Garage Floor Finishes/Treatments

[qball]

We're getting ready to start construction on a new house.

I was thinking about acid staining the new garage floor...

Something like this...





Currently I have RaceDeck, which I like, but the white tiles require frequent mopping.



Any other ideas (besides epoxy, Racedeck, or acid-stain)???

My garage has two sides (two 2-car garages) with workshop in the middle.

So perhaps something can be used to define the workshop area from the sides...?

[esoteric]

i don't have any suggestions for you outside of epoxy but i can't go without saying how jealous i am of your garage. you are one lucky lotus owner to be able to build such a spacious garage. congrats!

also i would just be careful of the color variation on the acid stain you showed. one has to keep in mind ease of finding little bolts and washers that fall on the floor so i think a solid color is the easiest way to find these runaway annoyances.

[loanshark]

I use muscle gloss epoxy, which looks like car dealership. It isn't the cheap expoxy you buy at home depot. $150/gallon is what I paid.

My floor is bright red and walls yellow, Ferrari colors. Very thick and glossy, I love it. There are pictures of it on my cross country thread.

[MattG]

Nice floorplan...be sure to post pictures when it's complete!

I've been debating what to use on my floor as well. That acid staining is beautiful and one I'll consider. So far, the best option I've found is a quartz garage tile, though some quality epoxy paint is also an option.

If you went with a tile option, you could perhaps use a hardwood floor in your workshop area? Could look nice.

[LSUFAN]

Tile, good price, easy clean up, easy fix. Just remember, use black grout.

I friend of mine in Baldwin just put marble mosaic in..I told him he's crazy, but he claims to have an impermiable sealant. It does look good, but more like a showroom than a garage. I'll try to take a pic of mine tonight.

[qball]

Isn't tile too slippery when wet? We have lots of rain here!

[milehitom]

Originally Posted by qball

Isn't tile too slippery when wet? We have lots of rain here!

Not really, if you use a porcelain tile. It'll stand up to the weight of the vehicles, has color all the way through, is permanently sealed and many have either a textured or grainy surface that adds grip. If you go with tile, look into laying down a crack-isloating membrane first, though.

If you did a sealed, acid-etched or stained floor, the concrete can be quite slippery if you don't add a fine-grained sand to the sealer (the final step). I mixed in jeweler's sand when I sprayed the sealer on my stamped concrete steps. Even in the wettest weather, you have grip.

Nice garage plan, BTW!

Tom

[DPM]

I went with "Floor Guard" and I'm sure there's a similar product where you are located. It's composed of several coats of Epoxy with colored chips and a final coat of non-slip. It takes 2-3 days to apply. I have used it on 2 different garages and so far after 15 years, no problems. Brake fluid, tranny fluid, oil, heavy foot traffic, and salt are no match for it. Most of the auto dealerships here in Chicago use this specific compound for their service areas. Cleans up with mild soap and water.

[dwkoski]

I used a multi-stage system used for commercial food processing plants that a friend obtained for me. He owns a moderately large concrete and masonry business. The first component is a water soluble two part epoxy which soaks into the concete and allows the second standard two part epoxy plus pigment to it AND the top 1/8" of concrete. You have to drop something pretty sharp and heavy on it to damage it and a chunk of concrete comes with the epoxy if you actually manage to damage it. The third part of the system is a urethane sealer. Most solvents including brake fluid and gasoline won't damage epoxy but some automotive chemicals, especially the orange GM antifreeze, will stain it unless it is sealed. If you're using epoxy, either use a dark color or seal it. The products I used were manufactured by Micor Co., Inc., 3232 N. 31st St., Milwaukee, WI 53216 Ph (414) 873-2071. At least that's the info on the product label. I installed it about 6 years ago and it's still in good shape except for some stains and a few chips where I dropped large Hummer parts. I didn't seal mine and regretted not doing it....Dave

[MattG]

Does anyone have experience using slate or granite tile in these applications? Any problems with those? I'm seriously considering black slate tile for mine.

[Z-dculus]

I'd love to see some pics/links to the materials you guys are talking about. My house is almost done too and i'm kicking ideas around.

[qball]

MattG...

any online resources for "quartz tile"... like cost per square foot or pics of it installed in a garage?

Thanks,

Q

[MattG]

Originally Posted by qball

MattG...

any online resources for "quartz tile"... like cost per square foot or pics of it installed in a garage?

Thanks,

Q

I lost the link, there used to be a website devote to garage tiles and that was their product. I know Griots has it, but this other one had a great selection. The URL was something obvious, like garagetile or something like that.

[qball]

I found this tonight.... very cool... and recycled...

http://www.ecosurfaces.com/

[esoteric]

Originally Posted by MattG

Does anyone have experience using slate or granite tile in these applications? Any problems with those? I'm seriously considering black slate tile for mine.

for a showroom i presume. For a functioning garage you'd scratch, chip and crack them every time you drop a tool, car part, engine hoist, etc. Our garage floor takes a serious beating. Black slate tile looks bad ass in the living room, however! My friend has it...

[MattG]

Originally Posted by esoteric

for a showroom i presume. For a functioning garage you'd scratch, chip and crack them every time you drop a tool, car part, engine hoist, etc. Our garage floor takes a serious beating. Black slate tile looks bad ass in the living room, however! My friend has it...

I'd like to keep the garage functional. Do you think granite tile would be any better?

[MattG]

Originally Posted by qball

I found this tonight.... very cool... and recycled...

http://www.ecosurfaces.com/

Interesting, but doesn't sound suitable for a working garage (too soft for jacks, jack stands, etc).

[milehitom]

Originally Posted by MattG

I'd like to keep the garage functional. Do you think granite tile would be any better?

Matt,

Slate comes in a variety of hardness levels, from fairly soft to fairly hard (generally, the darker the slate, the harder it is). Granite is very hard but can easily crack if the mortar bed isn't perfect once weight is applied, plus here in Colorado, since granite is porous, it can absorb water (usually from underneath) and our freeze and thaw cycles can do some serious damage.

You could go with our native red sandstone. Expensive elsewhere but cheap here. Or an exterior rated porcelain with a granite look.

I love tile and tiling. I just finsihed a black slate floor with in-floor radiant heat in my mud room last year. It's holding up great but it doesn't have a car parked on it.

Tom

[xxxotic]

Although I like the look of the 4 separate 8 or 9 ft wide garage doors a lot better, it might be better to go with two single 16 foot doors so that you dont have the pillars in the way. And this way you only need 2 remotes instead of 4.

If you are tryng to get something wide like a boat trailer in the garage it is easier to do it with a 16 foot wide opening. I have a three car garage- 16 foot door and a 8 foot door next to it, but when I parked in the smaller area I knocked off my rear view mirrors on my other car since it is so hard to back out of such a narrow area without hitting the pillar.

I cant see the details clearly enough, and I think there is a door in the front that is in the way, but you could put the two 16 ft doors next to each other so the one section on the left would be the garage, and then have the area on the right as a separate work area.

Are you moving soemwhere else in FL. If so it is a pain to get some contractors to change the design, since they have preapproved plans approved with the town building department and any changes from them require a separate permit and application.

[qball]

Originally Posted by xxxotic

Although I like the look of the 4 separate 8 or 9 ft wide garage doors a lot better, it might be better to go with two single 16 foot doors so that you dont have the pillars in the way. And this way you only need 2 remotes instead of 4.

If you are tryng to get something wide like a boat trailer in the garage it is easier to do it with a 16 foot wide opening. I have a three car garage- 16 foot door and a 8 foot door next to it, but when I parked in the smaller area I knocked off my rear view mirrors on my other car since it is so hard to back out of such a narrow area without hitting the pillar.

I cant see the details clearly enough, and I think there is a door in the front that is in the way, but you could put the two 16 ft doors next to each other so the one section on the left would be the garage, and then have the area on the right as a separate work area.

Are you moving soemwhere else in FL. If so it is a pain to get some contractors to change the design, since they have preapproved plans approved with the town building department and any changes from them require a separate permit and application.

Thanks for the input. We currently have two 18' doors now and I prefer the look of the 4-bays. Especially with the door style we are going to choose.

Each door on the new plan is 10' wide, so it is plenty big.