Yet another question about best floors

K

KenSilver

New member
Excitement!



I've just figured out how to extend my 2 car garage into a 4 car by extending it forwards to the street. This will give me inline parking with the daily drivers in front of the two garage queens. (We're 4 cars for 2 people!)



So now I'm looking at ways to treat the floor, again.



In the past I've used Bondall Industrial /Garage floor paint on my existing concrete, but it lasted a year before lifting on hot tires. Now water spillage has increased the lifting. I did everything right, but as I read on this forum, paint of any kind doesn't last long, and that's a fact.



The thing that bugged me was the hot tire browning and dirt I couldn't scrub off. It only took a month or two to start looking shabby.



So now I'm thinking of tiles.



I'm not thinking of the fancy Italian jobs... I don't have time, expertise or money to buy and have these laid.



But instead I thought of laying self-adhesive tiles - the plastic or linoleum ones that you get for bathroom or kitchen.



Has anyone used these? How do they stand up to heat and weight?



This way I can lay a black & white pattern down, and if a tile or two gets damaged or dirty, just rip the offenders up and replace them with new ones? That seems to me to be a cheap and practical way for an attractive floor, and means that you don't spend a week painting the floor and waiting for it to dry.



It seems to be the ideal answer so far. What am I missing?
 
Problem solved...



I found the answer by emailing the Corvette garage owner, Rich Lagasse, and he was exceptionally friendly and helpful in his replies.



Nice to share an interest with such a enthusiast.



The tiles in the photos from the link in my earlier post are vinyl, and Rich allowed me to reprint his following replies to me giving some detailed information about them:



"We built the garage over ten years ago and the tiles were installed then. They are Armstrong Commercial grade vinyl tiles and have held up remarkably well even through some abuse. :-)) The hot tires have not been a problem.



Someone once told me what the PSI pressure was of a hot tire as it is cooling and it was amazing. I did have one type of tire (Goodyear Run Flat), that must use a weird rubber compound, and it did leave a tread mark where the car stood. No other tire has left a mark so it must be unique to that tire.



A few thoughts about installation and maintenance:



- When installing them the floor should cleaned well, any uneven spots leveled and a sealer applied for moisture. Then, we used the recommended tile adhesive when laying them.



- After the adhesive had set I applied three coats of floor sealer followed by three of a heavy duty floor wax. These were made by Zip but I'm sure there are other brands that will work as well.



- Keeping it clean under normal circumstances just takes the old mop or one of those "Swiffer" cleaner cloths. Of course, I have had to use something stronger to remove some paint overspray or to remove oil or grease. Fantastik or household cleaner will work on most spots.



- The colors of the main body of tiles is a mixture with an off-white background. That works well for the main areas but I did find that that color was more time consuming to keep clean in the path where the tires run. I decided to do the contrasting blue in that area and it helps to outline the main parking area as well.



- I don't know where you live but here in Connecticut we have a lot of snow and I do protect the floor from the snow and sand/salt we get in the winter. I use "Car Pads" and those have worked well for that purpose.



- One good thing about tiles is that you can replace an individual tile if one is damaged. I bought four extra boxes for that purpose to keep the same job lot.



There are many different types of flooring now and vinyl tile is one of the better ones as long as it is laid properly and the usual maintenance is performed. I had tried epoxy paint many years ago but found that it would wear where the cars were driven. Some of the choices in floor coverings can be rather expensive (such as Race Deck or the Griots tiles) but I've found the vinyl to work well and be reasonable from a cost standpoint. Some folks have used a checker-board black & white floor and that looks nice but can be a little busy."



I'm sure Rich won't mind if I also pass along his website address - it has a lot of interesting stuff: http://www.corvetteforum.net/c5/richs7/
 
jermar,



can you post pictures of the racedeck installed? Also would love to hear a detailed description of how they're holding up. I've been looking at different floor coverings for a while and I'm thinking of going Racedeck instead of a high end epoxy. My biggest concern is how the tiles hold up to a car jack or jack stand with pinpointed pressure. Your thoughts would be appreciated.



Ken,



Keep us posted on the project and post pics!
 
the armstorng or concgolium tiles are the way to go they will last forever they may crack but they will still stay in place make sure they use a good glue that wont be bothered by most chemicals and the tiles cost the installer about a buck a tile if i rember corectly
 
They sure must be proud of that stuff. My garage would cost between $2500 and $3000.



Guess I will wait until I build me dream garage.
 
Ken: Race deck has held up very well. You can use a floor jack, no problem. I also have three leg jack stands. I use a scrap of quarter inch plywood under them. I cut the tiles that meet two walls with a hand saw. The other two walls get a black transition edge. Only down side, it's another floor to mop. I did my two car garage for about $1200.00. This is a "floating " design. No glue. The tiles snap together with a little help from a rubber hammer, and you leave 1/4 inch gap at the walls for expansion. It took me a day & a half with lots of breaks. I did it in blue & gray checker pattern. Sorry, no pics.
 
It may be worth looking at stamped concrete as an alternative. After a lot of research on garage flooring, I recently went this route for my new garage.The choices of patterns and colors are only limited by your imagination, the cost is about the same as Racedeck tiles,the sealant used after the concrete is stamped will not wear off from warm tires etc., and,IMO, the appearance is much better than most reasonably priced tile alternatives.
 
jermar,

Good idea. My problem is sourcing it. We're at the bottom of the world here, and I just don't have the options as you would in US.



Tiger,

I've seen a stamped floor in my "Ultimate Garages" book and agree it has every advantage. But I'd have to tear up my existing concrete floor to have it laid, and I'm not sure I want to do that.
 
Tiger said:
It may be worth looking at stamped concrete as an alternative. After a lot of research on garage flooring, I recently went this route for my new garage.The choices of patterns and colors are only limited by your imagination, the cost is about the same as Racedeck tiles,the sealant used after the concrete is stamped will not wear off from warm tires etc., and,IMO, the appearance is much better than most reasonably priced tile alternatives.
Click to expand...







any pics of the stamped concrete ????:nixweiss :nixweiss
 
Me and my dad are currently in the process of pricing out some RaceDeck for our new house's garage. The guy quoted us $3/sq ft and might give us a price break beyond that. Reasons why were going with this stuff is a combination of price, ease of install, and durability. We had griots epoxy paint in the old house, and it never lifted due to hot tires or water, etc...but in my detail bay it pitted from all the chemicals, lol. Vinyl/bathroom tiles look better than the plastic RaceDeck, but its harder to install and wont hold up as well to a dropped transmission or something. In my opinion, racedeck gives you 90% of the look and is more durable and user friendly! Just my $.02 :)



-Zach
 
boostdfd3s said:
Me and my dad are currently in the process of pricing out some RaceDeck for our new house's garage. The guy quoted us $3/sq ft and might give us a price break beyond that. Reasons why were going with this stuff is a combination of price, ease of install, and durability. We had griots epoxy paint in the old house, and it never lifted due to hot tires or water, etc...but in my detail bay it pitted from all the chemicals, lol. Vinyl/bathroom tiles look better than the plastic RaceDeck, but its harder to install and wont hold up as well to a dropped transmission or something. In my opinion, racedeck gives you 90% of the look and is more durable and user friendly! Just my $.02 :)



-Zach
Click to expand...







are you going to racedeck the entire floor:nixweiss i was thinking of painting the entire floor and then "racedecking" the car's spot only....hmmmmmmm:confused: ....btw, i was thinking of grey paint like 3 coats and grey and red raced deck tiles.....again..hmmmmmm
 
yeah we plan to do the entire floor in a red/graphite 2ft x 2ft checker pattern, and put a 1ft border of black around the car areas :) After all this is said and done (were ordering a custom workbench and cabinet storage solution as well) ill throw up some before and after pics!



-Zach
 
boostdfd3s said:
yeah we plan to do the entire floor in a red/graphite 2ft x 2ft checker pattern, and put a 1ft border of black around the car areas :) After all this is said and done (were ordering a custom workbench and cabinet storage solution as well) ill throw up some before and after pics!



-Zach
Click to expand...



b4 & after.....me like me like:up
 
Think long and hard about the cleaning procss. After you work your butt off in the garage, what procedure will you use to clean the Racedeck tiles? Where will the debris go? I've had this in a bar environment; sucked.



Search Aquapon.



Jim
 
jimamary said:
Think long and hard about the cleaning procss. After you work your butt off in the garage, what procedure will you use to clean the Racedeck tiles? Where will the debris go? I've had this in a bar environment; sucked.



Search Aquapon.



Jim
Click to expand...



weve got 3 floor drains in our garage, so im j/ gonna hose the stuff towards them since were putting the drainable tiles over the top, dry mop the rest and call it a night :)
 
If you're considering RaceDeck, you'll also want to consider Kiwi Tile and MotorMat.



Kiwi

Motormat



I ordered a two tile sample from Kiwi, very nice stuff. I decided on Motormat simply because it's quite a bit cheaper than RaceDeck or Kiwi. To do my tiny garage, it's roughy $200 cheaper. Judging from the pics, I'm not sure it's as nice as the Kiwi or RD but I haven't seen it (yet). Placed my order a few days ago, so I'm probably still a week or two away from delivery.
 
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