What flooring for a garage gym and how to waterproof bricks?

[Fran5]

Hi Workshoppers!

I am a new home owner and new to DIY. I am wanting to put in either epoxy or some vinyl flooring to create an extra space in my garage for recreation. Before i can decide on flooring material i am conscious that i will need to waterproof the exterior (pictured) and interior of the bricks (from the pictures you can see the damp patches). From there i am planning on laying flooring (epoxy or a floor board) and then painting the brick wall in the garage white.

I am keen to hear

A) What I need to do to ensure the concrete is dry

B) Which sorts of flooring will work best. I am not adverse to gym mats i am just not overly keen on the effort it takes to keep them clean. I also want to keep my budget under $1000 if possible. 

Thank you!

[Dave-1]

Good Evening @Fran5 

Mmmm Are the marks on the floor a dirty stain or actually damp?

The next question is how much water comes in via the brick wall when it rains?

Does any come under the roller door?

I laid secondhand carpet tiles on my garage floor, non sealed and it did have stains that looked wet but wernt.

I did have water issues but fixed them with exposing the outside wall and sealing it with bitument paint. You could do the same with the bottom most row of bricks to the path. If there is a gap between the path and bricks then you could force the bitument in or silastic it with an external product. I prefer the bitumen at first and then see if water comes in.

Bookcase retrofit to create a garage library Step 6 is the one that shows the capet tiles, they havnt rotted or smelt since I put them in and they have been wet badly once (swimming) lol

Gabion Wall to stop water ingress to garage to show what I mean with the bitumen rubber, last step as well.

Dave

[JacobZ]

Hi @Fran5,

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community, and congratulations on your new home.

Similar to @Dave-1, I am not sure whether this is a damp spot or if it is a stain. If you place your hand on the patch, does it feel damp? 

The same question with the brick on the inside of the garage. Does it feel damp to the touch? 

Obviously, I can only go off the photos you have provided, but to me, it doesn't look like dampness should be an issue. If there was soil pressed up against the bricks on the outside, I would expect there to be some rising damp, but it looks to be clear. The slab also looks to be more stained than it is damp.

If there was water passing under the brick, you could seal the seam at the bottom edge of the bricks with some Sikaflex 11FC Purform. You could then paint the outside of the brick with an exterior paint such as Dulux Weathershield, following How to paint brick.

If there is water rising through the slab, unfortunately, there is not a whole lot you can do at this point, as there needs to be a vapour barrier beneath the concrete to prevent this.

If there is dampness rising through the slab, then unfortunately, an epoxy coating is not going to work. My suggestion is to use an underlay with an integrated vapour barrier, such as this QEP 2mm 11m² Silver Laminate Floating Floor Underlay, then use a laminate floating floor.

Let me know what you think and if you have further questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I'd be happy to help.

Jacob