[csc71]

Hi All,

I have been off the site for a while. I took 2 summer classes and have been building my first home. It is a new starter home with a 1 car garage. I am extremely excited about the garage and friends and family think I bought the garage with a house attached...and they might be right.



So I have done some research and thought about the following options for the floor that will hold my precious 968 off the concrete floor. Unfortunately cost is an issue. Here are some of the things I looked into. My goal is to have the entire floor covered. Garage is approx 11x19



Racedeck, love it, too expensive. ~$1500 range, think it would be difficult to cover the entire floor.

Ucoatit $500 range (with the fleks) do it yourself, water based apoxy. Flecks are a separate kit, like medium gray with deco.

Armor Poxy $250 range includes fleks and top gloss coat which ucoat does not. Good choice?

Carpet Mat $325 can get it to look like a street or black with red sides.



Tell me about your garage floor, apoxy floors, and send pics and links if you have them and thanks in advance for the great advice I know will come pouring in!



Steve

PS Waiting to hear about an RS Barn Fall Fun Run?!

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[banditsc]

This is what I went with, I have been happy with it. http://www.epoxy-coat.com/ If it's fresh concrete then you should be fine, if it's old concrete with stains and what not then epoxy could be an issue.

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[SILVY968]

Steve,

Racedeck is great and Sears sells it as "Craftsman Garage Tiles".



http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_0...garage+flooring



At 20 tiles for $55, it should cost you about $575.

11x19=209 sq ft. divided by 20 = 10.45 boxes.

Unless my high school math is wrong, Racedeck is the choice!



Brian

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[oppositelock]

Depends on your moisture situation and what you want are going to do in your garage. If you have moisture coming up through the floor, race deck is your best choice. Duct tape down on all sides (complete seal) a section of plastic wrap on the floor for a week. You will be able to determine your moisture situation. For my new shop floor I used UCoat-It with UGloss-AF on top. This is a real working shop, and I love the durability of the floor. Plan (when funds allow) using UCoat-It (no Gloss) in the garage. The gloss is very slippery when wet so parking a we car makes for slippery walking. However the gloss is very durable so would strongly recommend the gloss in a working area. I have never sent photos here, but could try if you are interested. Mitch

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[flash]

i've had them all - here are the ups and downs of each;



CARPET

ups - attractive - easy to install - relatively inexpensive



downs - not oil or spill resistant - smells after a while - very difficult to clean up even on simple jobs like a brake job - tough to roll a creeper on



EPOXY

ups - inexpensive - easy to apply (after doing the proper prep) - attractive - easy to clean with ammonia and water



downs - scratches pretty easily - takes a week to dry fully (even though the box says overnight) - cannot be easily touched up - mars easily with a creeper if any dirt is left on the floor



RACE DECK

ups - very easy to install - tiles cut easily to fit the room - attractive - spill proof - nice to roll a creeper on - can go with you when you move - easy to replace damaged tiles - cheap if you go with moto floor at costco (colors more limited there though)



downs - noisy to walk on (this can be mitigated by installation of a foam layer below) - cratches pretty easily (buy extra tiles for this) - spills go through the crack to below - jacks and jackstands require support underneath to be stable (piece of 1/8" aluminum sheet, etc)



RESIN FLOOR - this is what i have now, and by far the best of the bunch - after grinding the concrete, filling any cracks or holes, and then applying an epoxy primer, then epoxy paint, then the sprinkles, a resin coat (like fiberglass resin) is applied



ups - similar to expoxy but amazingly tough - will not crack up to 900lb/sq in - spill proof - cleans easily with ammonia and water - attractive - hardens fully in one night



downs - $4 per sq ft to install - your neighborhood buddies will hate you - their wives will see it and demand that their husbands empty their garage to do it immediately



whichever way you go, don't skimp on the prep - also, realize that you need to empty your garage to do anything, so plan ahead



hope that helps

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[Cloud9...68]

Where is the resin that you used sold? Hardware store, or some sort of specialty shop? Thanks.

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[csc71]

My goal is to have a nice, clean garage like a room with a car in it since I can't get the car into the living room. I most likely will do no major work as I lack skills in that area and only trust the professionals. I looked into U-Coat, and it looks great, but you basically have to buy 2 kits one for the base and one for the top coat and flecks. I looked at epoxy which was much cheaper than U-Coat and it claims to be better but for my use, that would probably not make much difference, so there it comes down to price. I will also have to check out Sears as I did not realize that was an option available from them. Racedeck was what I wanted to do all along, Sears looks like it is half of that of buying direct from Racedeck. I don't have a membership, but will check out Costco too.



Thank you all for the great advice and Flash for the great summary.

I will be sure to post pics once the job is completed.



Thanks again,

Steve

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[csc71]

wow...checked out Costco and they are much cheaper.

Have one near me, and I think my sister is a member...it would save me on shipping and I will get to see what they look like. I will head over this week...stay tuned

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[flash]

cloud - it isn't something you buy - this floor is installed by a service company only - in and out in a day - drive on it the next day



csc - do yourself a favor - put down a foam layer - costco sells that too - it's for going underneath wood floors - it will make it a LOT quieter - the floor is VERY noisy without it

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[csc71]

Great advice, will do...and are those tiles trimmable?

I have a couple steps in the garage I will have to trim some tiles as it is not a complete rectangle.



Thanks, Steve

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[flash]

yes - i had to trim quite a few in my last garage

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[rxter]

An oldie but a goody. We are in the process of moving houses (still in SoCal just changing things up a bit) and I've been really spoiled by the "factory" epoxy job that was done on my current soon to be old house when it was built. The new place is concrete. I looked at multiple options and didn't really like any of them. Epoxy is the best, but unless you plan to hire a pro and diamond grind you'll end up with chips and peeling etc - not to mention it costs North of $3K. DIY coatings look like a disaster. Not going with tiles due to the hassle factor of prep and installation. The Race Deck style tiles look cool but seem to have a clickity clackity property, and cost over $1K. I really wanted to get this done fast and do it for under $500.



Enter G-floor (no affiliation - just a customer). I got the 55mil channel stuff from Sam's. To my door for under $500. 2 rolls of 9' X 20'. With all the storage I have on either side I ended up with about a 2' overlap. Took all of 10 minutes to "install" I installed it upside down as the channels looked like a PITA to sweep out. Should keep the never ending cement dust to a minimum, which was my goal. Pretty happy with it on Day 1. If it lasts more than 1 year I'll be ecstatic



   

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[rhudeboye]

What a great find.



I only like the look of epoxy. It sounds and looks like this product replicates that look in a roll out sheet. So did you apply an adhesive to the bottom first? If not, what keeps it down? i would assume that 3000lbs rolling onto it would quickly cause wrinkles.

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[benspeeder]

Very cool! Tell us more - this is a new product to me. I've done my own epoxy and it looked good for about 5 years but now...not so good. Race tires are great for pulling up the epoxy.



Will be Googling G-floor!

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[flash]

i love the look, and the sound deadening is great - extremely easy to install, and low cost



the problems i have with the vinyl products are the scarring that occurs from dragging a floor jack over them, and the denting from jack stands - chemicals also damage them (brakleen, etc) - over time it looks bad, but is really dependent on how much you work on your car - either way, fortunately it's very inexpensive and easy to replace, so when it does get trashed, you just replace it



still, way better than concrete, and a very nice improvement - good on ya

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[Ryan]

[size="2"]Let me start off by saying I have not done this, but I have seen it. Cement stain. I think it was put on with a mild acid. You get all the benefits of cement with the addition of color. I have seen it put on in a tile like look with a border color and it looked great.



I have the type of lift that drags a set of metal rollers across the floor each time you use it. Lots of psi on the surface and no other options are available that I know of. I havent done it yet, but I want to. I have a couple rugs down where no cars reside.[/size]

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[rxter]

No adhesive. Just rolled it out. I read a bunch of reviews as I was also concerned that the thing would twist and move under the car - most reviewers did not have a lot of problems with it. I suppose it might if you turn the wheel a lot, but I don't do a lot of 3-point turns in the garage. Mostly just in and out. They recommend carpet tape for the overlap, but I did not see any need so I have a roll sitting in the car.



Agree with flash that this is not the best surface if you work on the car a lot - welders will melt it, natch, and the jack will hurt it badly. FWIW the channel surface would also be a pain to use with a creeper or even laying on your back - that was another reason that I flipped it over. There are a few minor bumps where the stuff is not laying perfectly flat - little air pockets - you can broom those out if you want. It was driving my son crazy - I drove over it.



I don't think this is all that new Ben. I found a few manufacturers of similar products. I went with this because it was the closest fit to my garage in a stock roll and it is a large volume pattern so the price is lower. There are several top patterns and colors available.



Ryan I tried that Home Depot cement stain in a basement. Prep was a PITA. 1) Sweep vacuum, 2) clean with detergent and or degreaser, 3) etch with dilute HCL, let dry (forever), 4) prime, 5) "stain", 6) move a piece of furniture and see the cement again. Worked OK for foot traffic and did keep the dust down. It's paint, not stain - there is no penetration sealant effect - just a layer of film on the top. Did not stand up to any horizontal stress though - I remember scratching is off with a vacuum cleaner. I don't think it would hold up at all in a garage.

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[flash]

yeah - their epoxy garage paint isn't all that much better - it's ok, and if you do the prep well, it holds up fairly well - but, you would be wise to keep some extra paint, hardener, and chips to use for repairs



but i like the idea of the roll out stuff, and if you buy double what you need and store it, you should be good to go for a long time even after having to fix it when you mess it up, and still be WAY ahead on price

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[swmic]

I've seen several people go with old fashion vinyl tile. For instance, they put 4, 12" of one color together to make a 4' square, and then use another color to make a checker board pattern. The tile is cheep, holds up well to compression, and can be easily replaced if it gets stained.

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[flash]

yeah - been there done that - the glue was always the issue for me on that - when you turn the wheels on the car, frequently they move - also, the edges tend to get really dirty and start to peel up over time, at least if you use it as a working garage



lol - in search of the ultimate garage floor, i've done vinyl tile,vinyl sheet, tile, concrete paint, home depot epoxy, professional epoxy, carpet, race deck, and now professional epoxy with a resin coating over it - so far, this has been the best at holding up, but not the most comfortable to lie on, and certainly the most expensive



always a compromise somewhere



the roll out sheet looks to be an easy, inexpensive and reasonable quiet and comfortable solution for the average garage

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