Nicing up the floor in an Altbau cellar

As of this week I'm renting some business storage space in the cellar of an Altbau in the town centre. The space is about 45m² and the floor is about 70% concrete (which is flaking and probably not suited to being painted directly) and 30% uneven cobbles. I want to do something about the floor because it's ugly, depressing and cold. Whatever I decide on needs to be hard-wearing but I'm storing mostly stuff packed in cardboard boxes, so the floor isn't going to get that dirty/damaged.

My current shortlist of ideas:
- painting the floor
- hard wearing carpet (which would involve evening out the floor at points with a bit of concrete)
- rubber tiling (not sure if/where this would be available)

Does anyone have experience/ideas to share with me?

Is it at all damp? If so, that would impact any answers here. I have had my share of damp basements in Munich ...

The air in the cellar is somewhat damp, but the walls, ceiling and floor aren't damp to the touch. when I drill into the wall (red brick) the brick dust sticks together. Obviously anything made of wood is out ...

Two more possibilities in the meantime.
- PVC Tiling
- Astroturf carpeting

To summarise my question:

As of this week I'm renting some business storage space in the cellar of an Altbau in the town centre. The space is about 45m² and the floor is about 70% concrete (which is flaking and probably not suited to being painted directly) and 30% uneven cobbles. I want to do something about the floor because it's ugly, depressing and cold. Whatever I decide on needs to be hard-wearing but I'm storing mostly stuff packed in cardboard boxes, so the floor isn't going to get that dirty/damaged.

The air in the cellar is somewhat damp, but the walls, ceiling and floor aren't damp to the touch. when I drill into the wall (red brick) the brick dust sticks together. Obviously anything made of wood is out ...

My current shortlist of ideas:
- painting the floor
- hard wearing carpet (which would involve evening out the floor at points with a bit of concrete)
- rubber tiling (not sure if/where this would be available)
- PVC Tiling
- Astroturf carpeting

Does anyone have experience/ideas to share with me?

If you're thinking of painting, check your rental agreement first. It is a bit difficult to er... depaint(?).
My hall floor is painted concrete in an Altbau loft. I hate it with a passion as it is an utter bastard to keep clean.
Have you thought about Lino? At least you can remove it easily when you move.

I know what you mean about painted floors quickly looking dirty.
As regards Lino, I see two problems:

1. the floor isn't entirely flat
2. I would suspect that lino would tend to go mouldy fairly easily since it doesn't let air through

So I'll answer my own question, why not.

I rode out to Hornbach (U-Frottmaning) yesterday and received fantastic customer service from everyone I spoke to (not something I'm used to in a DIY place). Anyway, we talked the problem over and came to the following solution:

- clean the floor completely
- even out the holes/uneven points with a certain sort of cement after first painting these bits of the floor with a chemical basis for the cement
- lay hard-wearing (and inexpensive) carpet with a porous backing (to let the air circulate). I'll probably tape it to the floor

Just seen this thread, one thing you might want to consider when you start using the cellar for storage is lifting the boxes slightly to let air circulate underneath. The easiest way to manage this is to use a row of pallets. Stops the bottom of cardboard boxes getting damp and falling apart when you lift them up.

How close is Hornbach to the station? Is it over in Euroindustry park or closer?

Thanks for your feedback Ben, I only just saw it today and I've already tackled the problem. I bought carpet with a criss-cross webbed backing which allows air to circulate.

BEFORE



AFTER



P.S. ... Hornbach is about 3-5 minutes walk from the U-Fröttmaning and is the best DIY place I've been to in Munich so far, both in terms of selection and staff.

Nice work!

Edit: Maybe I should say "You've niced it up very nicely".