Garage flooring - paint, self stick tile or interlocking tiles?

[BBfangs]

I am curious to hear the responses. I am looking to finish my garage floor but would like some input. I live in the northeast, USA and think temp differential might be a factor. Does anyone have any suggestions or input?

[Wbulk]

Is it a working floor or a show floor?

[BDR879]

I just put down the Behr product (from Home Depot). It looks good and the application was easy. The tough part was the prep work. Degreasing, etching, finding out that a coat of sealer was put down 10 years ago , stripping, etching again, priming then painting. It took 2 weekends to complete, but I'm satisfied at this point.

[zzmac]

It all depends on your budget but I vote for 2-part epoxy. Use Seka (Cadillac of epoxies). Have a professional company prep the floor (crucial). If you get any water coming thru later, you've got a problem. Had mine done 3 years ago and it's like steel. Cleans in a snap and still looks brand new.

[Dangerous Doug]

When I get around to it, I'm thinking Racedeck...

DD

[BBfangs]

It is not a show room floor, definitely a working floor. It is my house garage, I have hopes of building a seperate garage someday for my specialty cars, ah dreams.... Anyway, I want to fix it up since it is starting to look bad. Do the interlocking floors collect a lot of dirt underneath them? I am also concerned in actual wrok time to put one down. I don't want the cars sitting outside for long.

[csx4910]

I had swiss trax put in (Just like race deck) and he did the 20 x 40 garage is about 4 hours. Dirt doesnt colect underneath it that bad. Plus there are channels cut in teh bottom of the tiles that allow yuou to just blow out the garage with a leaf blower or hose it out and teh water passes through teh channels so it doesnt collect. I love mine.
Ron

[dcdoug]

You can get the Racedeck tiles at Costco too for less (its under a different brand, but I spoke to Racedeck and it's theirs). Less choice on colors though.

[snakebittexan]

Epoxy, everything just wipes up with a rag, not to suggest your baby would "drip" but just in case. Three years ago $2,500 for a three car garage, still looks like new.

[Gary Stubbs]

I am familiar with sherwin williams 2 part epoxy.
the prep is everything. Does not hold oil nor stain. Very durable. It is a two part and two coat system that is designed to last a long lon g time. I only have one coat down and still works.

[ERA 778]

I used the two part epoxy from Lowe's. My garage floor was maybe 15 years old, which didn't help. I cleaned and etched it thoroughly, but still had places to come up in less than two years. There were two types of failures: one where the hot tires on a car "stuck" to the epoxy and pulled it up and another where it appeared to bubble up from below. I read somewhere that if there was no moisture barrier installed before the concrete was poured, you can count on moisture problems.

I reworked the damaged areas and repainted after three years, but it's happening again. Still, the floor looks much better than just bare concrete and it is easier to clean up spills.

[m5extc]

I used the Rustolium product from Home Depot. My floor is almost 40 years old, etched it and painted, finished and painted the walls as well. I had the paint come up in several spots under the tires. I ended up buying and putting down Race Deck. I love the look of it. If I were to do it again I would use a good 2 part epoxy or go straight to Race Deck again. The Race Deck took my daughters and I (2 & 7 years old) about 3 hours to install. Cleans up nice and not too much dirt gets through the tiles. A leaf blower works great for cleaning out the dust.

Andrei

[Mark Thompson]

Griot's Garage has a user friendly latex epoxy that has held up well on my floor.

Mark

[Rwillia4]

fangs- Being that you are in the Northeast I'm guessing you have rain and snow. One of the problems with an epoxy floors with a glass shine is they get VERY slippery when wet. I watched a pro do it and he took handfuls of sand and threw it onto the freshly painted floor to give it some grip. If you intend on having it as a working floor one of the hazards is tools dropping at height onto it, like a crescent wrench or a screwdriver tip. I'm not saying all but most inexpensive epoxies will chip due to the impact. As others have said prep is everything, you will want to spend twice your time on the prep, if you think it (oil, cracks) will be a problem it will be. So if you have the perfect floor with no cracks, water issues, etc … Then epoxy is the way to go. If you have any of above issues go with the tiles. Tiles ahve their issues also. You can't slide under the car very easy, they don't like hot things, they takes some time to cut correctly so the wall edges come out, small caster wheels don't like them....

[RAO-3]

I tried the epoxy, really cleaned the floor and etched it. After some time the paint lifts under the tires. I then went with the race deck and have been happy. It's not a perfect solution as it does lift a little due to expansion if the sun hits it, but is much easier to put down and if you do damage it, you can always replace some tiles, although I think it would be somewhat difficult to do as the same interlocking method that keeps them together would work against you to get them apart.

-Ray

[BBfangs]

Thanks for all the responses. Issues that I didn't think about were mentioned so I have somethings to think about. I do like working in the garage plus a small part is used by my 9 year old son for sports equipment/other toy stuff so durability is an issue. There seems to be pros and cons with all suggestions depending on usage.

[ford fanatic]

I did my 30 x60 shop 7 years ago with 2 part rustoleum then topped with a clear that I got from local concrete supply house.This is a work shop in IL that gets winter crap brought in No issues at all great floor but, I prepped it very carefully with muratic acid (twice) and powerwashed it 3 times. I did another building I own and didn't take the time on Prep and it is coming up in sheets. So I learned a valuable lesson. The first floor I did was 15 years old when I did it. I have since
(3 yrs ago) did 2 larger areas (5,000 sq ft ) professionally and had great results.
The pro's told me about 50% of their work was removeing old epoxy systems that weren't prepped right. My work shop has been welded above torch plassma cutter you name it and just sweep up. Power wash every spring to get out winter garbage.

[JoeT]

I just helped my neighbor do racedeck in his two car garage last weekend. it took 2 of us about 2 hours. Looked great, and I know that they are a supporting business here. . .

BUT

when we were putting his cabinets back I dropped a drill and it hit "just right" and stuck into the floor. Brand new floor with a 3/8" hole in it. The tile was easy enough to remove (with a putty knife) and replace. but it was enough that I won't be putting racedeck in my garage.

His is more for show, but I actually work in mine. If every time I drop something, I have to worry about putting a hole in the floor it's not very practical. Nevermind having to keep extra tiles to replace the ones that get damaged. It really is a shame, because it was very easy to work with and looked fantastic

[dcdoug]

Originally Posted by JoeT

I just helped my neighbor do racedeck in his two car garage last weekend. it took 2 of us about 2 hours. Looked great, and I know that they are a supporting business here. . .

BUT

when we were putting his cabinets back I dropped a drill and it hit "just right" and stuck into the floor. Brand new floor with a 3/8" hole in it. The tile was easy enough to remove (with a putty knife) and replace. but it was enough that I won't be putting racedeck in my garage.

His is more for show, but I actually work in mine. If every time I drop something, I have to worry about putting a hole in the floor it's not very practical. Nevermind having to keep extra tiles to replace the ones that get damaged. It really is a shame, because it was very easy to work with and looked fantastic

I work in mine all the time. I have extra tiles and if there was ever any damage (really it would have to be some sort of extreme puncture event like you described above, as it is pretty tough) I'd just replace the tile. Really not that big a deal. I'd rather change out a tile and have it look perfect again than deal with chips and scratches.

[Wbulk]

I built my shop eight years ago and use it a lot. I believe the the two part epoxy system is great but because of my budget at the time I went with the single stage stuff from Home Depot. It could just now use another coat just in the area where I use my creeper and jack the most.