Garage Floor Ideas/Warnings

[schnellman]

I've been around here for six years now and I can't remember this discussion coming up. I'm ready to do my garage floor, but would like some ideas and input from guys (or gals) who have used a product that worked well, or one that didn't. Pictures are certainly a plus. Price is a consideration, but not the only one. I want a product that will last. What say, everybody? Let's have some of that collective wisdom!!!

[Chuck W.]

My garage is over 900 square feet. In December of 2007 I put down a vinyl composite tile (VCT) floor. The tile is made my Armstrong and is pretty cheap at Home Depot. I then added mirrored wardrobe closet doors across the back to cover the shelves.

It is not one of those floors that you can put down and walk away from and have it look good. It takes maintenance. I bought a high speed polisher off of Craigslist and buff it out regularly. Every two years I will strip the old wax off and put down at least seven coats of new wax. Certain tires will also leave brown spots. I have mats I use for the Boxster's tires.

Would I do it again? In a heartbeat. I love it and enjoy the maintenance. Would I recommend it to others? Only if they understand what it takes to keep it looking good.

Also, take a look at http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/ for some great info on garages.

[OKCShooter]

I did a similar floor as Chuck, but mine is all done in commercial tile. Mine isn't as "shiny" so my maintenance is a broom.

[gomarlins3]

My old house in Fresno had the Armstrong flooring. Stripped and waxed about every 6 months with three coats (all day job), but looks fantastic when done. Good news is you can work on it and spills aren't bad to clean up. Bad news is replacing a bad tile means replacing two to remove the broken/'burnt' one.



The present house has RaceDeck. More expensive, but can leave the house with me when I move. I also bought extra for car shows. Good news is it's easy to install and portable as I said. Bad news, you need to have wood down under your floor jacks and stands when working on the car. Also has less maintenance- just sweep and mop it when you think it's too dirty.
The front edges had been fitted since this picture:

[jb92563]

A an epoxy painted floor sounds like it would be comparable in cost (For the simple 1 or 2 coat type) but not take damage from tires or jacks as easily.

Basic 1 coat epoxy floor is about $0.50/sq ft so even cheaper than sticky tiles and quick to apply with a roller.
Sticky tiles will need a good surface to bond to so you may end up laying epoxy down first anyway if your concrete is not smooth.

Epoxy has come a long way and you can get very fancy with it now with flakes clear coats etc.

The black tiles may hide oil drops and dropped nuts/ bolts etc.

I suppose color depends of whether your goal is an operating table for your cars or a showcase.

Love the Man Cave showcase but perhaps one bay needs to be an operating table if you do your own work.

Epoxy floors

[thstone]

Polished concrete with a sealer/clear coat doesn't have the pizazz of a tiled or painted floor but will look good with very minimal maintainence and hold up well to actual use.

[stephen wilson]

It depends on whether you want a working garage, or a display piece. I don't have the time to wax the floor all the time, besides, I have too much "stuff" to move out. I did a Precision Epoxy floor 15 years ago, looks pretty bad now, jack scrape marks, scuffing from foot trafic, and burn marks from welding and grinding. If I could do it over, polished & sealed concrete for me also. You can even do exposed aggregate if you want to spruce it up a bit.

[edc]

If you want low maintenance, cheap, relatively dust free and easy sweepable then just concrete sealer and a garage or workshop floor paint. For the sealer just kick over a couple of tins and use a broom to move it about.

[stephen wilson]

Well, the worst thing we did at my work was paint the sealed floor. The paint constantly gets chipped and damaged, leaving patches of bare concrete.

[JayG]

costco has a garage floor mat I think it is 8' x20' and is a diamond plate plastic
I haven't tried it, but it looks good

it is similar to:
http://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/H-2347/Mats/9-x-20-Garage-Floor-Mat-Diamond?pricode=WY682&gadtype=pla&id=73106856322&gclid=CjwKEAjw9LKeBRDurOugs43jnlgSJACUXqHxQ_qr8cqV 1FyTB-WEk54HVoJOGt5PMdMsRqRMtZsipxoC5Bbw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

but costs a lot less

[Nine8Six]

ok - I am officially jealous lol

(((nice flooring guys)))

[Stroked & Blown]

I have racedeck, but would do epoxy next time. Jack stands rear up racedeck & fluid cleanup is a pita because you need to rip up the floor to clean it all.

[lindaaperez98]

My cousin brother had done garage floor last month. He selected concrete garage flooring for parking his SUV from Floortex nearby Vaughan. The price was reasonable and he got it at a special discount. So far so good, he had no issues with the flooring. It looks marvelous and very spacious.

[mountainman]

obviously many people have a lot more disposable income than I do and look at their cars more than drive them. I have 3 porsches and collectively put probably 40K on them annually which translates to lots of oil changes, maintenance, etc. Needless to say, my garage is a working garage, not a display area. I barely have time to clean it up before the next project begins. So for my main garage right now, it is just a bare sealed concrete floor which I hope one day to find time to add a couple coats of good epoxy paint. I have a second garage that I use more for extra vehicle storage, parts and tire storage, etc that I painted with a good quality epoxy gray paint for around $150. It has held up good and looks great, but as I said, it doesn't get the abuse the work garage does. If I ever do anything else to the work garage it will probably be the same epoxy paint since it is economical and when it does get messed up it will not be the end of the world. If I can't do what I need to do on it for fear of messing it up, it isn't worth much to me. Got to go mess up my garage floor.

[JayG]

Originally Posted by mountainman

obviously many people have a lot more disposable income than I do and look at their cars more than drive them. I have 3 porsches and collectively put probably 40K on them annually which translates to lots of oil changes, maintenance, etc. Needless to say, my garage is a working garage, not a display area. I barely have time to clean it up before the next project begins. So for my main garage right now, it is just a bare sealed concrete floor which I hope one day to find time to add a couple coats of good epoxy paint. I have a second garage that I use more for extra vehicle storage, parts and tire storage, etc that I painted with a good quality epoxy gray paint for around $150. It has held up good and looks great, but as I said, it doesn't get the abuse the work garage does. If I ever do anything else to the work garage it will probably be the same epoxy paint since it is economical and when it does get messed up it will not be the end of the world. If I can't do what I need to do on it for fear of messing it up, it isn't worth much to me. Got to go mess up my garage floor.

Wow, how do you spend $40k on maintaining 3 cars? Are you tracking them?

At that cost, you could just buy 2 Boxsters and a 996 every year and keep the old ones for parts

[BruceH]

Originally Posted by JayG

Wow, how do you spend $40k on maintaining 3 cars? Are you tracking them?

At that cost, you could just buy 2 Boxsters and a 996 every year and keep the old ones for parts

He said that he puts 40K on them. He drives a lot

[steved0x]

I think he means 40,000 miles.

[CHRISP357]

Fairly inexpensive vct tiles. Did it myself. I love the way it looks and holds up. I even weld over it. Strip and wax every few years. Simple and you pick your own pattern. This floor was to match my KTMs. Next time, Porsche crest maybe.

[rfuerst911sc]

You guys that have the VCT tile floors what type of finish ( wax ) are you using ? I also put down the traditional white/black checker board pattern but haven't polished it yet. Any tips you can share is appreciated.

[CHRISP357]

Just go to any janitorial supply and buy a good self leveling wax. The stuff I'm using now doesn't even need to be buffed/polished. I still do it just because but it doesn't look any different.