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What is the best type of flooring to have for wrapping vehicles on?
Posted by Simon Worrall on October 25, 2019 at 5:45 pmI am moving to a new shop in town at the end of the year. This is a really nice newly renovated unit, in the middle of town, with lots of foot traffic outside and big shop windows.
We will be wrapping cars in there, amongst other usual sign stuff.
It will be in full view of the outside.
At the moment there is a bare concrete floor, and I have the option to have any floor covering I choose, (reflected in my rent of course!)
So, wrappers, what is the best flooring to choose for maximum comfort while crawling about wrapping vehicles, that looks good? What do you have on the floor in your shop?Andrew O Brien replied 4 years, 5 months ago 10 Members · 15 Replies -
15 Replies
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We’ve got a rubber tiled floor and to be honest, I regret it. Whilst the comfort is there, it easily gets dirty and it’s difficult to clean.
I would think either the bare concrete or painted with gloss floor paint would be best. This should be easiest to keep clean and I think that is key!
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Cheers Luke.
What makes rubber harder to clean than bare or painted concrete? -
Firstly it doesn’t sweep as well as concrete. Then if a vehicle suddenly brings quite a lot of dirt onto the floor, the floor needs a good scrub or ideally a jet wash. The dirt just gets stuck to the rubber so much and stains it. I don’t fancy jet washing either as the water will just get stuck under the tiles. It’s easy to clean as hard as you like on concrete!
Also, I can’t scrape at any strands of vinyl that get stuck to the floor!
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ok yup I get that. Good point.
But Ive been wrapping on concrete all this time, and it is not ideal for comfort.
I have wrapped on carpet (in a hotel ballroom), and it is lovely, but obviously one drop of oil and its ruined.
maybe there is an easy clean industrial rubber surface or something like that. -
Screw fix have nice big foam cushion things. We have a few, just whip them under the knees. Or a ramp and one of those little seats. A detailer showed me a ramp for just over a £1,000 the other day.
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Personally I would go for an epoxy floor although I have just painted the concrete floor
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If you have the roof height go for a lift easier on your knees & back
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A nice bright grey matt painted concrete floor is best and reflects the light to help illuminate the room better.
You could also use a masonry vinyl, or stencil paint a big logo in the middle of the floor. people looking into a nice clean workshop with a branded floor looks good and professional. it even acts as a sales tool for people that may want the same!Also, keep in mind you want to keep dust to a minimum due to the static charge created removing the vinyl from its lining paper. so easy cleaning is paramount.
comfort wise for doing vinyl installations on vehicles.
Installing graphics requires all sorts of access and comfort, particularly on long installs. a padded floor is just one thing, but you need small steps, stools, ladders and more, all to get to hard and awkward places.
We have various small steps up to large trestles with a catwalk. We have a couple of these mats and stools and I cannot see by them on price and practicality. you can source them on Amazon and eBay very cheap.if the landlord is offering incentives, I would ask for some "waist level" strip tube lighting for the walls.
it is so much better being able to see what you’re doing around the sides and lower sill of the vehicle when this type of lighting is in place. -
We have heavy duty, interlocking floor tiles from bigdug.
Covered one side of the unit with the chequerplate pattern, which is hard to keep clean, not comfortable to kneel on, and a pain to roll machines etc over.
Installation bay is covered in the button pattern, and its bang on, non of the downsides mentioned above.
Easy to clean, we sweep it, mop it, chemical spilt on it, Van’s of sizes on it. Even had motorcycles on their stands in it, and the impressions came out.
I found concrete floors sucked the heat out the place, and it always felt a damp cold in winter, never had much joy with the painted concrete either, paint always started lifting.
As Rob says though a clean, tidy, well-lit unit sets the tone, that your no cowboy and probably not the cheapest.
The flooring we have at – bigdug.co.uk
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The best? Porcelain commercial floor tiles with underfloor heating.
The most realistic? Resin floor paint! -
I fancy those bigdug tiles David. Are they installed without glue? Dont they lift?
THey look comfortable and good enough to go into a showroom.
There is probably a NZ equivalent.
Good point Rob, a lighter colour will make it easier to see. -
Those big dug tiles are the ones I have trouble with. It’s probably worst for me as outside where the vehicles drive in from is quite muddy.
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Yes I can see them being a nuisance if it’s muddy outside but the same would be true with any floor I think, just spreading it around.
The tiles just lock together, no issues with lifting at all.
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We laid those in our last place, partly because the floors were uneven and frankly knackered. Moved 6 monthes ago to the second floor of an ex-council building, and took them with us (production is three smallish offices converted into one).
Only drawback, was production running until the week of the move, and starting again shortly after. That was the small flaw in the plan, got around by taking sections out, wheeling machines and tables about, then laying back down in phases.
Heavy buggers, and a real pain to lay if you don’t get them dead lined up (and decent gloves), but simple to cut down with a stanley knife (or keencut), and very forgiving of sheet materials resting on them, as well as shiny devices dropped on them.
Vaccuum and mop regularly, and they are not a dust problem.
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