I have the plastic tiles that are perforated. I got them used, for cheap.
Pros: Durable, not slippery with water/snow
Cons: Let all sorts of liquids underneath them, impossible to clean unless you have a drain in your garage floor
If I had to do it again, with all my crap in the garage, I'd do the plastic tiles but make sure I got the solid ones. That way I could pressure wash them and then squeegee broom the water out of the garage.
I discussed some details with the guys at armorcoatings a little while ago that pretty much cemented (heh) my choice for a urethane coating on mine. The big villain for us will always be oil and gasoline; most coatings cannot withstand them for long, so most of the time you're choice comes down to what makes it easiest to work on and not loose things.
The company told me that left me with two options- regular waxing and Urethane. If I wasn't planning on long-term ownership I'd just wax it regularly since it ablates away and can be redone, but for long-term stuff Urethane is the only coating that can repel petroleum from the concrete for a length of time that isn't seconds. I looked and asked about siloxane sealants, but they turned me off real quick; they only repel water, and even then they can quickly make a surface very slick.
The last problem is that a Urethane coating needs you to grind the surface down on the concrete. You only need an 80 grit, but by that point some would just go the full monte, polish it and call it good.
When I bought my house (vintage 1981) in 2008 I had a few epoxy coating companies come out and give me a bid. Both said grinding the floor, in addition to the acid etch, would be necessary since my concrete was old and stained.
I wish I did it at the time, the garage was totally empty, we hadn't moved in yet. Now the garage is totally packed with stuff and there's no way I could do it.
docwyte said:When I bought my house (vintage 1981) in 2008 I had a few epoxy coating companies come out and give me a bid. Both said grinding the floor, in addition to the acid etch, would be necessary since my concrete was old and stained.
I wish I did it at the time, the garage was totally empty, we hadn't moved in yet. Now the garage is totally packed with stuff and there's no way I could do it.
I'm trying to mine now before I begin putting crap into it. It's hard NOT to, especially because I have to do all that stuff.
Honestly, I've found epoxy is the thing people *think* they want, but really don't. Tons of stories here about how bad they are when they fail, and the preparation time is honestly the worst of all floor coatings. For you tho doc, I know a wax coating could be put down no problem- you'd just have to shove everything on one side, let it cure then shove it over on the opposite.
I built a garage a couple of years ago and put in porcelain tile, possibly inspired by this thread. I tried to get some people out to quote an epoxy or other industrial finish on the concrete, but nobody showed up so I went with tile. So far it's held up well even with various things being dropped on it and fluids wipe right off with no staining (so far I've "tested" oil, transmission fluid, wood stain, lacquer, mud). I used grout that wouldn't stain, Fusion Pro Grout. When using jack stands I put a square of aluminum underneath them so that there's not a lot of weight concentrated on a small area by each leg of the jack stand. The tile I found was recommended for a bathroom so it's fairly non-slip when wet. Before this the only tiling I had done was a 5x7 bathroom but it turned out fairly nice. There are a few spots where adjacent tiles are not at the same height, but even then there's no problem rolling things around. Here's a pic of it.
I actually really want to do tile for mine too; I just lack the time and budget to do it lmao. Seems like most everyone who has done it really had good results tho, unlike some of our forumites with epoxy.
Oh, another detail to mention; for epoxy if you decide to go with it, make sure you don't use the water-based materials you find in the big box mart simply because they're far thinner and weaker.
Have no idea if it works or not but read on the Garage Journal about using Tung Oil to seal garage floors. Some mixed in some kerosene. Supposedly dries to a hard smooth finish.
I recently read an article about end grain wooden factory flooring. I didn't retain much of what I read but it was intriguing . As I recall, it lasted for decades in an old car factory. If you google industrial end grain wood block flooring, you can learn more about it that I remember from the article.
I started an apprenticeship in 1965 and the shop I worked in had the end grain wood block floors. The building and floor was probably forty years old then. I think the blocks were soaked in creosote. The floor was well worn from constant rolling of steel wheeled work tables, constant sweeping with a sweeping compound, foot traffic, etc. The wood was black with dull sheen and looked pretty nice. Was comfortable to stand on all day. That type of floor was pretty common back then for factories and shops.
In reply to pirate :
The machine shop at one of the pharma companies I've done work at had an end-grain wooden floor. It was one of the early buildings on the site and nearly 100 years old.
My father in law does epoxy floors and has done all three garages I've owned. See my thread below. I love this stuff, but it's not the big box garbage. It's incredibly durable. The only thing I've found that damages it is welding. Oops. Burned some holes through the clear coat.
M2Pilot said:I recently read an article about end grain wooden factory flooring. I didn't retain much of what I read but it was intriguing . As I recall, it lasted for decades in an old car factory. If you google industrial end grain wood block flooring, you can learn more about it that I remember from the article.
Plate of shrimp, my dude! I was looking up end grain wood floors thanks to "Mr. Chickadee" on youtube after I made my last comment. I'm doing a little cursory research into it now; seems like you seal the wood by charring similar to Shou Sugi Ban but i'm not sure if you should coat it or what you should use in the gaps between. My hope is something like free pallet wood could be used, though it's probably too much work for my garage.
In reply to Scotty Con Queso :
There's some wierd difference split between stock epoxies at the boxmart and the industrial stuff- and apparently, what the Air Force uses is even MORE different than those. I won't use epoxies more because I'm not sure if my slab is sealed.
I'm a huge fan of the racedeck tiles.. this freeflow won't be great for rolling around or jack stands (people use mats or other tiles underneath their jackstands), but other offerings in their lineup could be! They're my favorite part about my garage.
Sure, this was bumped by a canoe, but is relevant to my interests. Are there any particular tile-type options that work well for a carport? Wasn't sure which ones would stand up to sunlight and temperature changes that a typical garage might experience.
A quick search on end grain flooring results in:
https://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/home/end-grain-flooring-ze0z1204zsie
Looks surprisingly easy, if not a bit time consuming.
In reply to plain92 :
Exactly this. Mine chipped when I drug a differential across it. I only did one coat. It was plenty. What to do when it chips? Clean the floor and paint over it. Simple.
Rustbullet. It's cheap, effective, easy to DIY, and doesn't require grinding. It's been simply awesome on my new garage floor for almost 3 years now.
pirate said:Ended up using Behr Concrete Sealer with the consistency of water and mixed it with a light gray concrete floor paint per Behr instructions. Before painting did a heavy duty scrubbing of stains and then pressure washing with 3100 psi pressure washer. Then washed down floor with diluted muratic acid at about twice the recommended mix. Then pressure washed again.
I let the floor dry for a few days with help of fans and no one walking on it. Then applied two full coats of the sealer/paint mix and spread out what was left over. Let dry for a couple days before moving stuff back in garage. Floor has been down 10 years and has been very durable and accomplished all that I wanted.
I know this is an old post, but I'm hoping you can shed some light on which Behr products you used. I haven't been able to find anything about mixing concrete floor paint with the various concrete sealers on Behr's website.
End grain wood flooring seems like an unusual suggestion. It's gonna absorb every spill quickly, and be prone to splitting.
In reply to bigben :
In rereading my post there was an error when I wrote it I didn’t detect. The actual sealer was Seal Crete concrete sealer mixed with Behr concrete paint. Pretty long time ago now but floor has held up well to some pretty hard wear. The Seal Crete Sealer is water based and can be mixed with latex paint. I see Seal Crete is now owned by Rust Oluem.
Dusterbd13 said:Vct is nice, until you spill gas on it.
Porcelain tile would be my choice, with very small grout lines.
How do you keep it from scratching or breaking if you drop things on it? I like the idea in that it's an easy DIY project.
But also wonder about traction. We drive into the garage with snow and ice on the tires and I wonder how much sliding would happen.
I once bought a pallet of cheap Chinese granite and wonder if that wouldn't be a less vulnerable surface?
In reply to frenchyd :
I can tell you that Urethane coating without grip silt or material is a BAD idea. Like, wintertime my floor is a goddamn skating rink.
I did grip silt with my rustbullet and didn't get it down perfectly. That's my only complaint with my floor and it's my fault. It was summer hot, and I was using a roller for clear and in a hurry after five coats. The roller left stripes of grip silt at stop points in some places. Had I known it flowed so easily and didn't stick to previous coats I'd have done something differently. I think multiple super light coats of clear with less grip silt would've been better. Now I know.
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