starting my 'wood' porcelain tile project! advice needed please.

[nick731]

ok guys thank in advance for your advice. these forums have been a great source of ideas etc.

I have decided to lay down porcelain tile in my 704 sq ft 3-car garage.The tile is rated PEI4 and is 8x48 Natural Timber Chestnut.

I will be parking our vehicles on it including my truck.

I am installing on virgin concrete. home was finished 12/20/13. I live in Ga so it doesn't get too cold very often.

my questions are what kind of thin set / grout do you recommend?
any special procedures to follow?
any special tools that i should procure?
how long do you think this job will take a novice like myself?
and do you think the direction of the tile will matter as far as how the vehicles 'drive' on and off them?

let me know if i can provide any further details that would help. thanks! Nick

 

[Plow Man]

ok guys thank in advance for your advice. these forums have been a great source of ideas etc.

I have decided to lay down porcelain tile in my 704 sq ft 3-car garage.The tile is rated PEI4 and is 8x48 Natural Timber Chestnut.

I will be parking our vehicles on it including my truck.

I am installing on virgin concrete. home was finished 12/20/13. I live in Ga so it doesn't get too cold very often.

my questions are what kind of thin set / grout do you recommend?
any special procedures to follow?
any special tools that i should procure?
how long do you think this job will take a novice like myself?
and do you think the direction of the tile will matter as far as how the vehicles 'drive' on and off them?

let me know if i can provide any further details that would help. thanks! Nick

How did you make out ?? start yey

 

[Proud Highway]

Buy a tile saw and good knee pads. No special tools.

I would use std thin set mix. You could throw in some latex additive for improved bonding properties.

Sanded grout w/ dark color and sealed well afterward.

Back butter the tile (check out YouTube for instruction)

Get a heavy duty Shutler piece for the ingress and the 1/8 or 1/4 spacers--perhaps larger depending on tile dimensions and rectified/non-rectified.

IMO this is an okay job for a novice. Spend 3x more time planning and plotting than you think you should. Really think ahead and measure it all out with an eye toward precision and aesthetics. Make those first courses square and your life will be easy.

Time? I did the tile in the m-bath in my newly constructed house. It went very slowly, but I had to put down plywood and cement/redi board etc beforehand. It took around 50 hrs. A pro would've been finished in less than half that time. The tile in my bathroom has probably the straightest of all the lines in my entire house-nearly perfect.

 

[Guzzi Guy]

Can't offer any technical advice, but that should look grand when finished.

Have looked admiringly at that product, and considered it for what I'm building, but I drop too many tools, etc., to have that in a garage/shop application. I'd break a tile a day.

OTOH, one set of our kids just put some of that in a playroom for their four, all 7 and under. Hellions, too, so that stuff can withstand what they'll dish out, a garage should be a piece of cake.

Post pix when done.

Bill

 

[Garage Customz]

Make sure, as already stated to spend a load of time on your prep. You might want to look into some sort of leveling system for the tile also, as a 48" tile can be tough to get perfectly even from front to back for a first timer.

I have seen these used and they seem to be a great help. I am sure you can look into some other products also.

We will use a 48" level to lay accross the tiles as we go to make sure everything is good and flat/even. You want to be able to slide something accross the floor when you are done with no lips or trip hazards sticking up.

 

[bazzateer]

I'd break a tile a day.

Only if you didn't set them right in the first place. Do a search on here for porcelain tile and read some of the posts. Turns out properly installed porcelain tile is extremely resilient to dropped tools etc.

 

[Dakota00]

Only if you didn't set them right in the first place. Do a search on here for porcelain tile and read some of the posts. Turns out properly installed porcelain tile is extremely resilient to dropped tools etc.

Yup, yesterday I was installing a LiftMaster 8500 opener, dropped my 3/8" ratchet from the top of my 8 foot ladder. Took a look at the tile not a scratch on it, if the tile could talk it probably say "is that the best you can do?"

 

[nick731]

yes i have! ive still got a little ways to go and I have not cleaned nor grouted yet. it will look much better after the cleaning....

first tip: Its more work than you think! lol

here a quick picture. what ya think?

 

[shurkai]

That looks great!

 

[nick731]

thanks! it really helps make the garage feel like a part of the rest of the house.

 

[Proud Highway]

I haven't seen the woodgrain tile in a garage yet. Very nice.

 

[ezriderga]

That looks great! Are you anywhere in NW GA?

 

[48RON54]

My wife would like me to put the same tile in our home. More pics please! And a pros and cons list would be helpful as well. Nice work!

 

[Mark118]

Looks great Nick! which car is your daily driver?

 

[OJ Bartley]

Looks great, Nick! It makes me want to ask why you park in the living room!

 

[nick731]

ok guys its done! well mostly, ive still gotta seal up the grout and clean up some of the base boards, but overall, done!

 

[nick731]

I haven't seen the woodgrain tile in a garage yet. Very nice.

thanks!

 

[nick731]

That looks great! Are you anywhere in NW GA?

im right near Augusta GA. -Nick

 

[nick731]

My wife would like me to put the same tile in our home. More pics please! And a pros and cons list would be helpful as well. Nice work!

well if you can get a really good deal on the tile then i would recommend it, it is much more durable and resilient than the hardwood in our home, although putting it down wasn't fun lol.

 

[nick731]

Looks great, Nick! It makes me want to ask why you park in the living room!

haha thats what i was going for, more of an extension of the home than just the garage.

a contractor friend said that if i ran duct to the garage for heating/cooling it could actually be considered additional square footage now...not sure about those details or if i would do that but found it very interesting.

 

[nick731]

Looks great Nick! which car is your daily driver?

the wife gets the rx i get the kiddie car of course lol.

 

[Chitown_hillbilly]

Wow, that looks great.

 

[51rider]

Very nice

I'm just starting the grouting phase of my latest tiling project also using a 'wood' porcelain tile. Actually, that's not quite true; the wife will be doing the grouting

 

[Gingrbredman]

I freakin love that floor! I've been looking at these kinds of tiles every time I'm somewhere where they sell them and keep visualizing what it would look like and now I know. Thanks for sharing this project!

 

[Pythonpete]

Floor looks fantastic, really great. Congrats

 

[nick731]

Wow, that looks great.

thanks!

 

[nick731]

Very nice

I'm just starting the grouting phase of my latest tiling project also using a 'wood' porcelain tile. Actually, that's not quite true; the wife will be doing the grouting

wow, that certainly would have been nice lol.

 

[nick731]

I freakin love that floor! I've been looking at these kinds of tiles every time I'm somewhere where they sell them and keep visualizing what it would look like and now I know. Thanks for sharing this project!

your welcome, i had trouble finding any information or pictures before i started so i wanted to be sure to share.

 

[nick731]

Floor looks fantastic, really great. Congrats

thanks!

 

[4x4_G30_Sportvan]

Very nice.
How about pix of the outside of garage door. That look sinteresting too.

And yeah, nice living room. [or family room]

 

[borracho]

I registered on here just to get to (hopefully) see more pics of this! Looks great!

 

[Radix2]

haha thats what i was going for, more of an extension of the home than just the garage.

a contractor friend said that if i ran duct to the garage for heating/cooling it could actually be considered additional square footage now...not sure about those details or if i would do that but found it very interesting.

Ha! "Additional square footage" = "additional property taxes"

Beautiful tile job!

 

[Laredo]

ok guys its done! well mostly, ive still gotta seal up the grout and clean up some of the base boards, but overall, done!

What was your cost (approx) per square foot?

 

[Onesip]

The wood is definitely a great look. Awesome job!

 

[jkeyser14]

That looks incredible.

 

[TONE]

One of the nicest floors I've ever seen. That came out fantastic!

 

[steve308]

yes i have! ive still got a little ways to go and I have not cleaned nor grouted yet. it will look much better after the cleaning....

first tip: Its more work than you think! lol

here a quick picture. what ya think?

That looks outstanding! How do you like the smart car

 

[383]

No posts from the OP in two years, but it is an awesome looking floor.

 

[Redhotrod]

Has anyone got any feedback on the durability of these wood tiles? I got a sample panel (8" x 36" hickory) and the color is not all the way through, the top finish wasn't much thicker than paint. I did beat it with a hammer just to check durability and the only way I was able to really chip it was smacking a edge with the hammer, which shouldn't be possible after it is laid down.
So for now, I am not sure if I want to pull the trigger for my 500 sq ft garage, although I am getting a good price of just over $1 a sq ft for the tile.

 

[Radix2]

Has anyone got any feedback on the durability of these wood tiles? I got a sample panel (8" x 36" hickory) and the color is not all the way through, the top finish wasn't much thicker than paint. I did beat it with a hammer just to check durability and the only way I was able to really chip it was smacking a edge with the hammer, which shouldn't be possible after it is laid down.
So for now, I am not sure if I want to pull the trigger for my 500 sq ft garage, although I am getting a good price of just over $1 a sq ft for the tile.

I think you and your hammer are going to be the best answer - there are hundreds of tiles with all different characteristics, possibly different from the one in front of you.

The nice thing about "wood" is that it isn't perfect, color a chip in and you have a "knot"...