Evening all, I am looking to finally sort my garage out with hopefully flooring and maybe a ramp to work from. I was wondering if anyone has experience with the flooring tiles as there seems to be a few companies offering these and all around the same price. My garage is approx 5.5m x 3m. Also looking to get a lift to work from. My price range seems to be either Clarke or Sealy offerings but also looking at the abba skylift. I really like the idea of the abba lift and how easy it is to move around. But think a bench would be best, hoping to be able to move around but obviously won’t be as easy at the ABBA. just wondering what peoples opinions are on these, good bad and ugly. What I should look out for, any advice would be great fully received.
I had same mental discussion with myself lift vs abba. In the end I went Abba. I know not all get on with them but I have to say I have found it absolutely brilliant. Just check the flooring you select is hard enough to stop castors sinking into it making movement difficult.
This, absolutely, 100% and my advice would be go to the place you're gonna get the tiles from and see them in person, have a feel of them. I made the mistake of getting a bunch of tiles from abroad and, whilst they look good, they have been shit for point loads like castors etc which sink in and dropped hard objects break them
Awesome, thank you for loving thread I wasn’t sure which one to put it in. yeah looking at getting the smooth 7mm tiles but will see if I can do as you say to have a look. yeah the lift is a real struggle in my head I go back and forth so many times…lol
Can I divert your attention to Lighting. Go with LED strips, decide how many you think you need and add some more. Make sure there is one lengthwise either side of where you'll be putting the lifting bench.
Good plan, especially for rolling stuff around on, if I was doing it again - I'd go for the smoothest and hardest possible. I'd give some serious thought to proper tightly grouted hard ceramic / porcelain tiles, or good concrete & epoxy paint.
Yeah for sure I have my normal dual channel charger hanging from roof. Just need to get a dual channel lithium charger now for the duke’s
This, https://www.halfords.com/motoring/b...4MjQ5MjQkbzEkZzAkdDE3NjE4MjQ5MjQkajYwJGwwJGgw, works for me, currently have 4 bikes on charge, 2 lead acid and 2 lithium chemistry. Andy
I keep going back and forth between an ABBA bike lift and a ramp. If for the normal winter refurbs where the bike gets stripped right down. I need to do this to my RSV4 where I want to take it totally to pieces and rebuild it. more research needed….
About those floor tiles... you'll be fine if your garage is bone dry. However if it isn't, and a bit of water finds its way in, you may run the risk of it being trapped under the tiles leading to mould and other issues. They don't mention that in the sales blurb.
Condensation forming due to ambient temperature changes even on a dry concrete floor will have issues, moisture won’t be able to escape and will stay trapped
What about gym rubber flooring? 20mm thick, keeps the cold off, interlock from undernearth leaving next to no gap for the wheels to coast over. Only caveat being if you spill oil you won't be able to clean up compared to tiles, it will just seap through. But then a new rubber tile 1m x 50cm is easy to lift and replace if that did happen. I just removed a half rack from mine and there is no way of knowing where it sat on the tiles. Granted the bench doesnt weigh anywhere near a bike but it rolled over the ruber without any issue. Just a thought Comes in a 40mm thickness too, which perhaps could be better for the weight of a bike
Also requires next to no time to lay. Just plonk them down. They're stable, not squishy at all and you can buy rubber ramps to be able to wheel the bike onto easy. Although 20mm or 40mm isnt difficult to wheel a bike onto i guess but finishes the look.
I have an Autec hydraulic bike lift & a Skylift, both have their pro's & cons. If floor space is an issue you should bear in mind if you can't sink the lift into the floor, so it's level with the garage floor, a lift will always be "in the way". The Skylift wins here as it's so manoeuvrable, even with a bike on it providing you have a good, solid floor/tile. Soft or spongey tiles are not ideal !! If I'd have had enough room I would have just bought another lift & when I was looking someone on one of the forums that I frequent just happen to be selling a second Skylift he'd bought for a project that was then finished. I have to admit I wasn't too sure about it, but it turned out to be a great purchase. If I had to choose to loose one though I really don't know which one I'd want to give up. It would most likely come down to how much room I had I think. Garage floor tile wise I would go for something like the Race Deck "coin dot" pattern. Not the cheapest around, but a good product, fit for purpose. There are other makes & styles, but many are more suited to parking cars on them & if you get a heavy pattern one you will have issues moving the Skylift around as someone has already mentioned. There is a company in Ireland, R-Tek, that does industrial flooring, which looks quite good too, they might be worth a look.
Have just moved house and sorted my garage out, the removal people dumped all my shit in the garage, this is what it looked like……before… After…. Toys in place…. Looks good but it should do as those tiles cost me nearly £700 quid!! Got them from these people, they do bundle packs - https://www.garagefloortilecompany....MI6eC36pnNkAMV0IhQBh1IhwN4EAAYASABEgJbHfD_BwE
