Tool room transformation — Weather Tech floor tiles

When I bought the house in 2013, it had four bedrooms—I only needed one.  The back bedroom had initially been created by a former owner by partitioning off the back part of the garage.  This left me with a garage that was too short (in fact, the prior occupant was using the garage as a fifth bedroom, complete with carpet).  To make the garage usable, I added six feet to the front (the subject of many blog posts).  I completed the first phase of that fourth bedroom remodel (windows, structure, upgraded electrics, etc.) years ago, and then started using it as a tool room, basically a place to store the tools and supplies I needed to do my remodel/renovation.  It became a disorganized mess.

Since I no longer needed it as a bedroom, it didn't need a closet, so I repatriated that precious space back to the garage.  The former closet opening then had to be walled off.  And to cover the old opening with drywall, I first had to dismantle and remove the heavy-duty shelves from the wall on that side of the room (along with all the tools piled high).

Then add drywall.

And joint compound and paint.  Then it was time to rip up the remainder of the old carpeting, and scrape the concrete floor clean.  While searching for possible plastic floor tiles for the garage, I discovered that Weather Tech (automotive floor mats, etc.) also made floor tiles, but they were only a quarter-inch thick, and not ideal for a garage floor.  But I thought they would do well for my new music-room/instrument workshop (I build electric guitars and basses, steel-string and classical acoustic guitars, and violins).

After placing a few on the floor and walking on them, I discovered they were noisy—mostly caused by the hard plastic clacking on the concrete when you stepped on them.  So I first put down an eighth-inch insulated underlayment, which was the same as I used under my bamboo flooring.  It did the job.

The floor tiles have interlocking edges that need to be pounded together with a rubber mallet; the most effective technique is discovered fairly quickly.

The tiles around at least two of the edges of the floor need to be cut.  I saw on some videos of Swiss Trax installations that cutting with a table saw could melt the plastic, so I used a narrow blade on my band saw and pushed the tile through quickly to minimize heat.  It worked well. 

So here are a couple of photos of the finished room:

Of course, it doesn't look like this anymore, since music room furnishings and much of the stuff I moved out (and didn't throw away) had to be moved back in while the garage is being completed.

I'm happy with the floor.  I will compare it with the Swiss Trax tile when I install that flooring in the garage. 

First I need to build the next group of about twenty-two more drawers.  Drawer factory.