Wich Garage floor, Tiles, PVC mat, Epoxy??

Doctorbass

Doctorbass

100 GW
Joined
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Messages
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Quebec, Canada East
I am prepairing to move to the new house i bought and before the move i would upgrade the actual garage look.

I am searching for a great and durable floor ...

What would you recommand?.. 2 part Epoxy like Rust-Oleum or similar? or floor mat like costco are selling?

I know that the concrete preparation is critical and i want to spend the time to do it properly.

Any good?.. bad experience? recommandations?

Thanks!

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Doc
 
If you're going to be laying on it a bunch (like when you're working on cars), the mats are WAY WAY nicer than the tiles or epoxy floors, because they don't conductively suck all the heat out of you through your back like the tile or epoxy floors tend to do. They also tend not to scratch parts you lay on them, or ding edges over on parts when you drop them. This is really a nice feature when an oily cylinder head with $2,500 in labor into it slips out of your hands and drops to the floor. Tile or epoxy/cement means you're going to have something broken. Mat floors have a good chance of bouncing and turning out ok. :)

Mat floors have jack-stands and things cut through them easily though, and often turn to a gooey mess when you spill serious chemicals on them.
 
Call me lazy; but I got better things to do than worry about spills, overspray, burns, drips, dings, salt, solvents, etc., etc., etc.

I just use grey floor-paint with a pound of sand mixed in.

Easy to apply and to maintain... pour and roll whenever needed.


FrankG recently renovated his shop. He may have some tips.
 
TylerDurden said:
Call me lazy; but I got better things to do than worry about spills, overspray, drips, dings, salt, solvents, etc., etc., etc.

I just use grey floor-paint with a pound of sand mixed in.

Easy to apply and to maintain... pour and roll whenever needed.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it depends what you're planning on doing in your garage. If during racing season you find yourself spending 10-20+hrs a week laying on your back under racecars, it's nice to have the cushion of mats, and you use drip-trays to catch fluids under the car, and have a parts washer for solvents. For a general purpose do-everything garage with minimal laying on back time, epoxy does seem like a great choice.
 
+1 for epoxy. Its pretty cheap, easy, durable, and it looks good. Those mats look cool though, epoxy wouldn't work in my carport but that might just do the trick.
 
Yes, the prep on epoxy is critical. It may not be possible to get it right if the floor has a long time problem with efflorecence. Old grease is also a problem.

One thing though, that I've come to hate about my epoxy garage floor is that it's way too slippery if it gets wet. Definitely put some skid tex in the final coat. My floor was painted when I bought the house, and now it's peeling all over. When epoxy paint works it's nice stuff, when it doesn't, it kinda sucks. Re doing it now would be difficult, with all the crap in there now. We have a car , the ebike stuff and a pottery studio in there.

The vinyl stuff looks cool, and wouldn't be so sensitive to a greasy spot on the old concrete here and there.

Here in NM we often have the opposite problem, the concrete or dirt being about 140F in the sun. We call a cardboard box a mexican creeper. But inside the garage the foor is usually not so hot.
 
If you do tile, make darn sure it's not smooth. Smooth tile gets way too slippery when wet. Someone put beautiful smooth tile in the garage of my first house down here, and I nearly dropped my motorcycle multiple times and the wife put the car into the wall on several occasions due to the slippery floor.
 
I have that rubber matt stuff in my garage, quick and easy to install and once in a while you drag it outside the garage and pressure wash it then put it back. ! :wink:

As LFP mentioned tho, sharp heavy objects dig into it fairly easily, and small wheels ( tool carts, work stools, etc ) don't roll on it very well because of the diamond shapes.. hard on the knees if you are not carefull kneeling on it. But for the general ebike mechanic it's good stuff. ( makes a good camera background ! )
 

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Thanks all for your recommandations.

Since we will need to spend alot of money to get that house the way we want, we will find a way that can cover around 300sq ft that cost under 500$.

I like the mat floor like costco are selling, but i would love if they could offer it in lighter color!!

The floor color of the garage make a huge difference on the lightning results! and also on the visual size impression.. as well

I saw that Costco PVC mat and i think i will search for similar product but that have lighter grey color..

I dont want these Jay Leno black & White tiles retro style.. it's not a show room.. it'S a workshop :wink:

As for droping fine edge object on it and the puncture trace on the mat, i dont really care about it.. I only want clean visual floor effect that also not drain all heat from my body during cold season since it is on the basement level, Thanks Luke for reminding me that.

Ypedal, i can now see the real effect of what that mat look like, thanks.

I'll make a tour of Home depot, costco and Canadian tire and other this weekend to see...

I have the entire house interior to repaint!!! + garage preparation before brigning the boxs to that new house.. hundreds funny hour to work!!! :shock: .. but I have my wife and great friends for helping so that will accelerate the job done:wink:

Doc
 
Doctorbass said:
I have the entire house interior to repaint!!! + garage preparation before brigning the boxs to that new house.. hundreds funny hour to work!!! :shock: .. but I have my wife and great friends for helping so that will accelerate the job done:wink:
Click to expand...
Don't let your friends help you paint.... You get what you pay for and you have to look at it for years.

I hired a pro to spray primer my whole house before moving in. Then I painted one room at a time under his instruction. Biggest lesson learned: prep is 90% of the job.
 
TylerDurden said:
Doctorbass said:
I have the entire house interior to repaint!!! + garage preparation before brigning the boxs to that new house.. hundreds funny hour to work!!! :shock: .. but I have my wife and great friends for helping so that will accelerate the job done:wink:
Click to expand...
Don't let your friends help you paint.... You get what you pay for and you have to look at it for years.

I hired a pro to spray primer my whole house before moving in. Then I painted one room at a time under his instruction. Biggest lesson learned: prep is 90% of the job.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the advice! You are right about friend paint help... i know what you mean... I meant .. they will help for the box :wink:

Doc
 
Check your farm store for horse mats and get at least one for your main work area.
 
Hi,

dak664 said:
Check your farm store for horse mats and get at least one for your main work area.
Click to expand...

Excellent idea:
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Sounds perfect to put over concrete for softness and insulation when working on a car or to keep an area clean.

Plus the convenience of a toilet in your garage without the expense of plumbing :mrgreen: :
http://www.infohorse.com/stall_mat.asp
Using a solid rubber mat will ensure that the urine is removed with the bedding.
Click to expand...

A harder surface might help avoid problems with small wheels digging in:
The top pattern on the mat does not indicate the traction the animal will have. The durometer reading of the mat (how deep the PSI of the hoof sinks into the surface) should be between 59 and 63 shore a scale. Urethane bound mats can reach a durometer of 65 to 80. Mats with large amounts of natural rubber can also range from 65 to 80.
Click to expand...

http://www.humanemfg.com/
Rubber mats, Stall mats, Rubber flooring, weight room flooring, Interlocking rubber flooring, all made from recycled rubber tire materials that have never touched a landfill. Humane is "Clean Green" for your peace of mind.
Click to expand...
http://www.humanemfg.com/products.htm
 
Ypedal said:
I have that rubber matt stuff in my garage
Click to expand...

Alot of guys at the drags use this stuff they lay it down in their pit area (its all grassed at the motorplex)
I actually asked one of the mechanics one week how much it cost i was flabbergasted at the price it was
nearly as expensive as than aluminium checker plate. the stuff they had though was shiney chrome finish not the grey type YPedal MaNs has pictured.

KiM
 
If the house is empty, buying or renting an airless sprayer is worth the cost in time saved. The masking time increases for spraying, but if the house is empty it's not so hard to cover the floor and windows, and doors can be unhinged and put in one room, or just covered with a tarp. With a sprayer, I've primed and painted entire 2500sq ft houses in a day. Might take several days to prep, so get the buddies to help with that. Look for an airless in the under $300 price range, or rent a really good one. A good sprayer will put out paint so fast that a second person is required to keep a 5 gallon bucket filled at the sprayer.

Aint home ownership great? I have 35 squares of shingles done, 35 to go. With luck, the last roof of my lifetime.
 
I vote for the paint/sand combo on the entire floor (cheap, looks good, useable), then get a rubber mat on half of it. One of the great things about the mat is you can roll it up to put on the side temporarily (so it won't get cut by jackstands, floor-jacks, etc), or to take to a new home. You may not think you'll move, but many have thought that and ended up moving a year or two later.

The trash bin next to a carpet store always has new remnants from installs, and also the old carpets that were pulled out (often in good condition). When I had a VW bug many years ago, I would park it on a piece of free carpet about 10'X10' to adjust the valves and change the oil. When the carpet started to get dirty, I just threw it away and got another fresh piece. Best of luck with whatever you decide!
 
i would recommend going with a painted floor, no grit. no need for epoxy but prep is important. soak the grease spots with real solvent and then clean with detergent and rinse with hot water and high pressure sprayer to clean out the pores in the concrete and then let it dry long enuff. i love to use an airless myself but floor paint goes on well with a roller, i would recommend you go heavy on the paint. if you don't want the paint damaged by a jack or other sharp stuff, then put plywood or block of wood under it to protect the paint.

prep is the key.
 
The horse mat is a good idea, I have put that in stables and it is cushiony but also firm and durable :D
 
Well.. i've got some quote for industrial quality products like Polyuertane.. thay seem to be more durable and nore flexible than epoxy.. but it is around 7$ per sq ft!!!!

My garage is 300sq ft and i dont want to spend 1500$ on that single door garage floor!!

This garage was already painted 2 times ( i can see the old paint too since it is very damaged.)

My budget would be more like 500-600$ for this floor area.

I would love finding a good reviewed product like polyurethane!!... The only products i found like rust o leum ( cheap) have very bad review over the interned.



Doc
 
How about you paint it in a reasonable cost epoxy paint mixed with a bit of sand, then buy a few of these 4'x6' puzzle squares to put down over the area you will most often be kneeling and laying and working down low.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300357372598&rvr_id=&crlp=1_263602_263622&UA=WVI8&GUID=7fd0509c1240a0e202439953fee408bb&itemid=300357372598&ff4=263602_263622
 
I put down an epoxy kit from home depot for my sister several years ago and it is still in perfect shape. It was the best kit they had which resist heat from engines, scruffs from tires, and solvents and chemicals. It took two kits to do a large two car garage with each one costing about sixty bucks. Its a two part paint with color flakes that provide some grip and make it look really proffesional. All you do is mix the paints, paint a two foot wide strip, sprinkle the flakes, and reapeat. took about an hour to do the whole garage.
 
Oh and the kit came with a chemical stripper which preps the concrete and removes oil and other contaminates. Her floor was in horrible shape, when they poured it the conrete was starting to set. I use a hammer to pound down the high spots and filled the divots with the epoxy kit. It went from crap to proffesional in one day :D If I had a garage I would use that kit and get some of those horse mats for a work area.
 
liveforphysics said:
How about you paint it in a reasonable cost epoxy paint mixed with a bit of sand, then buy a few of these 4'x6' puzzle squares to put down over the area you will most often be kneeling and laying and working down low.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300357372598&rvr_id=&crlp=1_263602_263622&UA=WVI8&GUID=7fd0509c1240a0e202439953fee408bb&itemid=300357372598&ff4=263602_263622
Click to expand...

Yes.. I thought about that.. two zones... During winter, the concrete platform will be colder so i'll need to cover it differently where i'll work most of the time.
 
maydaverave said:
Oh and the kit came with a chemical stripper which preps the concrete and removes oil and other contaminates. Her floor was in horrible shape, when they poured it the conrete was starting to set. I use a hammer to pound down the high spots and filled the divots with the epoxy kit. It went from crap to proffesional in one day :D If I had a garage I would use that kit and get some of those horse mats for a work area.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the info and review, i just worri about the result using cheap solution like that... it's like 10 time cheaper than professional work..

I worri about the surface preparation.. .. I mean.. How far i need to go to ensure the concrete is exactly clean!!!.. I know that the result depend of 90% of that...

Doc
 
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