With advice and support from some on this site I built a second garage two years ago to support my retirement hobby of playing with cars. The concrete floor has been covered with tarps since built to protect it while I decided on the final floor finish. With the exception of one automatic trans spill it has remained clean. This website has been a terrific source of information on the different types of flooring. I've observed and researched many types of flooring such as epoxy, polishing, snap plastic tiles, etc. and finally decided to go with porcelain tile. I have previously done some tile work in the foyer and mudroom of the house that turned out well so I have some experience but the size of this project is daunting for me.
In January of this year I started checking around to find porcelain tile to do the job. My goal was to get 12” x 12”, throughbody, rectified edges, PEI-5 and a dark color. While I was never able to get the super cheap deals others on this site have found, I did finally find tile. The tiles I settled on are porcelain, 12” x 24”, throughbody, rectified edges, PEI-5 but lighter than I was originally thinking. I figure the lighter color will require a little more upkeep but will make the garage brighter. I purchased 627 sq ft of the tile at $1.50/sq ft. The story was the tile store had purchased a lot of this tile from Italy but upon receiving it found an almost unnoticeable flaw in the design, was not able to get a settlement from the company they purchased it from, so they were stuck with it. I've done some testing with friends – laid the tile down in good light and asked them to find the flaw – they always could not find it until I pointed it out. The going price for the tile without the flaw was considerably more expensive so I was comfortable with the deal.
The garage is 22' x 28' and has turned out to be a great space for my purposes with enough room for three cars and a second floor with a 6' ceiling and plenty of storage. I'm anxious to finish the floor so I can finally install a 4-post lift and make the space less crowded and more workable. There are a couple of cracks in the concrete that I will have to deal with but they are hairline and appear to be stable. The first step will be deciding all the details before starting – floor preparation, crack isolation, pattern, gap size, grout color, grout type, thinset type, trowel size and threshold...anything else?
So there is the background on this project. I'll follow-up with a few photos. There are always other home projects competing for my time so progress might be slow but I'll attempt to keep it moving along.
In January of this year I started checking around to find porcelain tile to do the job. My goal was to get 12” x 12”, throughbody, rectified edges, PEI-5 and a dark color. While I was never able to get the super cheap deals others on this site have found, I did finally find tile. The tiles I settled on are porcelain, 12” x 24”, throughbody, rectified edges, PEI-5 but lighter than I was originally thinking. I figure the lighter color will require a little more upkeep but will make the garage brighter. I purchased 627 sq ft of the tile at $1.50/sq ft. The story was the tile store had purchased a lot of this tile from Italy but upon receiving it found an almost unnoticeable flaw in the design, was not able to get a settlement from the company they purchased it from, so they were stuck with it. I've done some testing with friends – laid the tile down in good light and asked them to find the flaw – they always could not find it until I pointed it out. The going price for the tile without the flaw was considerably more expensive so I was comfortable with the deal.
The garage is 22' x 28' and has turned out to be a great space for my purposes with enough room for three cars and a second floor with a 6' ceiling and plenty of storage. I'm anxious to finish the floor so I can finally install a 4-post lift and make the space less crowded and more workable. There are a couple of cracks in the concrete that I will have to deal with but they are hairline and appear to be stable. The first step will be deciding all the details before starting – floor preparation, crack isolation, pattern, gap size, grout color, grout type, thinset type, trowel size and threshold...anything else?
So there is the background on this project. I'll follow-up with a few photos. There are always other home projects competing for my time so progress might be slow but I'll attempt to keep it moving along.
I'm anxious to get started but might be tough to get moving through the holidays. 
