Garage flooring to cover failed epoxy

[Dar73]

I had Race Deck down for a while and really disliked it. It gets dirty easily, has an awful sound and it certainly is not cheap. I ultimately went with a vinyl glue down tile that works well. Easy to sweep with a shop broom and looks good. It has been down now for about 10 years and I would do the same thing again.

[bcrumpley]

Originally Posted by DanEC

I put down RaceDeck and it provides a nice floor but I did discover two issues. First, I couldn't get loaded car dollies to roll across it with out extreme effort. Second, water does easily penetrate the joints and sit on the concrete if you pull wet cars in your garage. I found that up when I was forced to pull up a section of my floor so I can roll my ERA I store against the side on caster dollies and found water pooled underneath from my Lightnings air conditioner drainage and once when I parked it outside and it rained and I pulled it back in without drying it off. Since I have my 66 Vette and 67 GTX in there also that moisture is not something I want in my garage.

That was my experience with it as well. I installed epoxy/urethane in my new garage and love it.

[DanEC]

Ron - I bought the coin pattern tile and I think I prefer it a little over the diamond plate. I don't usually pull cars in wet in this garage but the condensor in my Lightning does drain water on the floor when I've been running it. Since I had to pull a rectangular section out so I can get my ERA in and out, it's not a big problem as the Lightning parks on top of the opening in the tile.



Kind of a bastardized flooring outcome but works for now. I don't have trouble with the tile moving - drop a 4-post lift on top of it and it won't go anywhere.

[xb-60]

Very nice "sanctuary" Dan.
Mine's a sanctuary as well, but it looks a little different to yours

Cheers,
Glen

[SkipB]

Thanks for all of the feedback and suggestions for a new floor covering/tile/paint, etc.

I am sure the epoxy failed due to poor preparation. In the areas where is started to peel I found oil stains underneath. Then the paint continued to peel to clean areas indicating lack of adhesion. I am sure the floor was not cleaned and etched properly or enough.

Anyway, I like the idea of snap together tiles, but I have walked on some of them and they made a squeaking noise and in one case a clicking noise. I have been told you can use an underlayment to help with this. But, I am not sure what to use? Has anyone put down an underlayment?

I may just bit the bullet, have the floor ground down to bare concrete and then have it professionally coated. I may do this because underneath snap together tiles, I would still have the unsightly peeling floor. I think that would bother me even though it would be mostly unseen.

Now I just need to make a decision! Thanks again for all the input.

[DanEC]

I bought inexpensive landscape fabric at Lowe's - the cheap cloth black kind - not the expensive, brown random weave stuff. It has worked fine - noise/clicking has not been an issue.

[Lou1119]

Originally Posted by DanEC

I bought inexpensive landscape fabric at Lowe's - the cheap cloth black kind - not the expensive, brown random weave stuff. It has worked fine - noise/clicking has not been an issue.

I basically did the same thing and the clicking is no longer there. I have used the tiles in 4 garages. The first three with no underpayment and yes they clicked. The last one did have the underlayment and it feels and sounds solid.

[ACHiPo]

I went with RaceDeck diamond plate texture. I also installed it over landscape cloth. No clicking, but it does move around a bit, particularly when I pull into the garage and apply the brakes--there's enough momentum transferred to the flooring, and low enough friction from the landscape cloth, that it scrunches toward the front of the garage.


I'm not a fan of epoxy. I've seen too many fail even when prep was "perfect" (i.e. new construction, concrete etched, etc.) It looks beautiful when done, but it seems to have a high enough failure rate to pursue other options.

If you have the patience and skill (or connection with trades) heavy-duty ceramic tile would be tough to beat. I'm guessing it would be a bit more than SwissTrak or RaceDeck, but look better and be a bit easier to maintain.

[novasscnc]

I put black and white vc tile about $1.00 a sq ft

[twobjshelbys]

Strip it down and start over.

[SkipB]

novasscnc, what is vc tile? Viet Cong or what?

[EZ$]

Vinyl Composition. But be careful, it has issues with moisture vapor transmission same as epoxy coatings do.

[twobjshelbys]

Originally Posted by EZ$

Vinyl Composition. But be careful, it has issues with moisture vapor transmission same as epoxy coatings do.

Good consideration. Chances are your original floor failed due to moisture coming up through the concrete floor. There probably isn't a vapor barrier under the floor, in which case any seal on the floor is doomed. Your choices in that case are to grind off the old failed sealer and leave it concrete or cover it with one of the vinyl puzzle tile covers like race deck. Any of the ones that leave a full sealed cover could cause further concrete damage.

[EZ$]

Tony, there are actually two part epoxy primers that can handle up to 20 lbs./ 1,000 s.f./ 24 hrs. of moisture vapor transmission without failing. You'd have to have a situation where anything, boxes, mats, drip pans, set on the concrete would have standing water under them in pretty short order.

Rick

[DanEC]

Probably difficult to tell what condition the concrete surface is in under the failing epoxy paint but if you don't see cracks or other major defects, diamond polishing is also another floor finish possibility. You see this a lot in big box stores and grocery stores where the exposed concrete surface has been polished to a fine, somewhat glossy finish. It also hardens the surface so it's pretty durable unless prone to dropping transmissions or rear ends on it.

[novasscnc]

I put black and white vc tile in mine a little maintenance but less than $1.00 a sq ft

[old willy]

So,
Go down to your local tool rental place and get an Edco or some other brand of floor grinder, tell them what you are cleaning off and they will set you up with the proper inserts for stripping off the coating, get the vacuum too, makes clean up a snap. Your garage should take a Saturday or so to clean up, yourself, for a fraction of what someone is going to charge you to do it, they don't really know anything special they just have the machine but you can too the equipment is available...
I have used it, check out Edco's website its pretty easy. No, I don't work for them.
You can paint it yourself too, my garage floor is in a lovely shade of light green, I had Home Depot tint some of there Behr floor paint, it gets pretty hard use and has stood up well for years, it doesn't like strong solvents like lacquer thinner but oil is not a problem just wipe it up. The other good thing is if you damage it, just get out a brush or roller and touch it up. Works for me, it looks nice but my garage is for building stuff too... it's not just a display case, although there are display cases in there too....hmmmm...... functional and looks good....inexpensive to do too.....nice, very nice

[novasscnc]

VC tile is what you see in the grocery stores, wall marts easy to put down when its waxed look great