ideas for cool but durable flooring?

We're building a garage with an apartment above that we plan on renting initially. We eventually plan on reclaiming the space for ourselves. It might see some rough use for a few years as a rental and I was looking for ideas for flooring that might hold up well and still look good enough to keep around when we use it.

I'd get black eco-surfaces rubber flooring.

I like it. Thanks for the tip. I found their website, http://www.gerbertltd.com/rubberflooring.htm , it's recycled and sounds indestructible.

how about linoleum. it comes in awesome colors these days http://www.marmoleum.co.uk/.

also, there is a company that is making very cool linoleum rugs that are worth a look

http://www.iamteejay.com/westlingdesign/

-steve

Smith and Fong ( http://www.plyboo.com/strand.html ) sells a bamboo flooring they call BOSB. It wholesales for $4.60 per sq.ft. and is practically indesructible. They take scraps of bamboo and fuse them together. The result is super dense; it is mainly used for commercial applications. A rep told me they put a piece in a bucket of water for a week and it looked good as new. It is so hard you cannot nail it down, but have to glue it instead.

In the ubercheap category...any kind of vinyl composite tile (VCT). There are a few major brands. Armstrong makes one that's readily avaliable through Home Depot in about twenty or thirty colors. It costs ~.25 a square foot (special order colors require a case purchase for ~$25.00/case), is extremely durable and easy to install.

Disclaimer: this particular floor was definitely NOT easy because of the circles and curves. I'd recommend avoiding anything other than straight lines and cuts if you go this route. It cuts with a utility knife but is rock hard and somewhat brittle.

These friends of mine do cool and durable.

http://www.carinaworks.com

you can get laminate flooring at lumberliquidators for under $1.00SF. when you go to take over the space just rip it up and put new down.

Some of the newer styles of linoleum are nice.
http://www.armstrong.com/reslinoleumna/browse.jsp
Anyone know what this stuff runs per sqare foot?

THANKS shunt - that carinaworks website is pretty cool! i DIG the metal plank flooring!

Just got some rough numbers on linoleum from a master installer. Forbo is about $2.99/sqft for sheet and $3.99/sqft for squares. Basic install (no underlayment and no seam welding) for $1.65/sqft. Welding the seams is $1.15/linear foot, but he doesn't often do that and most of his work is hospitals, schools, and corporate stuff. For underlayment, he says he uses something called Haylex (???). It is 1/4 think birch plywood of some kind. That he installs for $1.10/sqft. You need the underlayment if 1) sub floor is less than really smooth as even small imprefections will telescope or 2) you don't want to glue this stuff down to your subfloor (which would make it hard to remove in the future without damaging the subfloor). Then again, it wouldn't be too hard to lay something like cork or hardwoof right on top of the lino.

Bottom line, figure on $5-$6 for sheet lino installed and add $1 if you use tiles.

Finally, it can be run up the wall 4-6 to form baseboards. They cap it with some type of aluminum extrusion. With a different extrusion, they can then continue it up the wall (e.g. behind a bathroom sink) to form a backsplash. Cool.

He also mentioned that Forbo is the most expensive, but I have not had any luck finding prices for other brands (Armstrong is one (only 12 colors), but he claims there are others). Anyone know of other sources?

I've been partial to Medium Density Fiberboard and Cement Fiberboard eversince I found them as cladding material.

MDF can be had in a light tan color and some brands like Sierra Pine are formaldehyde free. Most MDFs you see at HD or Lowes are of wood species that are too dark. Search the internet for many brands like Plumb Creek or Canfibre, which come in light tan. Sometimes you CAN find the light color at HD, so go check it out. The homogeneous color gives this monolithic and grain-free aesthetic that I find very modern in simplicity. Besides... it's CHEAP and can be fastened with corner screws! Chamfer the edges for safety and tile-like form.

Cement fiberboards like Viroc can give the slab look most of us cannot afford on a second floor. Again... it can be screwed down in tile-like sheets like MDF - 2x2 or 4x4 or 4x8 tiles. Low cost and low install labor.

Every now and then I catch an architect using them for the same purpose I found, so it must be plausible.

Here's another mfgr of sheet and tile composition materials
http://www.mannington.com/commercial/floorOptions/main_flooringTypesCollections.asp?business_unit_id=2surface_type_id=2

I like the idea of using cement fiberboard to make tiles. Any pics of an install?

There was a recent posting regarding Cement Fiberboard that has company names.

I haven't built my home yet, so no pics.

You can get the company names, call/email them for samples (free) and use your imagination. Pretty simple.

I plan on just laying them over subfloor and screwing down corners with nice screws. Joints have not been determined yet, but I don't expect it to be rocket science... like the HVAC setup for my flat roof with deck over top.