Garage floor options?

Do you plan on doing any work on your vehicles involving fluids? If not, how about carpet?

My girlfriend's father and brother both have their garage's carpeted (they are in the flooring business). It looks great, keeps the floor warm and is easy to maintain. They both have carpet that is meant for indoor/outdoor use so it does not hold moisture or get moldy. If you want more info I can get you specifics.

 

I have an epoxy-ied garage floor that uses a "commercial grade, Mil-spec" coating used for aircraft carrier and hanger floors on tops of a custom troweled finish top coat that is applied over the concrete. In order to use any coating, the concrete needs to be in good condition, but most importantly, DRY; not have moisture coming thru the concrete. The moisture will effect the bond to the concrete. There are a couple of testing for moisture, one way is with a large rubber mat laid over the floor. There are also meter that can detect moisture content. Lifting the mat may show condensation.

The "race track" plastic tiles looks great, but will tend to trap moisture and dirt, etc. This is not as much of an issue in drier climates. Your mileage will vary...

Another floor covering is a decorative rubber material that roll out as sheets or tiles that work well and look good, but the mats mar easily (it's soft PE-V plastic) so don;'t expect the mats to look new year after year. The only potentially major issue with this one is, what is an issue with all of them at some level; is the moisture issue. If you have any visible water intrusion from flooding or moisture up thru the floor, in that case I wouldn't put anything down that seals the floor.

I like the stained floor look, and with a light sealer, this finish seems to wear well in public outdoor spaces. To start with, the concrete should be in aesthetically pristine shape, otherwise the finish will enhance those larger cracks in the floor.

 

I did Karndean LVT with custom made logos.

See this post from a couple years ago for pictures:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=187820

Those pictures were taken right after install before cleaning, polishing, etc.

-- Garrett

 

Preperation is key if you are coating the floor. In the PNW you will need to heat the garage for several days to get the slab warm over 60 degrees. My garage is heated and the slab is like 58 all the time. Best advise for a coated floor is don't park on it. Have pads to park the tires on. All coatings will lift with hot tire pick up. The hotter it is near you the worse it is.
In the PNW you can get away with a lot more parking directly on the coating for awhile.
Everyone wants there floor to look like a Chevy Garage. The dealers coat there floors twice a year to keep them looking that way. Some have dropped back to yearly. Coatings can be high mat. is done wrong or abused. Concrete is pretty Mat. free and I have sold may different systems. I have none on my floor. Clear gloss sealer only if you want a high gloss shine. The rubber in warm tires actually sticks to the coatings and when you back up it peels. Parking for months in hot weather is almost a sure thing to peel. Tiles are easy to repair and replace but moisture and hydostatic pressure from below can be an issue. When it is cool and rainy my slab will sweat a bit and also still get salts pushing out 20 years later.
Concern here would be moisture and mildew under the tiles. Same for wet carpet. Rubber mat systems look great but they are high cost and solvents can attack them. It depends on how hard you are on your floor, how often are you willing to work on it and your desired goals and look.

Now that you guys have me thinking about it I came up with a killer idea but have to research if anyone is currently doing it.

 

I have Griot's epoxy on my floor. You absolutely will not get tire lift. HOWEVER, it will scratch off if you drag heavy things on it. This is true if any epoxy coating -- or any floor covering. Basically, if you drop your axle stands, or drag your floor jack sideways, it will often leave a mark, so you learn not to do this.

As was mentioned, the only way to keep your floor looking perfect is to a) redo it every year or b)don't do any work in there. If you're just driving in and out and sweeping it, it will last forever.

I personally don't like the plastic coverings, because many of my cars leak. If you spill oil with plastic tile, not only do you have to wash the tile, but also the floor underneath. I washed my floors on wednesday, and I simply use a little degreaser, hot water, a push broom to agitate, and a floor squeegie. Sometimes I use some brake clean spray to get all the last oil residue up (which tells you how strong the epoxy is.)

The other downside of the plastic tile is that when you drop parts (like, say a nut, bolt, spring, ball bearing from your headlight switch) you'll be pulling your whole floor up to find it.

 

As Island Maser said, preparation is key, and that probably goes for any installation type.
The tire lift deal--I think will depend somewhat on luck and the preparation. I had my floor professionally installed. The prep was first and foremost, top priority, make sure that the floor had no more moisture than X percentage. So the floor was tested over a month period of rain and warm days looking for any condensation. The installer said, any obvious moisture detected will lead to failure. If you discover moisture coming thru the floor or leaks around mud walls or foundation, then you might want to forget about coating the floor. Stay to stains and maybe a light sealer to make floor sweeping easier. Also, the floor will last a lot longer if you drive straight in and out. Turning the wheels will definitely tear it up.

1) Floor prep included several washes to degrease the floor. 2) diamond cutter to smooth the floor. 3) acrylic adhesive-concrete bonding agent was rolled over the floor 4) a troweled cement like top coat was applied to seal any cracks and improve overall look and traction. 5) staining or color 6) epoxy finish

For maintenance, I simply sweep and will do a mopping maybe twice a year.
Only one coat of epoxy was applied. I may refinish this coming summer.
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I like the "Coin Top" rubber mats that I used. I ordered (3) rolls 10' x 22' and cut them to fit. At all the seams, you use a tape between the seams that you coat with a bonding agent that seals them together. I'm really happy with it.

As Sammyb pointed out, I decided against the "plastic tile" because of all the water and gunk that would just fall between the cracks.

The mats are nice to clean. I just take warm water and soap with a squeegee and they look brand new!
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I have race deck tiles easy to install easy to clean.

 

If you end up epoxy coating/painting your garage floor, I would highly recommend getting some rubber mats for under your cars, especially the daily driver vehicles.

The grooved mats will trap all the water, mud, leafs, etc. that fall off when you drive in.

They can be easily pulled out into your driveway for cleaning/washing with Simple Green, etc.

A good source for them is Northern Tool:
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200311962_200311962
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Tile is one of those extreme pro-con things: looks fantastic, but depending on the type can be wickedly slippery. (Trust me, even the Epoxy can be downright dangerous.)

If I had a showroom-style garage in which I wasn't working and spilling stuff all the time, I'd probably go tile.

 

Hey
Bringing cars in from the rain is just a dirty mess. That's why I went to the epoxy, it totally wipes clean to the original look and finish.

So far, it's been low maintenance, it's one step from doing nothing at all.

 

I have the Costco Moto Floor that you mentioned. I got it used- new in the box for super cheap. It's very easy to prep and put down. You need an under laminent to keep it from "clicking" on the concrete. It makes the garage floor soft to walk on, quiter and warmer on bare/sock feet (I often have to run down there at night).
It's super easy to clean; just sweep. The tiles fit together very tightly, so there is no risk of anything falling between them. I work on my cars and the only change is I put the jack stands on boards to keep the corners from cutting the tile. I like them.

 

Yeah, I used a dense foam type, pretty thin. I think I got it from Carpet Liquidators; took like three rolls (maybe $90.)

If you want to come by and check it out; walk on it, etc., shoot me a PM and I'll give you my address. I'm in W. Seattle.

etip

 

Eric,
Doesn't the foam underlayment get wet and oily? I'd imagine mold and bacteria would grow in there after a winter or two.

 

It's a closed cell foam; so, yeah it gets wet, but with the sloap of the garage water runs off.
Also, the tiles are pretty tight and I have yet to have "that much" oil go into the tiles.

 

Tip:
You need to leave a gap at the edges for thermal expansion. Failure to leave a gap may expand to the point of buckling upward. The tile mfr should have a dim/ft for the expansion.

 

Well, I'm just going to throw this one out there for the heck of it. Has anyone tried hardwood? I'm thinking old school hardware store, bowling alley, gym floor, that kind of thing. It would get torn up after a while. Then you sand it down and refinish and start again. Might be kind of cool.

Knew a guy that salvaged a gym floor from a school that was getting torn down. He used it in a house he built. Installed the floor, sanded it down, refinished it. Old maple hardwood. Long strips. Can't get stuff like that any more. It looked amazing.