Garages: Wash Bays

Apropos the discussion of floor tiles, allow me to throw this out. I am going to build my last house ever. Needless to say I am going geothermal, tankless HW, built-in genny, no grass, on ten acres in the woods. I have several cars and am in a cold winter climate. I want one garage stall to serve also as a wash bay. Aside from tiling the walls, what other alternatives make sense. Fiberglass panels, what? Thoughts? Thanks in advance.

 

Floor Drain. But, I'm pretty sure your building code won't allow it, soo....

Gotta lay in the pipe, cement over the drain hole, and pop that baby open after you've passed your occupancy inspection.

Of course this advice is purely hypothetical and your mileage may vary.

Also might want some kind of high effeciency wall or ceiling mounted heater so you can wash in the winter, too.

Lighting is important if you want to get all the dirt, and really be able to see the work when you wax. Lot's of flourescent will show EVERY LITTLE FLAW in your paint.

DM

 

Are you sure that you want to clean the grout in the tiles? I know it won't see as much use as say, a shower, but it will be exposed to some pretty grimy stuff seeing as you live in PA, and you will have to clean it eventually. And seeing as how it'll be considerably bigger than a shower, it'll take a lot longer to clean. If it was me I wouldn't worry so much about the looks of that particular bay and would just concrete block it with a heck of a lot of insulation. Then all you do is bring in a pressure washer once every couple of years and have at it. Good luck.

 

The fiberglass wall panels are a really good idea, if they are the ones I've used in the past--white, pebble texture, just less than 1/8" thick, come in 4'x8' sheets. This stuff is bulletproof in dairy and restaurant installations where cleanable durability is a must.
They can be either glued to sheetrock or there is a plastic rivet that can be used to secure them. I'd use the rivet, and I would also put 15 lb. felt (use the ASTM felt) behind. There is plastic trim for IS and OS corners, etc.
I'd build my walls on a concrete or concrete block curb that was maybe 6" above floor height--obviously, you don't want water anywhere near the sheetrock, and common sense will be a good guide in this matter.
A 4" abs floor drain should be sufficient, just make sure you can clean the thing full length!
Don't forget some heating/ventilation, though you shouldn't need much.
One other thought is rodent-proofing--pay particular attention to the garage doors since they are very vulnerable access points. A determined mouse can squeeze through a 1/4"x1/4" hole. Heavy bodied polyurethane caulk is good for the smaller holes down low, but try a combination of hardware cloth and expanding foam for the larger ones--it'll look ugly, so make sure you can conceal that work.
Good luck!
BTW, I'm building my 'last' home, too!
edit: Dang, I started writing this, got called away, and I see that dave and the other fellow got in ahead of me with some good ideas of their own before I could finish and post!

 

Alternatively, the floor can be grooved to channel away water to the outside. Of course it should be sloped to facilitate the runoff. If you are in a very cold environment, you way want to imbed radiant hot water coils in the cement floor, thus eliminating the possibility of ice on the floor and making it much more pleasant to work out there. The walls can be treated and painted with the same water/fluid resistant epoxy paint as the stuff they put down on garage floors. Personally, I'd just install a drain as suggested earlier and be done with it.

Randy

 

Go with a polished concrete. By polishing and sealing there will not be any areas for the grease and grime to "inbed" into the surface. Any type of rough texture will allow a place for the grime to hide and build up. Rough textures are also much harder to clean


Darrell.

 

A guy might want to consider rubber mats over the walking area if he went with the polished concrete--slippery!

 

I don't know how an interior application would work but for a drain you could use an oil water separator drain that dumps the bad stuff into the waste water and the kinda clean water into the storm water lines, just an idea, good luck!

EDIT: This is required if you dump into a storm line and the EPA knows you plan on using it to wash vehicles, it is usually used in exterior applications but you might want to consider it if you have a septic system or access to a storm line.

 

Out of all the dealerships I've worked at the walls were always cinder block with a coat of paint. It seems to hold up well (as long as the paint is applied correctly) and is washable. As for a floor I would not recommend polished floors, they are slippery and with a little oil and water mixed together it might as well be a skating rink. Another suggestion would be the large rubber mats that are hung from the ceiling like in the do-it-yourself carwashes.

Mike.

 

For residential applications, most codes state that a garage drain is a no-no unless you are draining it into a septic. There are a few inspectors who will be present at the concrete pour to make sure that there isn't any buried piping that can be accessed later by chipping open the floor to create a drain. Oil or chemicals can be conveniently dumped so it is a significant concern for some municipalities.

 

The only way to pull this off is to install a triple basin oil-water separator. This, however, is an expensive option.

 

Pshaw! I just added a dead-mans valve to each line at the washing machine (garage location) that dump into a single faucet. I get filtered house water, as hot or as cold as I want, and wash my cars in the driveway I have one of those black hoses that you can drink from and can withstand hot water...your typical garden hose cannot do either one safely.
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Where I'm going that drain stuff is not an issue. But, hey; I choose my waxes on how they look under the fluorescent lights. Very perceptive.

 

I agree with you about the fiberglass. I don't intend to do cinderblock but, with epoxy paint that could work. Thanks.

 

I found that power-floated concrete floors covered with an epoxy coating is the most convenient for garage floors. The epoxy can come in any color. It's very durable, resists water, very smooth, looks nice and requires no or very little maintenance.

 

These panels come in various sizes 4X8 etc. and can be applied over sheetrock, cement block, whatever, and they look great. You can also ad designs to them with a grinder wheel. You only need the stuff 4' high anyway unless you are washing your Peterbuilt.

 

FRP ( Fiberglass Reinforced Panels) is whats mentioned earlier. Home Depot even carries them now. Tiles could be very slippery when wet.

 

www.garagejournal.com/forum

Start here, it will probably give you more ideas than you care for.

FYI, i thought i built my last house (with six stalls worth of garage on two floors, but am now realizing i didn't make my upstairs garage deep enough.... :-(
And my driveway going down the side of the house to the basement garage is too steep for my NSX to get down. I can get on my way down (over the top transition), but my front lip bottoms out at the transition to the flat area at the bottom.... i was pissed! because i had the concrete guys redo the top approach, but b/c the lower level didn't look bad, i never gave a thought to it. So the lesson from this is when they are setting concrete forms.... check, recheck, recheck, check again and recheck five more times!!!! I learned the hard way. I'll never get a sports car down to my lower garage, but i'll be ok, it's becoming the storage area for the dirty items i wouldn't want upstairs inthe first place.

Also, for flooring, check out these guys www.floorsurfaces.com/pricing.htm
Also, do a search for Greg Smith equipment (they have a version like the first one that is cheaper). This floor tile is awesome, completely none slip when wet and installs and uninstalls super easy. The first link i believe will send you two tiles as a sample to see.

 

A lift would allow you to wash off the underside of the car and will be useful for a number of other jobs too.

 

A few suggestions... run the warm water pipes under the bay that would will be washing in. That will stop water from freezing on the floor, and a convenient outlet to get warm water (so you don't freeze your hands off when washing). Also, you'll need TONS of lighting. I'd suggest a lot of lighting on the ceiling and walls. A white ceiling will help when detailing in the garage, as other colors will visually pollute the paint. A suspended fan for ventilation/drying, perhaps mounted in a corner would also be a nice feature. A heated garage would help. Make sure you have outlets as well.


-Joe

PS, You should come out to some local meets!

 

I've seen an epoxy sprayed coating with sometype of glass bead in it, used in prisons...........on the walls, floors everywhere...

It looked real nice and was obviously tough as nails....sorry I don't have trademark name.....

Slope the slab to the driveway, really no drain required.....

"Dilution is the solution to pollution......."

 

Nice circumlocution.

 

Sure works for multiplicity of infection in viruses and bacteria. Not so much for the water supply.

 

Come out to our next local meet!

-Joe

 

It's actually the adage of the entire petrochem complex of the Gulf Coast.......LOL!

Avoid the raw oysters!