Garage flooring

I'm in the process of building a new home with an attached 1100 square-foot air conditioned garage that will double as my man cave. The ceiling will be 11 feet high and I'll have a lift. It will mostly be for show and comfort and not a whole lot of wrenching will take place therein. I'm looking for suggestions on flooring and I don't find the epoxy/paint option very attractive. Any other suggestions? This is my last house and I want to do something special. Thanks.

 

I did white epoxy. Turned out nice but can be scratched. I would do tile if budget allows.

 

Tile that looks like hardwood floors. Thinking of doing mine that way.

 

Go down this rabbit hole: Flooring - The Garage Journal Board

 

I used Race Deck in my home garage and would not do it again. It's OK but it does not clean well, fluids leak through the cracks and it has the click-clack sound walking on it.

If I did it again, I would do epoxy mortar with a urethane top coat with aluminum oxide (anti slip).

This is the floor in my shop and it's extremely durable.
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Thanks, I hadn't thought of that option.

 

Race deck is like walking on plastic.

Tile can crack and you'll have other issues to contend with (floor height issues, difficult cleaning).

I don't care what people say - epoxy is the most durable and user friendly for garage surfaces. Used it for over 15 years, never had an issue and always get complements and floor always looks good.

I used Armorpoxy in my most recent home which was just done last year.
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If you want to do it right, then Diamond Polished Concrete all the way (done epoxy and redone epoxy before...won't go down that road again. Plastic tiles are BS IMO).
Diamond polished is bullet proof. Looks good always. Easy clean up, etc. Heck just walk in any Costco, you think they would go to the effort to diamond polish if it wasn't worth it in the long run.
Use concrete dies to get some great colors, etc.
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Do the diamond polished concrete floors with the sealant get slick when wet?

 

Most surfaces (epoxy, tile, etc. do get more slippery when wet).... have seen examples of diamond polish used around pools, so......
Check this site:
Questions on concrete floors? Find the answers on DelGrosso Design web site
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nice!

 

Thanks for this source. I'm leaning towards tile but concerned about how tile will react to the pressure and weight of a lift with a car on it.

 

I would suggest tiling around the lift posts. I'm not a fan of tiles for a garage given grout joints, etc. To me, a seamless floor is the best. My shop floor is very slippery when wet but nothing like epoxy without any oxide - that is deadly when wet.

 

Thanks for this source. I'm leaning towards tile but concerned about how tile will react to the pressure and weight of a lift with a car on it.

 

Search for tile in the same venue. There's plenty of discussion of using tile. I probably should have used tile in my place, but the sheer size would have made it pretty expensive and very time consuming for me to do. I needed something fairly quick and cost effective. Next time I'd prefer to do porcelain tile. If correctly installed, and if you purchase a tile with the proper hardness, it'll be as hard as concrete (hardness, etc. discussed in the GJ). There's a fair amount of discussion on this covering all possible objections, experience from people who have actually installed it, etc. Great resource.

Take a look at the second post in this thread: White Floor. Epoxy, porcelain or TuffShield? - The Garage Journal Board

 

Agreed. 2 post lift definitely needs to be tiled around.

Might get away with a 4 post on top of tile if you aren't going to bolt it down anyway?

I really like the polished concrete as mentioned above as well but was too expensive for me. (would have been 12-14k vs doing the epoxy myself for 3k).
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I know it is not what you want to hear, but plain unfinished high strength concrete is best for safety, non slip. As good as some epoxy and tile finishes look, they compromise function in a various ways, the main one being slip and fall risks. Maybe some epoxy around the perimeter, or something decorative could still be done for appearances, but I am still looking for some inspiration to see something different that still maintains function. Slipping and falling after getting out of a car that you drove in the rain and it dripped on the floor can be a disaster, not worth it. You need to have a close call to understand how instantly this can happen to get what I am saying.

 

I have epoxy and have good first hand experience or what you speak. I would not do epoxy again and I live in So CA where it never rains until it does.

 

We used this linoleum tile flooring in a show garage that I built 16 years ago and it held up pretty well. I don't recall it being overly slippery either. I just want to use something different that you don't see in every other garage. Like I said there won't be a lot of wrenching; it will mostly be my secondary man cave.
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If your slipping on epoxy floors, you or your installer is not mixing in enough anti-skid material. Don't use the HD or Lowes kits. Every epoxy floor I have done has been done by a pro and has sufficient grip - wet or dry - the only issue is the use of WD40 or some other oil/silicone that drips onto the floor - and that's a problem no matter what surface you use.

I looked into polishing - somewhat promising - but very expensive and after a while, starts to look like regular concrete. (take a walk down your local Home Depot store and see how they look after being worn a few years).

Again it's hard to beat a properly done Epoxy floor with the proper amount of anti-skid for all around combo of cost, looks, and durability.

 

Yea I had what I thought was a pro do the floor but you don't really know until after the floor is dried. My charge to the epoxy painter was to give me a non slippery, clean looking and non chip flooring. It looks good and hasn't chipped for 5 years. I didn't realize how slippery it was until it rained and since it doesn't rain much or often, it was months later before I found just how slippery it was. Since rain is not a big deal in So CA I am just very careful on rain days.

 

I love the idea of some of the new tile that looks like wood we just installed a first floor on a house really looks killer. On my personal garages i have race deck in one and do NOT recommend it to cheap looking and plasticy. In my main garage i have black and white tile in a checkered flag look with black epoxy grout . I like that and it is very durable .I have about 2000 sq ft. I have another garage actually my office shop and we used an epoxy product called U COAT it and it is also marketed under another name we used the specked look and really like that....this adds a nonskid....
SO if it is more of a museum collector car garage any of the above would be good it all the cars are going to move all the time i would suggest some form of epoxy..
be careful not to make it too slick when wet...
Something else i bought bought large rubber mats to park the cars i don't really drive on just to do an added layer of protection .... (concern of moisture coming through the floor not really an issue but )...

 

I would love to hear experiences, good and bad, with stained concrete. I am currently leaning toward that as a durable surface for my new garage. I'm leaning toward the water based stain with a non slip additive.

 

Much of the non slip particles on epoxy still get encapsulated in the epoxy, and while certainly helpful you will still end up with a surface slippier than uncoated concrete. Home Depot indeed has nice epoxy floors, but even they have slip risks in winter and put all kinds of carpet and rubber matts out to reduce the risk when snow/water inevitably gets walked into the store. Don't get me wrong, properly done epoxy can look fantastic and some no slip coatings seem pretty good when dry. I am just reminding of the tradeoffs against a truly safest and functional bare concrete surface, which of course just doesn't look as good. I think an unpolished concrete stained surface might be a good compromise, not as durable as epoxy but could look nice and retain some element of the bare concrete grip depending on the product. So I second the request to share staining experiences/products.

 

I agree in many ways. But, concrete needs something on it or it will dust forever. So, whatever is put on it, sealers, etc, all make it slippery when wet.

The epoxies with the flakes (for looks) also add some grip.