of the pits are 40 × 40 cm, and the depth should be at the level of the foundation.
- All posts and piles must be at the same level.
- The extreme ends of the beams are located on the basement of the foundation by at least 10 cm. The first row of supports is laid at a distance of no more than 50 cm from the walls, the next step is no more than one meter. The best option - floor logs are located every 50 - 60 cm.
- Supports must be positioned perpendicular to the vehicle entrance. The flooring is carried out in parallel. To strengthen the structure, you can perform preliminary strapping around the perimeter of the room.
- After this, insulation is performed. The materials used are varied. The most popular insulation materials are glass wool, polystyrene foam and expanded clay pillow. Insulation also needs waterproofing on both sides.
- After installing the insulation, you can perform the final sheathing with floorboards. They are installed as tightly as possible to each other and are attached to self-tapping screws.
For the flooring, a board with a thickness of at least 50 mm is used. Beams for supports can be taken from 150 - 200 mm in cross section. Sleepers are optimal for these purposes, the installation of which must be carried out on the edge.
Inspection pit in a garage with a wooden floor
For convenient inspection and repair of the car is used. For a concrete floor, this nuance must be thought out at the initial stage. Making a viewing hole in an existing room with wooden floors is much easier than hollowing out concrete.
Algorithm of work:
- At the marked place, it is necessary to dig a pit of sufficient size.
- A gravel pad is poured onto the bottom, at least 20 cm high.
- Lay out the pit walls with silicate bricks. To save money, it is installed on the edge.
- The height of the masonry is up to the level of the log. If necessary, concrete is poured into the void formed between the bricks and the ground. You can also consider the possibility of insulation.
- The outermost part of the masonry will serve as an additional support for the flooring.
- Around the perimeter of the hole, a frame is made from a metal corner, on which the hatch cover will rest.
The execution of a viewing pit on an already existing wooden floor will be similar to the above algorithm, only first it will be necessary to cut out the pit hatch in the flooring. All of the above works are carried out sequentially. Of course, for objective reasons, this is more complicated than the described algorithm, but if we compare it with the laboriousness of the process of gouging out a concrete screed, it is quite feasible.
Wood protection
An important factor in durability is the use of special compounds. They are able to increase the waterproofing properties, scare off rodents and make the material resistant to decay.
There are such types of impregnations:
- Wood varnishes will protect against abrasion and make the surface non-absorbent.
- Paints form a fairly durable protective barrier and additional decorative design.
- Antiseptics help to cope with the formation of fungus inside the wood, and also repel pests.
Coating is also associated with some peculiarities. First of all, it is necessary to dry the surface well, treat it with antiseptic compounds, and only then proceed to coating with paint or varnishes. By the way, when choosing these materials, give preference to floor paints and varnishes that are resistant to abrasion.
Can plywood and chipboard be used?
At the final stage of work - finishing the floor, plywood or chipboard sheets are often used. It will cost much less than wooden planks, but is such a savings worthwhile? In general, the use of wood - shaving materials is completely justified, but it is necessary to use modern analogues that are resistant to moisture and mechanical damage.
Features of a wooden floor in a garage
Any business has its own secrets, so it is not surprising that when laying floors it is necessary to rely on the experience of predecessors. This will save you from common mistakes and will allow you to get the job done as reliably as possible.
Editing secrets from professionals:
- Be sure to calculate the location of the floor beams under the wheels of the car. This will significantly reduce the load on the floor. By the way, for these purposes, you can provide a material of a larger section.
- The gap between walls and beams - supports must be made at least 2 - 3 cm. Otherwise, shrinkage and deformation are possible.
- It is necessary to use only dry wood, otherwise there is a high risk of further deformation.
- For ease of use, you can use strips of roofing material or thick rubber installed in place of the car wheels. This will make cleaning easier and provide extra durability for the cover.
- Homemade impregnation recipes are also often used to protect wood. To do this, you can take silicate glue (400 grams per liter of water), copper sulfate (100 grams per 10 liters), as well as boric acid (50 grams of substance per 1 kg of salt and 5 liters of water).
The flooring is extremely important, because the convenience of use and the durability of the structure depend on it. Wood is often used for flooring in a garage, so it is useful to know its advantages and disadvantages. If you plan to carry out the coating yourself, our advice and a detailed work algorithm will definitely come in handy.
If you decide to equip the floor in the garage, then there are several options for making it yourself. The most popular of these are wood and concrete floors. There is a lot of disagreement among car enthusiasts about which option to use.
In this article, we will show you how to make a wooden garage floor and why it is better than concrete.
Features of a wooden floor
The first half of people consider a wooden floor for a garage to be the best option, and the second part, on the contrary, is categorically against the use of this material.
If you decide to make such a coating, you should familiarize yourself with its pros and cons:
- Wood has good durability, especially if treated with impregnation. For many, it has been lying for decades, without the appearance of signs of rot.
- You can easily redo and update the entire coating in case of damage.
- A big plus is the ability of wood to absorb moisture from the air, so the car body will remain intact for longer and will not rust.
- It is safer to work on wood flooring than cold concrete. Therefore, this option is often chosen if you plan to repair the car yourself.
- In terms of strength, when using thick floorboards and beams, a wooden floor is not inferior to a concrete screed, it can be used even for small trucks.
- Ease of installation, it is much easier to find good workers than to fill the screed, which can crack if the technology is violated.
- Unlike concrete, wood does not generate dust.
The disadvantages of wood include:
- Absorption of odors from car oils, this is especially strongly felt when the heating is turned on.
- Susceptibility to decay, rats and microorganisms.
- Wood itself is a fire hazardous material, and after impregnation with flammable liquids, it will become even less safe. Therefore, welding will not be possible in the garage.
Installation of wooden floors in the garage
We will tell you how to make wooden floors in a garage using the example of installation on the ground. To do this, you need to use the technology of flooring on the ground. It is shown in the diagram.
Installation of posts
- To do this, you first need to remove the fertile soil layer from the inside of the foundation and make a preparation from a sand-gravel mixture and clay. Tamp down the fill layer thoroughly.
- The edges of the beams will rest on the sides of the foundation, and posts from the posts will be made between them.
- To install the posts, dig holes for them 40 * 40 cm, with a depth equal to the deepening of the main foundation.
- The first row from the wall must be installed with an indent of 50 cm, and the distance between the rest of the supports should be no more than 100 cm.The distance between the beams is 50-60 cm.
- Pour a 15-20 cm layer of coarse gravel at the bottom of each hole.
- Fill the hole with concrete with fine gravel to ground level.
- When the concrete hardens, lay red brick columns (2-3 rows will be enough). They will become the basis for laying beams, try to make them as equal in height as possible.
- Be sure to lay a layer of roofing felt waterproofing between the concrete and the brick and on top of the props.
- The remaining open clay is closed with a waterproofing made of polyethylene film or roofing material. Although there will be no water, the moisture from the ground will become high.
Advice! Calculate the position of the posts so that they are under the wheels of the car during parking and arrival. Also in these areas, use stronger beams if possible and increase the number of struts.
Also, instead of brick posts for props, you can use homemade flood piles.
Their manufacturing technology is very simple:
- A 200 mm hand drill is used to make holes of the required depth.
- A pipe is rolled up from roofing material in several layers inside the pit.
- Reinforcement with a triangle is inserted inside and poured with concrete at the level.
Installation of beams
Since the load from the car on the floor in the garage will be high, it is better to use a thick beam of 150-200 mm for the beams, or sleepers.
They need to be laid with an edge to increase rigidity.
- Logs are installed perpendicular to the entrance, and the flooring, on the contrary, along the movement.
- It is necessary to fix them steadily at exactly the level. If necessary, you can make shims to correct the slope of the floor.
- Do not forget to keep a 2-3 cm gap between the log and the wall.
- From the edges for the beams, there must be supports of at least 10 cm (grillage, plinth or posts).
- Installation can be done both directly and with preliminary strapping around the perimeter.
- Free space should be left under the beams for free air circulation.
Warming
- If it is necessary to insulate the garage, first the subfloor is laid on the beams.
- The next layer is waterproofing made of polyethylene film.
- Almost any filling, sheet or roll material can be used as insulation. The most effective and popular among them are extruded polystyrene foam and mineral wool.
- From above, the insulation is covered with waterproofing and sheathed along the logs with a floorboard (final floor).
Laying the floorboard
Do-it-yourself wooden floors in the garage are best made from 50 mm thick floorboards. A medium-sized garage will require about 1-1.3 cubic meters of wood, and the price of each cube is 7,000 rubles, which means that you will spend about 7-9 thousand rubles on floor cladding. When buying boards, it is important to take only dry wood, otherwise after laying large gaps in the floor will appear, and it may deform.
Advice! To make cleaning the floor easy and increase durability, place strips of roofing material or rubber tape under the wheels of the car.
Observation pit
A viewing hole for a car can also be arranged in a wooden floor.
Instructions for its construction:
- Dig a pit of the required depth and lay out a rectangle of brick (laid flat, perpendicular to the future walls) on its bottom.
- Then you need to lay out the walls of the inspection pit made of silicate bricks, laid with an edge.
- The void obtained after laying the walls between the bricks and the ground, as the height increases, must be poured with concrete.
- When the masonry is above ground level, you can continue to lay the brick on the masonry. Thus, you need to bring the height of the masonry to the level of the lag.
- The floorboards will partially rest on the masonry, and the frame is laid on the rest of the corner with a shelf inward (see photo below). Planks will fit into it to close the pit.
Planking on a concrete floor
If you already have a concrete base in your garage, and you have not yet decided how to cover the cold floor, then you can lay board flooring on it. The tree will be much warmer and more comfortable to work even in winter.
In this case, it is advisable to leave the ramps under the wheels of the car 40-50 cm wide, and cover the rest with wood.
Before laying the boards, you need to put a roofing material waterproofing. Additionally, it is recommended to treat the boards with impregnations.
The boards are laid along the entire length of the garage and are fastened together with nails or self-tapping screws for reliability.
It is not necessary to lay all the boards close to each other, if there are gaps of up to 5 mm, that's okay, they are even sometimes made on purpose. This will make it easier to clean, but if you drop something small, it will be difficult to get it out of the gap.
Conclusion
Wooden flooring in the garage remains a rather controversial solution, which has its pros and cons. The choice depends on your needs. If you need to work often in the garage, then it is better to choose this option so as not to spoil your health, lying on cold concrete.
More details about the device of a wooden floor in the garage are shown in the video in this article:
Some box owners do not pay much attention to the flooring in the garage, preferring to leave compacted soil or clay. This approach will save you from the hassle associated with arranging the coating and repairing it. However, the earthen floor is not particularly durable, therefore, under the influence of constant loads, it is easily deformed. It also absorbs gasoline and other substances, the smell of which is very difficult to remove from the box.
The best option for a garage is a concrete or timber floor. Such coatings are characterized by high mechanical strength, wear resistance and attractive appearance. Let's take a closer look at the creation of wooden floors, since they look more interesting and have the ability to retain heat, in contrast to the concrete surface, which almost always remains cold.
Before proceeding directly to the arrangement of the flooring, it is necessary to choose the right wood for its creation. It is definitely worth giving up the idea of using mahogany and walnut in boxing. A good option is conifers, which are excellent in strength and wear resistance. But it is best to opt for oak, since oak flooring will last much longer than coatings from other woods.
When choosing a material, you must adhere to a few simple rules.
Before arranging the floor, the wood must be treated with fire retardants - means to increase the fire resistance of the material, as well as substances that prevent the occurrence of putrefactive processes.
Fire retardants increase the fire resistance of wood
Installation of a wooden floor in the garage
As a rule, in car boxes, floor structures are installed on logs, which allow evenly distributing the load over the entire flooring. With the help of floors on logs, you can hide some defects in the base, as well as communication systems, such as an electric cable. However, this construction "raises" the floor by 6-10 cm, therefore it is not quite suitable for very low garages. The technology for installing a wooden floor in a garage depends on the existing base, which can be concrete or unpaved.
Installing a wooden floor on a concrete base
The concrete base does not need preliminary preparation, so you can immediately proceed directly to the installation of the wooden floor. Experts give several basic recommendations for this process:
- you can only lay material with a moisture content of no more than 10%;
- the installation of the lag is carried out with a certain step distance, which often varies from 40 to 50 cm;
- the first beacons are mounted on the concrete base, the step between which is approximately 2 m;
- fixing the lag is carried out using dowels, the distance between them is 50 cm;
- intermediate lags are laid in the same way as lighthouses. Only after their installation do they start laying the flooring.
- floorboards are placed perpendicular to the logs and fixed with screws or nails.
In fact, in the presence of a concrete base, it is not at all necessary to opt for a lagged structure. If the subfloor does not differ in serious differences in height and does not have large-scale defects, then thick floorboards are quite suitable for arranging the coating. Before starting the installation, the blocks are treated with linseed oil and painted, after which they are laid on a clean concrete base. Laying is carried out along the entire length of the garage, the boards are fixed with screws or nails.
Even a person without professional training can cope with the installation of a wooden floor on a concrete base in a garage, the main thing is to clearly follow the recommendations of specialists and adhere to technology.
Installing a wooden floor on a subgrade
If the base in the garage is not concrete, but is an ordinary soil, then installing a wooden floor becomes a somewhat more complicated process, which will require patience and a certain skill. In this case, preparation of the base is necessary, and the installation itself is carried out in several stages:
- The soil surface is leveled, for this you can use a rake, as well as an ordinary garden hoe.
- A sand and gravel cushion is created: first there is a 3-4 cm layer of sand, then a gravel or expanded clay layer of the same thickness. In principle, the second layer can be somewhat thicker, since it is created from materials, the fraction of which is several times larger than the size of the grains of sand.
- The laid sand and gravel pad is watered and then compacted well. You can do this with your hands and feet, although the use of a specialized device - an electric rammer (or a vibrating plate, a hand roller, a manual rammer) will be much more effective.
- Logs are mounted, which are wooden bars that hold the entire floor structure. Since the base does not differ in strength and is easily deformed, the logs are installed on pre-laid flat boards, and they must be thick enough so as not to bend during operation.
Grounds for laying logs on the ground (holes for posts, if necessary, are dug out before filling crushed stone and sand)
All used wood should be impregnated with special compounds to give the material better moisture resistance, because the fact that it is not resistant to moisture and is subject to putrefactive processes is no secret to anyone. It is better not to neglect this recommendation!
As a support for the future floor, it is not at all necessary to use only boards, they can be replaced with posts made of brick or concrete - they will perfectly cope with the task at hand. Such supports are mounted in rows, the distance between which is 80 cm.The step between the posts themselves should be 30 cm.
Video - Wooden floor in the garage. Lags on the ground
Among other subtleties of installing a wooden floor on a ground base in a garage, the following points can be highlighted:
- it is advisable to place the logs perpendicular to the movement of the vehicle, and the floorboards themselves - in the direction of movement. Compliance with this rule will help make the structure more durable, and the floor will become much stronger;
- floorboards should have the same thickness - about 50-60 cm. Thinner blocks should not be taken, otherwise the floor will simply bend under the weight of the car and quickly fail;
- before installing the boards, be sure to dry and cover with antifungal agents. Their reverse side, which will be in contact with the sand and gravel bed, must be treated with waterproofing compounds.
After arranging wooden flooring, many garage owners leave it in its original form, which is very in vain, because wood is a material that needs to be treated with care. The floor should be covered with linseed oil and painted, because this is the only way to protect the flooring from oil and gasoline stains, which are almost impossible to remove.
Video - Wooden floor in the garage. Installation, part 1
Video - Wooden floor in the garage. Installation, part 2
Video - Wooden floor in the garage. Installation, part 3
Video - Wooden floor in the garage. Installation, part 4
Video - Wooden floor in the garage. Installation, part 5
Particleboard and plywood flooring in the garage
There is another way to create a wooden garage floor, which involves using plywood or chipboard. These materials will serve as the basis for the leveling layer, the thicker it turns out, the larger the logs will be laid. Having finished with the installation of beacons, you can proceed to the installation of the lags, fixing them on the base with glue or self-tapping screws.
Plywood pieces treated with glue are placed in the fixation points. On top of the resulting mesh, sheet material is laid, which levels the floor. It is attached to the logs with self-tapping screws, about 9 pieces come out on 1 sheet. A moisture-proof film is laid on the leveling layer, and then insulation plates. All this is covered with floor boards. Thus, the floor in the garage becomes perfectly flat and very durable.
Making a decision to create a wooden floor covering in your car box is not an obstacle to arranging a viewing pit. It can be organized in several stages:
- A pit of the required depth is created, the bottom of which is laid flat with laid bricks, placed perpendicular to the wall surfaces.
- The walls of the inspection pit are lined with brick, which is located with an edge.
- The space between the brickwork and the ground is filled with concrete, this is done as the height of the walls grows.
- Brick laying is carried out until it reaches the lag level. Thus, the blocks will partially lie on the masonry. A frame is mounted in the remaining space, into which the boards covering the pit are placed.
Metal corner laid on the walls of the inspection pit
It is quite simple to equip a viewing hole in a garage with a wooden floor, you just need to make a little effort and follow the recommendations received.
Video - Inspection pit in a garage with a wooden floor
Features of a wooden floor in a garage
The wooden floor in the garage is an environmentally friendly coating that, if properly installed and maintained, will delight the owner of the box for more than one year. However, the decision to create a floor of wood in the garage cannot be called unequivocally correct, in any case, some motorists think so, who are categorically against the use of this material. An analysis of the pros and cons of this coverage will help you make the right decision.
The advantages of choosing wood for flooring in a garage include the following factors:
- wood has a long service life, especially after impregnation with protective agents. Wooden floors can serve for about 10 years without deforming or collapsing;
- if part of the covering has been damaged, then it can be replaced relatively easily without dismantling the entire flooring;
- wood is hygroscopic, that is, it absorbs moisture from the air, which helps to maintain optimal moisture levels in the garage, and this has a beneficial effect on the condition of the vehicle;
- a wooden floor, in contrast to a concrete floor, retains heat well, so working on it is safer for health. Wood as a floor covering is often chosen by people who independently repair their car;
- in terms of strength, a thick floorboard is not inferior to concrete screeds, therefore it can be used even in boxes for small trucks;
- dust forms on the concrete floor, this will not be a problem with a wooden floor.
Wooden floors in the garage also have their drawbacks, which include the ability to absorb odors, susceptibility to putrefactive processes, and low fire resistance. However, all these disadvantages can be easily leveled by using special impregnations that make the performance of wood much better.
Wooden floor after staining
Summing up, it should be noted that wooden flooring in the garage is a rather controversial solution, which has its own advantages and disadvantages. To give him preference or not depends on the needs of the car owner. If he often has to work in a box, then it is better to opt for wood, rather than risk his health, lying on a cold concrete screed. And to preserve the appearance of the coating, you can use special rubber strips or roofing felt strips, along which the car will drive in and out.