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Many times we get requests from our readers about cheap garage flooring options that we can recommend. Typically though, cheap and good are not always synomynous with quality. However, it doesn’t mean that with a little effort on your part that you can’t find the best value for your money when you are on a budget.
Another fact worth mentioning is that “cheap garage flooring” is relative. In other words, what one person finds as too expensive for their budget another may find as affordable. With that in mind, we decided to put together a few garage flooring options that are relatively inexpensive in their respective category for you to review.
Paint
Undoubtedly, the most economical flooring option is concrete garage floor paint. All it requires is a bit of effort to clean and prep the concrete prior to painting it.
Though paint is one of the least durable of garage flooring options, it can give you the greatest positive change in the look of your floor for the least amount of money. Keep in mind, however, that this is certainly an area where cheap and good is debatable.
Out of the different painting products available, be sure to choose acrylic 1-part epoxy paint. For only a few dollars more per gallon, 1-part epoxy paint will last longer and adhere better than standard latex acrylic concrete paint. Depending on brand, you can purchase it for a little over $35 a gallon and it will cover 300-400 square feet. You can review our recommendations for the best garage floor paint here.
Acrylic Sealer
If you have a relatively blemish free garage floor, then another inexpensive garage flooring option would be an acrylic sealer.
Acrylic sealers are actually a topical coating that will highlight your bare concrete floor by coating it with a clear, thin acrylic film. This topical layer helps to prevent concrete dusting, efflorescence, and gives moderate protection to your floor from chemicals, oils, road salts, and fluids.
Acrylic coatings are easy to apply, requiring only a garden pump sprayer or a paint brush and roller. Most are available in a satin or glossy finish, with a choice of water based or solvent based formulas. Pricing varies depending on brand and quality. Expect to pay around $35 per gallon for a coverage rate of 250-300 square feet for a basic water based formula. For the best performing acrylics available, we recommend solvent based acrylics or MMA acrylic sealers similar to this one here.
Epoxy
One of the better values when it comes to cheap garage flooring is an epoxy coating. Not to be confused with the multi-coat commercial quality garage floor coatings, we are referring to the single coat, DIY epoxy garage floor kits that you can typically purchase at your local home improvement center or online retailers.
An epoxy coating does require the most work in terms of preparing the surface. It generally requires etching the concrete to provide the proper surface profile in order for the epoxy to achieve a mechanical bond. Grinding may even be necessary if your concrete has previously been sealed.
These economical DIY epoxy kits are extremely popular. They offer longer lasting coverage and better protection than garage floor paint or acrylic coatings. Though they are a good value for the dollar, you need to have realistic expectations regarding their performance when comparing them to commercial quality product. We suggest you read this article here to learn more about these easy to use DIY epoxy garage floor kits.
Mats
For the easiest of flooring options, nothing can beat the simplicity of garage floor mats.
No preparation of the floor is necessary and they do a great job of hiding imperfections, oil stains, and other unsightly surfaces in your garage. Because they just roll right out over the concrete, installation can take as little as an hour to cover your entire garage floor.
While a full floor covering might be more than what some people may want to spend if on a tight budget, you can always purchase smaller sized parking mats that are designed for your car to park on. Garage floor mats are easy to clean and can be hosed off in your driveway.
Vinyl composite tile
If you have some skills as a DIY home owner, one popular garage floor option that will give you a genuine custom look for a good value is vinyl composite tile. They are available in a multitude of colors with the most common being the traditional black and white checkered design.
Also known as VCT flooring, these tiles can be purchased for as little as .79 cents a square foot if you shop around. This is one of the best values for a good looking garage floor. VCT provides good protection of the floor and makes cleaning a breeze. Just be aware that the floor does require routine wax maintenance and your concrete may involve some preparation before installation.
Interlocking tiles
Lastly, if you really like the custom look of a tiled garage floor but don’t want the installation and maintenance requirements of VCT, then interlocking garage floor tiles may be the perfect solution for you. They require little to no preparation to your garage floor and can be installed in only a few hours or so depending on the size of your floor.
Made of polypropylene plastic, these tough tiles can withstand the rigors of most garages. They are extremely stain resistant, clean up easy, and do a great job of protecting your garage floor from the elements.
Final tips
One type of product that we did not include is penetrating sealers. Though bare concrete sealers are definitely affordable and do a good job of protecting your garage floor, we decided not to include them here since they offer no aesthetic value to the floor and technically are not considered flooring. You can find more information about penetrating sealers here.
As a tip, if you are shopping for garage flooring online, don’t forget to look for discounts through coupon codes. Sometimes it helps to contact the vendor directly as well and ask if they give discounts or have any upcoming sales. Many of these vendors want your business and may offer an additional discount to secure a sale.
While some of these garage flooring options may not be cheap to some people, most are a good value for the dollar if you are on a budget. Just keep in mind that the least expensive garage flooring is generally the least durable as well.
Nonetheless, whichever option you may choose you are guaranteed to transform the looks of your garage. It will make for easier cleaning, better spill protection, and provide better protection to your concrete against the various elements that a garage floor encounters.
I think that just painting a floor is the best way to go if you are on a budget. My husband and I have done this before and it lasted fairly well before we had to paint again. It was cheap to do and gave us what we wanted. Yes, it does eventually peel but we put up with that for the big difference it made for our garage.
Painting doesn’t last forever, but like you said; it can make a big difference in the way a garage looks for little money.
Nice article! I have been looking for some good flooring options for my garage! I will be doing it through a garage floor coating company in Mississauga called Proseal Concrete Floor Care Systems. Your article was quite informative. I will talk it out with the company sales person and see what they can do to cut the cost down.
It’s interesting that tiles can make for a good garage or commercial flooring option. It makes sense that it could be good due to its lack of maintenance and good looks. It’s something to keep in mind when looking at different options for the floor as I think it could be very effective in that it’d last a long time and be easy to repair.
You mention shopping around for coupon codes. I’m looking to find a good deal on interlocking floor tiles. Are there any specific vendors or brands you know of that offer coupon/discount codes regularly?
It’s really hit and miss with coupon codes JD. It takes some digging sometimes to find good ones. Many times, just asking the vendors for coupon codes will generate good results. Sometimes they may offer 5% off if you make a purchase that same day. We recommend to start your shopping with Garage Flooring LLC, Big Floors, and Garage Flooring Inc.
Thought this was a great article, relavent and useful even though I live in UK
Thanks Malcolm!
What do you recommend for a basement floor is like a thousand square feet and I want to have that shiny look finish I’m also do I need to stain the floor before I put the sealer
Hello Salvador. If you want a low cost option that can give you a glossy finish with or without color, we recommend looking at an acrylic sealer like this one from Legacy Industrial. It’s easy to apply and you can tint it different colors if you like.
Thanks Shea says that’s the one i was thinking to.
Hi, if you paint the garage floor is there a protective coating that can go over the paint?
Not really Barb. Paint isn’t a true coating like epoxy is. The only thing you can apply is a water based acrylic clear. The problem is that it doesn’t hold up very well in a garage environment. Gasoline, oils, and hot tires can harm it. This article explains more.
If my garage floor is fairly new and clean do I still have to etch it? What preps do I need?
Hello Chuck. If the product you want to use states that the concrete needs to be profiled via etching or grinding, then yes, it needs to be done. New concrete by its nature is less porous due to being freshly troweled. Troweling reduces how porous the concrete is.
Hi Shea,
It’s been hammered into me from dozens of articles I’ve read here how important floor prep is regardless of how one intends to cover it (paint, epoxy, vct, etc.). What I’m wondering is if you have any guidance if someone has a starting point of a painted floor (mature, no flaking or bubbling), with a final goal of self-stick VCT and the epoxy top detailed in my favorite article here (https://allgaragefloors.com/epoxy-over-vinyl-composite-tile/).
I mean, near as I can tell, the recommendation is to get the floor to a “raw” state before I approach any other. But if my floor is painted, has been for many years, and the paint not only adheres very well, but has no sign of “coming up”, do I really *have* to strip the paint to get a good, long-lasting result? I’ll be filing and sanding the expansion joint, but I was hoping to avoid stripping the entire floor to scratch.
Hello Brian. We wouldn’t recommend using self-stick VCT if your intentions are to epoxy over the top. The glue down version is much more secure and the better alternative if you are going to attempt such a project. Because the success of your project lies with how well the tile are adhered to begin with, we would recommend grinding off the paint down to bare concrete. Most of the VCT manufacturers do not recommend gluing to paint.
Thanks for the guidance. Just a quick follow up…
Do I have to ditch the self-stick VCT I’ve already purchased, or do you think it’s possible for a reasonably secure floor by using the glue method of installing these tiles in spite of their already sticky backing. I have a feeling you’re going to recommend I either go with different tiles or forget the epoxy over coat.
Thanks again for such a great resource on garage floors.
Your instincts are good, Brian. You can’t glue down self-stick tiles. You either need to change the tiles or not epoxy over them. Also, make sure the tiles are the traditional vinyl composite and not vinyl laminate or LVT (luxury vinyl tile). LVT has an adhered digital graphic film on top that gives the tile it’s design. Epoxy will not adhere well to that type of tile.
I was wondering if you can help me out with some flooring I’m doing
Hi Albert. Do you have a particular question you want to ask?
I just finished a full broadcast, 3 later install with ArmorPoxy polyurea SPGX. I did 1 solid coat, then full broadcast flakes, followed by 2 clear coats.
However, i can still feel some of the flakes thru the 2 clear coats, and am thinking of adding 1 or more clear coats.
To save money (and time for shipping), i found 2 clear epoxy products at Home Depot… Rust-Oleum Rocksolid Clear ($150), and Rust-Oleum EpoxySheild premium series clear ($120).
Wondering if there are any issues applying either of these over the 3 coats of polyurea? and if adding 2 additional coats will help?
Hello Brad. Did you scrape the flakes real well as required before you applied the SPGX clear? If so, two coats is more than enough to cover all the flakes. Keep in mind that a full flake floor is not going to provide a very flat, smooth finish. It will have texture to it. The last thing you want to do is apply an inferior product on top of the SPGX. Both the Rust-Oleum epoxy and RockSolid polycuramine clear are inferior in many ways. The epoxy is not as glossy and they both will amber (yellow tint) if exposed to sunlight (direct and indirect). Additionally, they will not wear as long, and they have inferior ratings to chemical resistance. In more exaggerated, but simple terms, it would be like going to the auto parts store to purchase a clear spray paint to apply to the clear coat on your new car.
If you didn’t scrape the flakes well and you do have flakes poking up out of the coating, then we recommend sanding the surface with 120 grit sandpaper to knock down the flakes and then apply one more coat of SPGX.
I have an oil painted basement floor that is badly spalling……is there any kind of floor covering I can put down that one can walk on and not have a problem with the loose gravel or cement underneath it? I don’t think that resurfacing the floor will stick since it has been painted.
Hi Donna. One reason the floor may be spalling is because of the paint. Many basements have issues with moisture or moisture vapor coming up through the concrete from the damp ground underneath. When enough gets trapped for a period of time under the paint, the concrete can begin to deteriorate underneath it over the years. It eventually crumbles away exposing pits and a lose surface. We would recommend budget interlocking tiles for such a basement surface. They will allow the moisture to pass through without issue and will make your floor look great at the same time.
The cement was spalling years ago when I put down the oil based paint. I did the oil paint to try and keep the cement from more spalling and keep the dust from all of this down…….little did I know this wasn’t going to be the answer. So if we were to put the budget interlocking tiles over the existing spalling cement will the tiles stay clean or will the spalled dust come through the tiles. Will the tiles allow the cement under them to breath and stay dry? I run a dehumidifier all summer and it seems to keeps the basement moisture under control
The dust will not come up through the tiles (solid top) and they will allow the concrete to breathe. They are a common solution to concrete floors with moisture issues.
Are these tiles mold and mildew proof
Hi Donna. No product is 100% mold or mildew proof. However, these tiles are highly resistant to mold and mildew and we have yet to hear of a case where it has happened.
3-4 USD for plastic?! Well, seems like the times when plastic is much expensive than solid wood has come. Hey world, where to?
Hi Tudor. Yes, prices are rising on goods right now. However, you can still get this tile here for just over $2 per square foot. It’s U.S.-made as well.