SHOW ME YOUR VCT tile floors please!!!

[LAWFISH]

Ok, I dont want to see Racedeck and the stuff I simply cant afford. I have a total of almost 3400 sq ft and am going to do the front shop, which is really only a palce for Cuda vert and a others. the back shop I may do down the road. But for now I would love to see some VCT tile floors and how you did them. I have looked around and it seems LOWES has decent priced tiles. I wish I could find some other colors but black and white will have to do. Also, what adhesive did you use for your floors?

Yes I like the racedeck and others, but I simply cant afford $3k and up to do the front 900 sq ft.

Thanks for any pics.

Dave

 

[roger55]

Ok, I dont want to see Racedeck and the stuff I simply cant afford. I have a total of almost 3400 sq ft and am going to do the front shop, which is really only a palce for Cuda vert and a others. the back shop I may do down the road. But for now I would love to see some VCT tile floors and how you did them. I have looked around and it seems LOWES has decent priced tiles. I wish I could find some other colors but black and white will have to do. Also, what adhesive did you use for your floors?

Yes I like the racedeck and others, but I simply cant afford $3k and up to do the front 900 sq ft.

Thanks for any pics.

Dave

I have done a garage floor with Armstrong 1/8" VCT. I have also used 5 different brands of epoxy over the years. (And, was involved helping my brother do his garage with a 6th brand.) The latest shop I did, I used the Wolverine epoxy and it was by far better than anything else I have used.
If I were you, I would not use VCT in a shop/garage. You should be able to do a top notch 100% epoxy Wolverine job on your 900 ft2 for $1200 or so. Get a quote from Fred.
The only way I would consider using VCT, would be if I never intended to use it for any heavy duty work. Even then, I would put clear epoxy or urethane over the VCT. That gets it up to the cost of doing the whole thing in epoxy anyway.

 

[roger55]

 

[Cobra4B]

Subscribed... I'm considering using VCT tiles as well. Looks Like Amrstrong makes a nice black one w/ grey/white specs that has the look I want.

So what do you do to prep the floor and what kind of adhesive do you use to do this?

 

[LAWFISH]

Roger, that looks nice. I do any and all work on my place myself. I built the whole thing and my original epoxy didnt hold up. I will not be doing any work in this garage at all! I just cant see spending a lot on the floor and with the cost of the VCT being half than the cost you mention, I will more than likely go with it. All my heavy work and my lift are in the big portion of the shop. I do all my welding, ect and even have apaint booth built into that area and do not believe that I will ever cover the floor in there.

whats the main issue with you tile that makes you believe that the wolverine is better? And what adhesive did you use for you floor? It looks great.

Thanks, Dave

 

[kartracer23]

Here's my Armstrong VCT. It's right at 500 sq. ft. and took my wife and I about 8 hours. There were a lot of cuts around bump outs and doors, so room that is basically square would take a few hours off that time. We used the adhesive Armstrong recommends (SA850 or something like that?)

 

[roger55]

Roger, that looks nice. I do any and all work on my place myself. I built the whole thing and my original epoxy didnt hold up. I will not be doing any work in this garage at all! I just cant see spending a lot on the floor and with the cost of the VCT being half than the cost you mention, I will more than likely go with it. All my heavy work and my lift are in the big portion of the shop. I do all my welding, ect and even have apaint booth built into that area and do not believe that I will ever cover the floor in there.

whats the main issue with you tile that makes you believe that the wolverine is better? And what adhesive did you use for you floor? It looks great.

Thanks, Dave

First, here's what Armstrong says about using their VCT in a garage:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4038&highlight=armstrong

I used the Armstrong adhesive and the primer they recommended.

I did have some of the issues they discuss. Here are the downsides:
The sharp turning of the tires damaged tiles a couple of my times.
The tiles stained from tires and oil. (Not really a problem on black tiles.)
I had adhesion problems over time and whole rows of tiles moved and buckled.
Putting boards under jacks and jackstands is a royal pain.
Refinishing to time to time is also a pain. (Urethane would reduce or eliminate this problem.)

Like I said, I would not consider using VCT again unless I were to use a urethane like the EnduraShield from Wolverine. EnduraShield is fairly expensive but any high quality 2 component urethane won't be cheap.
This price of a VCT job with a urethane on top puts the total job in the price range of an entire epoxy job. An entire epoxy job will be much more durable when prepped correctly. I would say most epoxy failures are due to improper prepping, not the epoxy's fault.
That said, I would only use VCT in garage areas where cars aren't parked and heavy duty use is not performed. It would work well for garage perimeters and around cabinets. Even then, I would use the urethane.
If I just had to have VCT in an area where cars would be parked, I would look into epoxy adhesives and still use the urethane on top. Doing this would put you up in the price range of a top-notch epoxy/urethane system like Wolverine has.

By the way, the last time I got my oil changed here in San Angelo, the facility had VCT on their work floor. Tiles were cracked and coming up all over the place.

 

[Cobra4B]

Those pics in that thread look graet.... Looks like the standard black tile from Lowes will do the trick for me. In my case my garage is a little over 400 sq/ft so if it screws up over time then no big deal.

 

[LAWFISH]

Thanks Roger, that gives me some consideration. I am spening at least $1600 in the next month or so and a very large/ expensive blast cabinet from TP tools for the larger work shop side and I need a SATA Clear gun for my painting which is another $600.00. So the cosmetic side is a lurury for the front shop. I have maybe 6 cars in projects stage so money is always tight but after cleaning the shop up last week and sitting out there having a stogie and looking at the finished cars I have, they really need to be sitting on a proper floor surface to make them POP! If you know what I mean. I wish the VCT came in a bright red, then I could go black and red and also maybe hide some of that discoloration.

I guess I will do some more studying. My other issue is that once summer hits I am on the cars all the time and winter is the TIME I dont /cant paint, so its the time I can do other things. I cant do the expoy in the winter as its too cold here in Northern Nevada. Was 14 degrees last night.

Thanks again

Dave

 

[roger55]

I wish the VCT came in a bright red, then I could go black and red and also maybe hide some of that discoloration.

Thanks again

Dave

You can get red:

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=89172-61-56806031&lpage=none

A bunch of other colors too. But, they can be more expensive.
If you pick the $1 and up a square foot VCTs to get the colors you want, then you get the price up even further to where you go back to epoxy and the advantages it has.

 

[LAWFISH]

Roger, you originally said get a quote from Fred? I am somewhat new on here, is he the wolverine floor guy on here? I will try and find his user name. Since I am getting ready to buy this blast cabinet, maybe I will wait for summer and do the epoxy. After giving is some more thought, I want it to look as nice as possible in the front shop and maybe the eposy is the way to go to get some red into the mix! I have a drag car too and the team colors for the shop and trailer, ect are RED/ BLACK AND WHITE. So I will check into it further.

Thanks for the advise.

Dave

 

[roger55]

Roger, you originally said get a quote from Fred? I am somewhat new on here, is he the wolverine floor guy on here? I will try and find his user name. Since I am getting ready to buy this blast cabinet, maybe I will wait for summer and do the epoxy. After giving is some more thought, I want it to look as nice as possible in the front shop and maybe the eposy is the way to go to get some red into the mix! I have a drag car too and the team colors for the shop and trailer, ect are RED/ BLACK AND WHITE. So I will check into it further.

Thanks for the advise.

Dave

Dave,

Fred is owner of AlphaGarage.
AlphaGarage is the only distributor of Wolverine products to the general public.

Roger

 

[WVUTampaAlum]

Just installed my VCT this past weekend. 620 sq ft. Still waiting for 5 days until I can wash the floor and wax/polish it. Cant' wait for the shine.

 

[TheShrine]

Here's my VCT. There is no plan to park or use jack stands on it. Epoxy for that.

 

[kartracer23]

Just installed my VCT this past weekend. 620 sq ft. Still waiting for 5 days until I can wash the floor and wax/polish it. Cant' wait for the shine.

Very nice!
Here's something I learned: When you go to apply the wax, make sure it is very, very clean. I wet mopped mine 3 or 4 times, but still ended up waxing in a lot of dirt / dust. If I did it again, I would do a final cleaning with a dry microfiber mop to make sure it's as clean as possible.

 

[roger55]

Any of you guys thinking about sanding the floor and applying a 2 part urethane?

I would really like to see someone here use the EnduraShield 2254. The stuff is crazy shiny, crazy clear and crazy hard.
You wouldn't have to polish and wax again.
It's been done before but by no one on this forum that I know of.
I'd really like to see pics of what it would look like.

 

[JakeD]

I just used the VCT up on that little riser at the front of the garage where I put my shelves, epoxy on the main part of the garage.



I should take some new pics, this one was just after I stuck down that nosing.

 

[SC-Eric]

Any of you guys thinking about sanding the floor and applying a 2 part urethane?

I would really like to see someone here use the EnduraShield 2254. The stuff is crazy shiny, crazy clear and crazy hard.
You wouldn't have to polish and wax again.
It's been done before but by no one on this forum that I know of.
I'd really like to see pics of what it would look like.

The one thing to be carful with is to not 'flood' the vct with a coat of EnduraShield 2254 that is too thick. You don't want to dissolve the adhesive at the seams!

 

[WVUTampaAlum]

Just installed my VCT this past weekend. 620 sq ft. Still waiting for 5 days until I can wash the floor and wax/polish it. Cant' wait for the shine.

Here's a follow up after I cleaned the floor tonight (finished an hour ago) with simple green/ water solution then 4 coat's proforce high gloss wax. The floor is awesome! I would have used proforce no rinse cleaner but my sams didn't have any in stock. Used my simple green solution and I was happy. Also used an old magic eraser to clean up any glue marks or anything else I found. VERY happy at this point. Next project is to paint the walls... probably a gray color.

 

[gcan]

looks great.....but I would think the VCT with HG wax will be very slippery if it gets the least bit damp....be careful

 

[T56 Impala]

How does this stuff hold up to floor jacks and jack stands?

 

[roger55]

How does this stuff hold up to floor jacks and jack stands?

It doesn't.
You have to put a piece of plywood or something underneath.

 

[WVUTampaAlum]

Here's a follow up after I cleaned the floor tonight (finished an hour ago) with simple green/ water solution then 4 coat's proforce high gloss wax. The floor is awesome! I would have used proforce no rinse cleaner but my sams didn't have any in stock. Used my simple green solution and I was happy. Also used an old magic eraser to clean up any glue marks or anything else I found. VERY happy at this point. Next project is to paint the walls... probably a gray color.

Decided to paint my walls gray. Here's the usual pick along with another wall. You can see I still have a little work to do. Very happy with the results.

 

[Tom2]

I like the grey. May do something similar with mine.
What type of floor buffer did you use?

 

[terry1769]

Just got in the first 600' (of 3000). It's not a great shot, but the best I have for right now.

 

[WVUTampaAlum]

Here's a follow up after I cleaned the floor tonight (finished an hour ago) with simple green/ water solution then 4 coat's proforce high gloss wax. The floor is awesome! I would have used proforce no rinse cleaner but my sams didn't have any in stock. Used my simple green solution and I was happy. Also used an old magic eraser to clean up any glue marks or anything else I found. VERY happy at this point. Next project is to paint the walls... probably a gray color.

I like the grey. May do something similar with mine.
What type of floor buffer did you use?

No floor buffer used. That is vct that I used a light simple green/ water mix to clean it 5 days after install and 4 coats of proforce wax.

 

[Jpfreak33]

I like the look of those, wonder how beige and brown would look.

 

[roger55]

I won't use VCT on a floor again due to the issues I previously discussed.

Just today however, I completed my workbench with VCT on top. I special ordered pure black and pure white VCT from Lowes and cut them into 5" squares.
I sanded the tiles with 80 grit and coated them with Wolverine BondTite epoxy.
Wow, that stuff really self-levels nicely.
After the epoxy cures, I will put on 1 1/4" aluminum edging. The 1/8" tiles are glued onto to 1 1/8 OSB flooring so the edging will fit perfectly.

 

[WVUTampaAlum]

Looks great. You have a sink in your garage?

 

[roger55]

Looks great. You have a sink in your garage?

Yes.

Here is a link to my workshop build thread if you are interested:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8044

 

[roger55]

Lawfish,

Have you made any decisions yet?
Were you able to get hold of Fred at AlphaGarage?

Roger

 

[dotell]

the arm stong company makes garage vct tile if u look at there web site u can also have them sealed by a company to help with maintanace

 

[dykstra]

looks great

 

[intrepidtek]

Here is what I did this past summer. It's still holding up very well through a Pennsylvania winter.

http://www.countrypeddlercrafts.com/gj.aspx

 

[stok2]

looks good "interpidtek". do you have any problems parking your cars in there in the winter, meaning slippery, snow melt, dirt, salt, etc? I plan on doing the same this summer and i'm in northern indiana. so i get bad weather in the winters.

 

[kartracer23]

looks good "interpidtek". do you have any problems parking your cars in there in the winter, meaning slippery, snow melt, dirt, salt, etc? I plan on doing the same this summer and i'm in northern indiana. so i get bad weather in the winters.

If you want to approximate the slickness of VCT when it's wet, go outside and find a nice ice patch. Then, pour a quart of oil on it. Next, take your oldest pair of shoes (the ones with no traction left on the soles), and spray them with WD-40. Then walk on the ice.
My shop with VCT flooded one day and it was all I could do to stand up. Although I love the look, I can't imagine having it in a daily driver garage. You would have to put carpet runners down where you step out of the car or you would end up in the splits.

 

[dipper]

Nice look Intrepidtek. I have been debating on a single multi color vct floor or going with the checkerboard pattern with gray and red. Now i'm leaning towards just doing it all in one color and being done with it. ( i have acquired enough tile for free to do my whole floor) That is going to be one of my projects for this summer. I got 14 cases of tile stacked in the corner of the garage now. I should be able to get it down in a day or two with only the added cost of the glue and a 100lb roller. I should be able to get it down this spring/summer.

 

[Chuck W.]

 

[Spitz]

Here is my recently completed floor. Not great pictures, but they're all I have for now.

 

[unpredictable1]

So does any one here use this for their floor that sees basic shop duties? I do my own oil changes, brakes, etc etc. I'm a weekend warrior.

I have a bare concrete fllor no but I put a sheet of osb under a car that is know for leaks or wipe them up right away.

I wonder could I get away with using this flooring if I keep being careful like I already am. The dangers when wet concern me though since I have young kids. (it's not a daily driver garage)