What do people recommend for Garage Floor finishes?

[Rickyd]

race deck question..first..I already called for information and I look forward to getting it in the mail shortly. My question is how slippery is it compared to a untreated cement garage floor?

I am concerned about walking around in high heals..for my wife that is..hoenst! When it is wet I would think it would be somewhat not real but somewhat slick.

Also, how about a private email on your best pricing? I would be a guinea pig in the neighborhood A lot of guys plan on having their floors painted this spring. New development.

My .02 on garage floor paint...if you have a vapor barrier and you're positive about it ...it will hold if prepped correctly and good epoxy is used...but trust me I will never paint my floors ever again unless I am the person putting the vapor barrier down..living through a peeling garage floor especially if your a neat freak such as me is a torture.

over and out....

[Y-NOT]

Explanation of Different Types of Garage Floor Coverings
The type of garage floor you should use depends on how much you work on your car. With tongue firmly in cheek, here are some pointers on what garage floor you might need, from the internet, author unknown:

Plastic tiling squares -- Poseur who does no work on his car, collects Gryot's Garage catalogs (the one that explains which way to turn a nut), and is completely clueless about mechanical things; owns full set of solid gold tools stored in titanium tool boxes, but has never used them. Garage was featured in Architectural Digest.

Painted Floor -- Deluded Yuppie, obsessed with waxing and polishing; owns set of matched Falcom screwdrivers and gold plated wrenches stored in Zebrawood box and $300 plastic creeper and $5,000 hydraulic lift used to detail the inside of the wheels. On first name basis with the Snap-Off truck guy. Garage was featured in Robb Report.

Bare Concrete -- Does most of his (rarely, her) mechanical work; may rebuild engine once in a while; tools are stored in beat up tool boxes when not in use; tools are from various manufacturers including Snap-Off, CrapsMan, Procto, Mac, and others. Checks out garage sales and pawn shops on a regular basis; owns $15 wooden creeper. Has problems with rodents who enter the garage to feed on sandwiches he eats while working on the car. Recently scrounged a table saw from a garage sale, so he can build an extension onto the garage; wife allows him in the house if strips naked and bathes in GoJo first. Garage was featured in local PCA club magazine, but rejected by Pano.

Floor covering material unknown, area Hazmat team afraid to enter premises. -- Owner incessantly rebuilds both engines and transmissions; probably owns several cars but it's hard to say as over half of them are in various assortments of boxes. Tools are scattered around various piles of debris. Often makes own specialty tools and knows how to use odd bits of rock and tent stakes to substitute for factory tools. Rodents are afraid to enter the garage because of toxic odors from the floor, shelves, etc. Learning carpentry skills to build an apt. above the garage, as wife has kicked him out of the house. Garage floor was featured in Archaeological Digest.

Bill

[RaceDeck]

Plastic tiling squares -- Poseur who does no work on his car

Wow! That puts a lot of people in the MotorSports Industry in this catagory...such as::::-

Kirkham Motor Sports - Over 15,000 square feet..In their manufacturing area

Kelly Racing - Top IRL team, uses in both shop areas and pit areas

MOPAR Racing- Top NHRA team(s) includes Larry Morgan, Mike Crawford, and Darrell Cox....again in both shop areas and Pit floors
etc...etc...etc....

We have sold thousands of feet of RaceDeck for the Industry...From Race teams, Engine builders, industrial commercial applications to the everyday enthusiast's garage....

[Y-NOT]

I have a sample of Race Deck tile, looks pretty good. I want to know how well it handles the steel wheels on my floor jacks and engine hoists, etc.
Bill

[Y-NOT]

P.S. Gryot's tiles are about $15.00 per sq foot. Don't be so offended by some humor.
Bill

[Tom T.]

Y-NOT. Hey, you ripped 'em all! That's more than fair!

TT

[Robert Evans]

Bill,
Regarding cutting and installing...You would normally start at the front of the garage with the trim edges and work toward the back of the garage. Cutting is done with ordinary wood-working tools. I like a table-saw with a combination blade best, but a jigsaw works well also.

Rick,
RaceDeck meets all Gov't standards for slip-resistance. The tread on top of the Diamond tile is about 20 thousandths tall, so it does offer some type of slip control. It is a happy medium between easy cleaning and anti-slip. If RaceDeck feels slippery to you, then an epoxy floor will be like an ice-rink.

Y-Not,
The support structure on the bottom of the tiles are one inch on center, so unless you have a very high concentration of weight in less than 1 sq. inch, it's no problem. I have a big Snap-On tool box and it rolls across with no problem at all. The Circle-Trac tiles work especially well with casters.

[Traveller]

What did we say race deck cost per sq/ft?

I know someone said but I can't find it.

[Ron61]

I have had race deck in my garage for well over a year now and am completely happy with it. I used the red and graphite colors as we have red dirt here that really shows on white. So far I have dropped a car on a jack stand on it with sharp edges and it made a very small nick. I have ran the washing machine over and had an area of about 8 square feet of water and suds. I have tracked in snow and water from rain as well as mud. All cleaned up easily. After a few days I lifted the tiles where the washing machine ran over and took a small towell and wiped up what little moisture was left. I also ordered a few extra tiles of each color so I replaced the one that I knicked with the jack stand. I have walked on it in just my socks and every shoe that I own both wet and dry and have yet to slip. For me that is saying something as I can fall down just waking across my living room. I used a table saw to trim the edges and could have done a better job but was in a hurry at that point. Most of them are out of sight under the cabinets anyway. My steel wheeled floor jack has not left a mark and I have drug it all over the garage.

Edit: If you are worried about jack stands, do what I did. I took some old carpet that I had, cut 8 patches about 4" square each and used E-6000 glue. I put the glu on the edges of the jack stand bottoms, put them on the carpet pieces and they have lasted years. I did this while I had a painted floor and they were gouging it up. As for the steel wheels on the floor jack, I went to the hardware store and bought a roll of velcro. I just took the smooth side and cut strips that were the right length and put two on each wheel. Really quited the noise when I drag the jack and has lasted for a couple of years now.

Ron

[TerrysSPF]

Im sure this varies quite a bit (depending on skill levels), but what kind of time are we talking, to install a race deck floor in your garage? Say, a 21x24 2-car garage??

[Ron61]

Terry,

My garage is 22 X 24 and not perfectly square. I had to do everything myself including moving the washing machine, dryer, tool boxes, and car ramp out. Then I had to cut and fit around the cabinet legs and it took me about 7 hours from the time I started until I put the last edge strip on. A lot of that time was spent going to the table saw to cut pieces for the back edge under the cabinets. Also another good thing to have is a rubber hammer. It sure beats pounding the snaps together by hand. If your garage is pretty well cleaned out and you have help, you should be able to do it in less time than I did.

Ron

[Robert Evans]

Ron,
Thanks for the update and good words. I guess I'll owe you a dinner! To help protect the floor from sharp jack stands, you can also just order a couple of extra tiles and use them as a sacrificial tile under the stands.

As a note: I have had a 6,000 lb delivery van loaded with heavy flooring jacked up on one side and a single stand placed under the frame on top of the flooring with only a minor nick left from the stand. That same weight would have definitely left a mark on any other type of floor coating too.

Terry,
Typically, our first time customers installing their own floors usually take about 6-8 hours for a 2 car garage. The second time will cut that install time in half....I can do a typical 2 car with 2 colors in 3 hours. (Of course, I've installed about 100 floors myself so I've been practicing!)

[rms427]

To protect my racedeck floor I just welded 1 inch steel squares to the bottom of each leg on the stands and then used self stick felt furniture floor protectors. Probably didn't need the felt but it was easy to put on. I haven't had a problem with using a rolling floor jack or tool cabinet.

I used self stick linoleum squares under the 4 post lift and ramps for the lift (sticky side up). On the ramps I first welded on 1 inch steel strips to the sharp edges on the ramps. Then cut the linoleum squares to one inch wide strips and glued them to the steel strips. Seems to work fine. Self stick carpet squares would probably even work better but I couldn't find any at the time and so I used the linoleum. Basically from what I have seen you just need to protect the floor from sharp heavy objects.

My original floor coating had failed and this sure cured the problem. All I did was scrape off what I could of the old material and then laid the racedeck on top of it. I cut the tiles around cabinets and even through a doorway into a bathroom and around the toilet. Just used a jig saw to cut around objects. Straight cuts are better done with a table saw.

Have fun, Ray

[SPF604]

Robert,
Thanks for the feedback. I plan to look into the cost of an installation in my 24x32 garage. Sounds easy enough to install and makes a perfect excuse for me to clean everything out for a day or so!

[Don]

In the Cabela's Outfitter Spring Catalog the product listed is " Marine Floor Vinyl ". The slip-resistant version is $18.99 for a 72" wide and 3 ft running piece, 18 sq ft @ $1.05 sq foot. Description used " is heavyweight scuff-resistant flooring treated to resist staining, scrub with brush and water. " Colors are tan and gray

The vinyl floor adhesive is $20 per gallon

Has anyone tried a marine floor vinyl or similar product ? If so, what are the pros and cons ?

[Don]

Has anyone used the polyvinyl floor cover, sold by Auto Geek ?

www.autogeek.net/gaflco.html

800-869-3011

Sold in a 10' X 22' roll, thicker coin pattern is $560 plus $25 shipping. Regular thickness is $300 roll

[foothills gary]

I just got my RaceDeck today,in time for the long weekend-got here in an amazing three days!You guy's really should give Bob a call if you are looking for flooring.I was shocked(floored?) by the outstanding price !I probably won't be able to sleep tonight contemplating the project.I'll post pictures when I'm done,which will also show some of the other touches I have added.I haven't figured out how to add a bigscreen or hideaway bed in the space I have,but will keep all updated if I do.

Gary

[roger1]

I used U-Coat-It and had a horrible experience.
The product is good but, they don't give you near enough of it.
It won't cover near the square footage that they claim.
It also goes on too thin and any floor texture shows through badly. They were very unhelpful on the phone. I wasted a lot of time and money (over $1,000) for my
650sqft garage with this stuff.
I would highly recommend avoiding this company. Please you guys, learn from my mistake.

Check out the epoxy at Griot's Garage.
Much much cheaper and a good company.

[roger1]

that the clear topcoat has yellowed badly underneath where the tires sit.

Very dissappointing.

Do not use ucoatit.

[casaleenie]

Originally posted by Y-NOT


P.S. Gryot's tiles are about $15.00 per sq foot. Don't be so offended by some humor.
Bill

I started getting the Groyt's catalog about a year ago and checked out some of their pricing..

They had wire shelving that they sold "by the piece" for a total of over $900. per unit that could be purchased from COSCO or BJ's in a complete set for $75. THE EXACT SAME SHELVING...
Groit's broke it down per shelf, wheel, vertical post etc...
What a rip off. Screw em' Pretty much a reflection of the rest of the prices in that stupid catalog....