Guys, I am posting this here and in the general forum because it's in response to those looking at solutions for covering their garage floor. As with everything I do in life, I put alot of research into ensuring I make the right decisions on things that are meant to last a long time. I've seen a number of posts about garage flooring alternatives and I have seen some amazing floors - ceramic tile, rubber tiles, plastic snap-on tiles, paint, and epoxy. Many of the floors look great so this is not intended as a bash to any product you chose. Variety is the spice of life - it's why Baskin Robbins makes 31 flavors of ice cream (some with nuts). Anyhow, I chose a professional grade epoxy coating for a number of reasons: 1. PROFESSIONAL is the key. You can have a hack painter go to Home Depot and buy the crap "epoxy" paint and slap it on the concrete floor and it will look nice for a month, maybe 2 before chips, cracks, peeling, staining, etc. PROFESSIONAL epoxy coats are done with highly expensive materials, use numerous coats, use high quality sealers over numerous coats and make sure healing and sealing in between each coat is done correctly. 2. Professional Epoxy coatings are used in most industrial settings such as pharmaceutical companies and clean-environment assembly plants. The main reasons for this are because these floors need to be resistant to wear, easy to clean and reflective of harmful elements. 3. Epoxy done right will not harm the concrete floor upon which it is applied. It will actually act as an almost bulletproof shell to any conditions (except a piece of steel falling on an angle into the coating or metal scraping, etc). 4. Epoxy applied with a layer of "flake" can e done to meet YOUR requirements. For instance, it will be hard to see in the pictures, but I chose a dark blue flake a dark green flake a black flake a silver flake and a tan flake. I chose these because my cars are black, silver, TDF, dark green and my walls are tan...this gives you the ability to choose, not buy tiles in only very typical "popular" colors. 5. Cleaning a properly installed epoxy floor takes nothing but a squeegy and broom handle and nothing can stain it or penetrate it. Reasons against tiles: 1. If ceramic, they crack, especially with various weight distributions. More crucial is staining in the grout lines. Not matter how well you seal the grout, grout is porous and will need to be resealed too often. Ceramic is generally VERY slippery. So, unless your garage is nothing more than a museum, ceramic is not a great solution. 2. Very popular are the rubber or plastic tiles. These are not a bad solution but do carry some problems. First, in the long term, they are leading to the deterioration of the concrete floor below. Moisture is constantly created because of the gap between the tile and the concrete which is very bad for the concrete. And don't believe the manufacturers who say the tiles do not allow ANY moisture penetration; where there's a seam, there will be moisture...you can trust that. The other problem with these are staining. The worst problem is cleaning them.....they have dimpled or raised circles, squares, dots, bumps, etc....those areas collect dirt and grime and it becomes a cleaning nightmare. So, I tried to capture a number of photos during the process. This process included: 1. Grinding the exisiting concrete floor with a machine grinder. 2. Applying a heavy muriatic acid coating to remove and raise stains from the concrete. 3. Applying a neutralizer chemical to the concrete to eliminate chemical inconsistancies. 4. Applying a professional grade epoxy coat; we used a Sherwin Williams product called ArmorSeal. 5. During that application, applying a gritty glass section which seats into the epoxy in a pathway we chose. This gives you an area in the garage where you can walk without slipping when the garage floor is wet. 5. Applying another coat of epoxy after proper cure of the first coat. 6. Application of the flake and a clear coat. 7. Application of a sealer clear coat in gloss finish. 8. Application of a final sealer clear coat. The beauty of the materials applied are not best illustrated in these pictures, but I tried. You should recognize that as far as durability is concerned, when cured, the consistency of this floor is ONE LEVEL BELOW THE GRADE OF DIAMOND CUT. That's pretty damn strong in my book! Any questions, let me know. I will actually need two threads to post all of the pictures! Cheers, Joe Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Joe, I couldn't agree more. I had a similar process done to my garage floor four years ago and it still looks as good today as it did new. Each Spring I hose-down, mop with Simple Green and then squeegee dry the entire floor. Ths surface is mostly bullet proof. Along the way I've dropped tools and dragged heavy items... the surface will scratch, but it's cool that it doesn't affect the integrity of the paint. All spills stay on the surface and are easily cleaned with a paper towel. Here are a couple of pix of my floor (pre-Ferrari) with my 993. Frank Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Very cool . I've had my epoxy floor for @ 7 years now and i'm equally happy with it . You will love it .It looks great . Good wishes .
Joe, Great write up! Thank you for taking the time. I put in vinyl tiles on my garage floor. These are supposed to be made especially for garages. I am not happy with them at all for several reasons 1. The spaces between the tiles throughout the floor is spreading like cancer. I have some spaces, 3/8 of an inch and alot 1/8. 2. The contact cement is seaping through the tiles and i have to scape it off every month or so 3. I get tire rubber on the tiles and it is a very difficult to take off. 4. I am getting alot of deep scratchs in the tile that make it look like an old installation This was installed by professionals. it looked good the first day but i suspect I will pull it up in a year or so. I wish I had your article to read for I installed this system. Lee
Funny I bought the cheapest vinyl tile squares I could find at Home Depot, at about 30 cents a square foot and they work/look great. I clean them with spic/span every 3/4 months, replace those that get scratched/cracked/damaged as required. (At 30 cents each, not a big deal!) I originally had wood sheets between the tires and tiles (as in picture) but found out they were not required. Best solution for a garage floor that I can think of! Image Unavailable, Please Login
I went with a mat solution. Here's a quick pic. It's very durable, stain resistant, non-slippery and relatively simple to clean with simple green and water and a couple towels. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Only one tire manufacturer left a mark on the garage floor... Goodyear Eagles on my now-in-storage RX-7 Twin Turbo. They didn't pull the paint up, but definitely left a tread pattern. Pirelli, Continental, Michelin and BF Goodrich (on various cars and trucks over the last few years)... no marks. Frank
I decided to try slate, which turned out quite nice but of course time will tell if the floor holds up. I am convinced that tile cracking isn't going to be a problem--hasn't so far, after 3 months--but drips of oil and coolant may be an issue. http://members.cox.net/tadlam/concorso_2007/slides/Ted's%20Garage.html Doing my own labor, total cost for a 900 ft^2 garage was $2k. This includes diamond grinding the floor to remove old peeling epoxy, 12" multicolor slate, top grade latex-enhanced mortar, grout and sealants. Ted.
Joe, the clear coat process (especially using 2 coats of the Armor Seal) hardens to 1 grade below diamond grit....can't get much stronger than that. It will not soften from heat, which is the key problem with the "typical" epoxy coats you see out there. Joe
Yes, however, make sure to use the insudtrial grade products. They are much more expensive but will be worth it in the long run. For anyone in PA or NJ/DE area, my buddy does this stuff "as a hobby"....let me know if you need a phone number. Joe
Sorry to hear that Lee. I am a bit surprised about the separation issue, given that you live in Florida where temps are usually pretty consistent. The problem in most other regions where there is fluctuation in temps is that the rubber materials do not contract and expand at the same temps as the concrete subfloor, so you generally get those gaps and flaws.... Get those "professional" back to explain why you are having these problems so soon after installation. Good luck Lee. Joe
I like your solution. The product is also available here, and I have seen it before in airport corridors and other high pedestrian traffic areas but I have never thought of it. Could be a very good solution.
I just LOVE this garage. Nice job. Frank ps. where do you keep everything else? Tools, workbench etc??
Josh, What is that floor covering mat system called & where can I buy it? Do you buy it in a sheet and cut to fit for the specific garage? One last question does it come in colors? Thank to the others for suggestions. I will try Spic & Span to see if it works. I still will have the spaces. Someone mentioned the tires as a possibility. i have an outside storage area and cycle cars from the outside storage to my home garage. The cars all have different tires and they all stain the same way. I think I just got the wrong stuff installed. I will go talk to the company that had it installed as suggested by a poster. They are a big family owned company so that may help. Lee
