We are renovating our tack room and feed room this season. The project is going along at the rate we can pay for it 
Both spaces are 12 x 12 with concrete floors and block walls.
The tack room will stay an open space with the addition of some cabinets on the floor. The feed room will have a small half bath added inside. Weād like to put the same flooring over the concrete in both rooms but what should we put down?
Tile looks great but can be slippery when wet and the abuse of barn life can crack it. High quality vinyl plank looks good and takes abuse but also gets slick when wet. Slate is durable and not slippery but the kind Iāve seen is somewhat difficult to sweep due to all its nooks and crannies. (Maybe theres a smooth version? )
I realize I could just leave the concrete as is or paint it but we are going for a higher end look.
What about staining the concrete? Iāve seen some high end homes with stained concrete floors, it can look very nice. Or maybe the interlocking rubber pavers?
We painted the concrete with a special concrete paint that you paint with a roller and then dribble color flecks into it.
We bought ours at Sherwin Williams, comes in a kit with everything in it, took maybe 15 minutes to do tack and feed room.
Looks nice, is easy to sweep and is not slick at all.
I think it was this epoxy floor paint:
Friend that is an architect recommended that, said he is getting requests from residential customers to use it in their homes, it works so well.
Iāll have to look up staining concrete. Would it stand up to dogs and sandy wet boots? (I live in FL, so much sand. And it very abrasive under the pressure of peopleās footwear)
Friend stained concrete in her home and doesnāt like it at all, said is too slick and dark and shows every foot and paw print, never looks clean.
She canāt wait to have enough money to tile over the stained concrete.
Many malls and restaurants have stained concrete floors, some with designs on them and they look nice.
They are very slick when wet.
We have laminate, looks like hardwood, but is indestructible. Easy and cheap to put down. Have not found it to be slippery when wet.
Bluey, Iām assuming that if itās made for garage floors that itās tough stuff? Have you had any permanent marks/scrapes in it? How long have you had it down?
we have tile in the tack room/feed room and itās great. Iāve not noticed it being particularly slippery when wet. --and it gets wet: we have barn laundry in there, the beet pulp soaking has run-over before, etc.
I like the way the tile is durable enough to stand up to frequent washing, mud, dogs, horses (well, just when the mini got loose a few times) and it looks nice. The only caution Iād give is on color: too dark and it makes the room look small and dim. But too light means it gets dirty quickly. Try to find a middle-range color that will hide dirt, but still make the space bright and inviting.
The tile in the entrance way of my last house was super slick on wet boots. Perhaps it was the exception, not the rule.
The downside of concrete is that it sweats plus is very unforgiving if you drop things. I had an apartment with terracotta tile in the bathroom once and I dropped a plastic hairbrush and the brush handle shattered. Made me realize I did not want stone surfaces in my house.
Different tiles have different āslip coefficientsā - look for a COF rating above 0.6 for non-slip applications.
There are nice wood-look, faux-brick and other tiles that have high COF and might be a good option in a tack/feed room.
If it were me, I would go with an epoxy coating if I were you. That is what we use in our labs and production areas at work. They wear well, are non-slip and are easy to clean.
My former workplace had the paint with the added colored flecks in it. It wore really well and didnāt show dirt. Also hides unevenness and is not slippery.
Bluey - The reviews on the Shermin Williams paint link you posted are not good. Are you sure that is the paint epoxy that you used? This thread is motivating me to do my tack room concrete floor!!
We just finished our tack room and I decided to use Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP) over the concrete floor. It looks like wood and is virtually indestructible. It is suitable for wet or humid areas. It can be purchased at any big flooring store, Good luck!!
Yes, I noticed that, but it seems to be fine for us, has been now for two years.
Maybe they didnāt paint it right why it didnāt work?
Best I remember, that is what we used, but maybe they had another kind then?
We figured it was so much cheaper than any other, we could put something else there if that didnāt work.
We tiled the tack room bathroom, the rest we painted.
Others have offered different flooring that worked for them.
Maybe go with that, if it has better reviews?
I tried to post the larger picture with more floor showing, but it would not let me, said the file was too large, so I had to crop it.
We have epoxy paint in the garage.
I have tile in my kitchen and bathrooms. DH and I installed the kitchen and made sure it was done correctly. No cracking. Previous owners had the bathrooms done and there are tiles in both that have cracks but have not come up. The floors in my house are not very flat so we are pretty sure that the bathroom installer did not do the right floor prep.
My tile is not slippery. My housekeeper has actually commented on that. She cleans a lot of tile floors and actually slipped and fell on her own tile at home. She has said she really likes our tile because it isnāt slippery. We picked a color that hides dirt and and not use a light colored grout.
Since you are doing the feed room to I would use the epoxy. We got ours from Loweās. Make sure you follow the manufactureās directions about prepping the concrete for the best adhesion. We have a couple of spots in the garage that it is flaking but it is spots I know likely had some motor oil that we must not have cleaned well enough. That being said it has been down for 10 years.
We have epoxy in the garage, hubby put it in. Iāll ask where he got it. Itās worn very well I think itās 10 yrs old. My tack room is still concrete, not sure what I will put in there.
ETA it is a rustoleum product from home depot. He said prepping the floor is the key to a good outcome.
What about the rubber click tiles that are sometimes sold for basements? They have different color/texture finishes, cleats on the bottom designed to sit on concrete that might get damp, and replaceable as needed. Iāve looked into them for an area of my basement, but not sure of the durability for long term barn use.
I am dying for spray-on rubber flooring like Polylast in my tack room and wash rack.
https://polylastsystems.com/polylast-systems/
Polylast does spray on now? Last I saw they only had a type that was sort of mixed up and applied like a big batch of rice krispie treats.
