I am tired of my old cement floor in my garage. I am looking to put a tile floor down to make my garage more attractive (and a better home for my MINI). Does anyone have any floor tile recomendations with some pictures? I don't want epoxy floors since they never seem to last.

 

As a side note..... I always thought it would look cool to get a big stencil with the car logos and paint the garage floor with them, then seal over the top. As your life goes on, the more logos you could have.

My parents had a house in Germany where the garage had italian ceramic tiles on it. It was a beutiful garage, but was a 2 deep, 1 wide configuration that was a pain at times.

 

A pic of my dream garage. Skatemom on MINI2 posted it. Its RaceDeck Flooring. Don't know any more details.. but wow! what a garage

 

Check out: http://www.griotsgarage.com/index.jsp

 

I know a bit about flooring from having specified it, but not from actual construction or installation which is where the REAL information should come from.

You might want to research with a local building products supplier about the suitability of using tile in your area. Material expansion and contraction in summer and winter, respectively, could differ a lot between your existing floor and your new flooring. This could cause the tiles or joints to crack or buckle. This may be less of an issue if your garage is heated.

There are rubber-like tile products used in athletic facilities (I should have googled Race Deck Flooring before typing this, but it may be a similar product) including locker rooms that have been designed for wet usage. Expansion is not an issue because they can be gravity held and are flexible. They tend to cost more than tiles, but are very durable. Double check their flammability and fume rating.

An economical alternative is a finish that would require redoing every few years (depending on conditions of use and your concern about appearance). Restaurants and retailers have found that a thin coat of colored concrete can cheer up a floor. A lot of colors are available and there are many ways to apply them. You might have seen such flooring at Whole Foods. The colors there are both integral (mixed into the cement) and broadcast (thrown on the wet application) and scored for appearance only (not close enough to control cracks). The floors are durable and colorful, but will probably need to be redone when the cracks get too big. Depending on labor conditions the cost to you may be a toss-up between this and tiles.

Because you live in Vermont where temperatures vary so much you should inquire at your local building products store before proceeding with anything.

Way off base for this application, but designers I know have a glass floor in their garage. It is an "opaque" finish and evenly lit from below. It looks like a clean room in a sci-fi movie and highlights their exotic motorcycles. The rest of their house is equally oneiric.

Good luck with your project.

 

That might be Randy Webb's garage.

 

What is your budget? Race Deck is great looking stuff and isn't permanent, so you can take it with you and/or easily repair a broken tile. However, making sure your sitting down when you calculate the cost of a complete floor.

Epoxy is great IF the floor is preped correctly. However, the prep-work is long, tedious, and not fool-proof. Not to mention if you have a hydrostatic problem then the epoxy won't hold for very long.

Also look into a concrete sealer, which can shine up the concrete and cut down on the dust.

Side note: for those putting down a new cncrete garage floor, make sure there is insulation under the floor as well as a vapor barrior. This will mostly prevent any hydrostatic conditions. Throw down some radiant floor tubing and a bright, commercial quality epoxy top-coat and your garage will be the evy of all (well... me at least...).

The "ultimate" for me would be Race Deck over a nicely sealed floor with radiant floor heat.

 

I priced out the RaceDeck and a few others and it would have been $3,000 +

I instead went with a rool out floor covering, rubber-plastic in GREY

Covered my garage, 2.5 cars, for 700 $ shipped

BLT makes them

Not the BEST but a huge improvement over cold and ugly concrete

Phil

 

Tarket Azrock commercial slip resistant floor tile...bought from a surplus outlet for 22 cents/foot.

 

Is that heat resistant for hot tires? Where can you get it?

 

Wow, that looks great! I especially like how you broke up the pattern with the circle tiles. Can't beat the price either. I am going to look into that. I wonder how it would hold up to Vermont conditions? Hmmm.....

 

Yeah, where did you get that for $0.22/sft? That would be fantastic even if it didn't hold up for 20 years!

 

It's kind of hard to tell - did you arrange those into 2 foot squares? BTW - it looks fantastic!

 

I have about $500 in the whole job..about 900 square feet..but then I laid the tiles myself.

I found the tiles at a place in Denver called Bud's Warehouse. This is an outlet for surplus building supplies that are donated to them from contractors etc. They had a load of these and I bought them all. There's a fellow on Autopia who bought these in another color for $1/ft from a dealer so that's the high end.

The circles....I had to develop the method for that myself. These tiles have a very high mineral content and go through blades like water. After much T & E I hit on the heat gun method. Warm the tiles to the point that they get soft then use shears to cut the tile into the pattern desired.

Hot tires.... yes.. the runflats on the MINI have caused yellowing of the tiles on which they sit. Had I anticipated that I would have changed the layout such that the car sat on black squares. But...I have extra white tiles and will simply change the yellowed tiles out when they get too nasty.

I did arrange 2 x 2 squares.. the tiles are 1 x 1

I have tile running out under the garage door and edged at the end of the slab with PVC edge molding from Home Depot..used for shower stall panel edging. The very edge of these have cracked..but the adhesive holds up and the tiles have not broken away...and that's outside in Denver at temps so far as low as -1 (f).

The whole Finished Floor Experience - I love it. It's warmer, more comfortable and makes the garage - which faces the street - look a thousand times better. But... know that a finished floor is a comittment. When it's sloppy outside..it gets sloppy inside. These skid resistant tiles mean you don't have the skating rink experience that smooth tiles can give you....but they get just as dirty.

About three days after you lay the floor, you have to wash and then seal it. Sealers are available from janitorial supply dealers. You apply it with a lambswool pad... ideally about 3 coats. About 3 or 4 times per year you have to strip it and re-seal it.

When it gets sloppy..you have to clean it. You'll need a proper string mop and wringer bucket to do the job well. If you get snow in your area you'll need to deal with the melt-off. If your slab slopes properly out the door.. then you can merely squeege it out. If your slab has settled at all and has low spots...as does mine.. you'll be using your wet vac to suck up the water and slop until things clear up outside and you can clean the floor... which entails using a hose to flush the road sand and crap outside followed up by a mopping.

Had I thought about all this before I laid the floor....I would still have done it. Having a finished floor is just that nice.

Here are 2 before and 1 after photos of the floor following a snow "event"

 

Khoda...

how much did the lift cost you? SWWWEEEEEEEEEET

 

The trick to having a lift isn't having the money..it's having the height. We remodeled our house and I came away with 11 feet 11 inches in the garage. I had to shorten the lift by 1.5" but it doesn't impair operation.

That lift is 9000 capacity asymetrical and cost about $2100 delivered.

 

What a great garage. I am also in the process of redoing the garage floor. Excellent ideas.

 

has anyone seen this?
http://www.ultimategarage.com/UltGar2y.htm

 

Holy , well you know

 

I am also in the process of planning to do some work on my new garage.

Truth be told, I am just thrilled to finally realize my dream to have a garage!

Keep the ideas coming!

 

Steve @ Ultimate Garage has/had a yellow Cooper S.

--
Cheese