The tile for the garage: How to choose

Garage tiles

It is the most abused floor in the whole house, the one where you will do the “dirty”, heavy work, which has to withstand chemical attacks, falling objects, heavy cars that come and go every day, wheels that turn from stationary with stones planted in the tires . We will share on how to choose the tile of the garage floor.

Despite this, if we all invest resources and attention in the floors of the house, the “poor” garage floor is chosen in a few moments with the only request to spend little.  This little consideration, and a myopic search for the low price, could, however, preclude problems and future costs.

For this I would like to list some considerations to make before deciding to buy a tile for the garage:

• Slope
• Slippery
• Resistance
• Dirty vision

Also, I will give you some tips to avoid making a mistake in the purchase:

• Choose a quality product BUT that has recently gone out of production
• Choose a quality product BUT of the second choice, preferably with only aesthetic defects
• Choose a quality product BUT out of catalog / out of tone/product for trial

The tile must be laid with the right slope

I begin by saying that the slope, in the garage, is considered optional but, in my opinion, it is mandatory.

Allows water to drain when entering with the car wet, during a rainy day, or when the car is covered with melting snow. If there is no slope, the water will settle and stagnate inside your garage, so expect it to be done.

The best system is to give one linear slope, a single inclined plane that from the internal walls allows the water to flow towards the garage door. This, by the way, allows you to use a tile of any size, including large and rectangular ones.

The minimum slope, under which you must not go, is one centimeter per meter. But to improve the runoff – if the levels allow – ask to adopt a slope of 2 cm. per meter.

A second solution, in the case in which the linear slope cannot be realized, is that of making a drain inside the garage. In this case, you will need to make converging slopes, from the walls towards the drain.

Leaving aside the maintenance needs that a drain of this type will force you to endure over time, it should be borne in mind that – in this case – the size of the tiles you choose must necessarily be medium-small. The maximum format will be 30×30 but it is better if you also consider smaller formats, to be able to manage changes in slope.

A large tile (larger than 40×40) makes it difficult to lay and the unevenness (“teeth”) in correspondence with the changes in slope is evident.

The tile must not be slippery

Think about the movement you make when you get out of the car: you move your leg outside the car and stand up in a situation of precarious balance.

Slipping, at that moment, can be dangerous. We don’t want that to happen, and the cause is a wet and slippery floor.

The tile must be strong

A garage is a place where you happen to have to do “heavy” jobs: replace summer tires with winter ones or repair objects.

It is also the place where the tools and tools are kept. The floor is therefore at risk of accidents such as falling heavy objects that can damage the tiles.

For this reason, tiles that have a higher mechanical resistance than the rest of the home should be chosen in the garage.

Often the mechanical resistance goes hand in hand with the thickness of the tile: a tile of increased thickness must therefore be preferred.

But resistance is not only a function of thickness, it also depends on the quality of the material, the temperature, and duration of the firing, whether it is an enameled product or not. In any case, the mechanical resistance is shown in the product sheet.

Which color to choose?

The color of the tile in the garage is also important. Too light a color would make the dark dirt that the car tires deposit on the ground is evident. Prefer a dark color. The ideal is a medium gray that also hides the presence of dust.

Rather to choose a solid color, which highlights the dirt, better a product with shades and variegations that hide.

How to spend a little on the garage tile?

The cost of a tile depends on many various factors, some of which are intuitive, others more difficult to identify. For example, for the same product, a thicker tile will cost more … and this is obvious. Or, again for the same tile, a   large size one will cost less than a normal-size one. But many other, less immediate, factors contribute to determining the price of a tile.

Fully addressing this topic would take us off topic so let’s just delve into what are the elements that can be sacrificed, to get a good price, without compromising on the fundamental factors examined.

Anyone who buys a “garage” tile in a discount or large-scale distribution warehouse risks paying the “right” price. In short, it pays little for a product that, however, is worth little.