What type of flooring?

[pcgold]

Bought a new (to me) house with a triple car garage. The concrete floor is in fairly good shape (it's only 8 years old).

I want to cover the floor, however, we live in a (very) northern climate. (Saskatoon, Saskatchwean - also home of E-tec) In winter the cars are always dripping snow, slush, ice, pebbles, rocks, salt, sand etc. This pretty well stays all winter (which last anywhere from early October to mid April).

I have no idea how I would keep the floor clean, other than a concrete floor. I have pretty well ruled out an epoxy floor. No matter how high quality you can get, I can't imagine it lasting in my climate.

A tiled floor looks good, but I'm sure it would get scratched really easily.

I have also thought about a Racedeck (or similar) type floor, which you can buy here, but the stuff that would get on to the flooring would probably be more than I can bear. Is this a problem? Would I have to cover it in the winter with a roll out type vinyl floor?

Suggestions are very welcome. Thanx.

 

[slickgt1]

Porcelain tile. Search for my threads. Will not scratch as easy as you think.

 

[V8AMG]

I'm also struggling with this dilemma and likewise have ruled out an epoxy floor (I'm in Regina Saskatchewan). I've narrowed it down to a Racedeck type floor or Porcelain/Ceramic tile. The thing I'm worried about with the Racedeck, however, is what happens when the salt melts off the vehicles in the winter and accumalates between and underneath the tiles? I would think its not the greatest for the underlying cement. Perhaps some non slip or textured porcelain tiles would be the best option. I suspect you would have to use a grout that is somewhat flexible to temperature variances however...

 

[AlphaGarage]

I don't quite understand the weather concerns re: epoxy. In fact extreme temperature environments are one of the areas where our coating consultants specialize in. Wolverine is the choice for one huge pharmaceutical manufacturing facility that was having a tough time with their floors.

They had a few "stress" factors that caused every coating they tried to fail. They manufacture an intravenous fluid, so they product is packaged then loaded on trailers that are towed into huge drive-in autoclaves. The internal temps reach about 250f. After that the trailers are dragged into refrigerators and kept in cold storage.

I say "dragged" because although the trailers have a semblance of wheels, they are legacy equipment and often ride on steel skids over high and low spots. A train consists of 5 or 6 of these trailers being towed from assembly to autoclave to fridges to warehouse loading. Lot of weight, lot of chemical exposure, lot of thermal shock, lot of physical impact, and a lot of FDA inspectors on site to make sure all surfaces and floors are coated so it's easy to keep the environment sterile.

After going through many coatings and floor treatments, most which failed in a matter of months, they tried and were surprised to find that high quality WCC epoxies preformed for years and years instead of months.

A couple of other extremes where we have epoxies... Crematoriums and meat processing facilities.

 

[cgallery]

A couple of other extremes where we have epoxies... Crematoriums and meat processing facilities.

There is a [tasteless] joke in there somewhere.

 

[V8AMG]

I don't quite understand the weather concerns re: epoxy. In fact extreme temperature environments are one of the areas where our coating consultants specialize in. Wolverine is the choice for one huge pharmaceutical manufacturing facility that was having a tough time with their floors.

They had a few "stress" factors that caused every coating they tried to fail. They manufacture an intravenous fluid, so they product is packaged then loaded on trailers that are towed into huge drive-in autoclaves. The internal temps reach about 250f. After that the trailers are dragged into refrigerators and kept in cold storage.

I say "dragged" because although the trailers have a semblance of wheels, they are legacy equipment and often ride on steel skids over high and low spots. A train consists of 5 or 6 of these trailers being towed from assembly to autoclave to fridges to warehouse loading. Lot of weight, lot of chemical exposure, lot of thermal shock, lot of physical impact, and a lot of FDA inspectors on site to make sure all surfaces and floors are coated so it's easy to keep the environment sterile.

After going through many coatings and floor treatments, most which failed in a matter of months, they tried and were surprised to find that high quality WCC epoxies preformed for years and years instead of months.

A couple of other extremes where we have epoxies... Crematoriums and meat processing facilities.

Thank you for the reply and information! What about the road salt we use up here?

 

[pcgold]

I was talking with a friend yesterday. He's building a new house and had this type of floor put down. Of course he hasn't moved in yet and time will tell, but he (and I) have seen it in showhomes and it looks ok. My friend says it's less expensive than Racedeck. However, no matter the cost, if it lifts, it isn't worth it.

http://www.customgarages.ca/slide_lok_garage_flooring.html/0

I would also be concerned about all the pebbles, salt and other stuff our vehicles drop in the winter.

 

[V8AMG]

"I would also be concerned about all the pebbles, salt and other stuff our vehicles drop in the winter" Yes, you would indeed know

 

[greenfuture]

i would always suggest the kind that is also good for the environment ...i get lot`s of ideas and info from this blog so may be it can be helpful for you

 

[Quik208]

Race deck free flow tiles.

http://www.racedeck.com/freeflow.html

 

[AlphaGarage]

Thank you for the reply and information! What about the road salt we use up here?

Road salts don't pose any issues. Just wipe up, if there's any residue it may take a few more swipes, but it will clean up.

 

[V8AMG]

Thanks..

 

[Airwilf]

Race Deck here in Ontario,it weathered the winter quite well,with 2 daily drivers dripping slush/sand etc.