My porcelain tile floor after 4 years of constant hot rod building.

Steves32 · Oct 5, 2015

It's been 4 years now since installed.
Easy clean-up, no damage at all.
No chipped or cracked tiles.
I never cover floor when working- except now when I paint frame.
I've had many cars on my lift doing grinding, plasma cutting, welding.
Finishing a 34 Ford now. Had to remove the Heidts independent suspension crossmember & install a stock crossmember & all necessary brackets for a traditional suspension. Lots of cutting, grinding & welding over the last 2 months. The floor was a mess! Getting prepped for paint now so the garage needed cleaned up. 30 minutes w/ a power washer- a broom & Simple green & just like new.
Porcelain PEI 5 tile
Dark grey grout
Flex bond thinset
Back buttered every piece.
Not 1 regret!

UpstateNY · Oct 5, 2015

....and you chose a 4 post lift to do all you hotrod building activities ? I thought most builders favored 2 post lifts ?

muckerbarry · Oct 5, 2015

Thanks for the update. You've just made my mind up for me, porcelain tiles it is for me.

Angelfire · Oct 5, 2015

muckerbarry said:
Thanks for the update. You've just made my mind up for me, porcelain tiles it is for me.

Great to see someone else from Ireland on the boards! I'm a yank over for a few years but can't wait to get home and get my floor in....porcelain as well.

To the OP, thanks for your update. I decided on porcelain a few years ago and actually purchased all the tiles, then got sent to Ireland so haven't installed them yet. But your assessment helps ease my mind that I'm making the right decision for my garage.

Cheers.

venturesomerite · Oct 5, 2015

Glad to hear it's holding up well. I must admit, I am surprised at the no cracks and chips.

Do you take any certain precautions, like say to put a piece of wood under a jack or jack stand, or do you just go to work and not think about it.

Drop any good heavy **** on it?

Angelfire · Oct 5, 2015

venturesomerite said:
Glad to hear it's holding up well. I must admit, I am surprised at the no cracks and chips.

Do you take any certain precautions, like say to put a piece of wood under a jack or jack stand, or do you just go to work and not think about it.

Drop any good heavy **** on it?

If the tiles are put down correctly (ie. 100% mortar coverage), you shouldn't have to worry about cracks/chips/etc....the porcelain is harder than the concrete it's on. There are a number of threads showing guys using their floors with jacks and such with no issues at all. There's another video on these boards from Jack Olsen showing him beat the hell out of his floor with a sledge hammer with no ill effects. It's tough stuff but needs to absolutely be installed properly to avail of the benefits.
Cheers.

Steves32 · Oct 5, 2015

UpstateNY said:
....and you chose a 4 post lift to do all you hotrod building activities ? I thought most builders favored 2 post lifts ?

Had both but I prefer the 4 post in this garage for the type of work I do. I have the jack so working under it is a breeze. It's up on jacks in pic now w/ no front suspension & no rear wheels. Plus- I can raise car up & park under it if I want. I can even remove a body from frame if I want. Raise lift- roll car under it less engine- run straps from ramps under body- raise lift lifting body- roll out frame- drop body on dolly- done.

Steves32 · Oct 5, 2015

venturesomerite said:
Glad to hear it's holding up well. I must admit, I am surprised at the no cracks and chips.

Do you take any certain precautions, like say to put a piece of wood under a jack or jack stand, or do you just go to work and not think about it.

Drop any good heavy **** on it?

Drop ****? That's my middle name! I'm always dropping stuff on it. Hammers- wrenches- you name it. Heavy stuff? I dropped a transmission on it from about 3ft when my cheap trans jack fell over w/ trans strapped on it. How's that?

This floor was perfect for me. A Racedeck or epoxy floor would have been destroyed in this garage. I work on it every day & would do it again w/o hesitation. End of the day- probably more expensive per sq ft installed than other options but 0 worries & I only have to do it once. :thumbup:

APEowner · Oct 5, 2015

Thanks for the update. I'm seriously considering going the porcelain tile route in my shop. I'm happy to see that burn marks from welding and cutting slag don't seem to be an issue.

Did you use any kind of sealer on the grout?

How big a hassle are the grout seams when you're rolling stuff around?

encantofred · Oct 5, 2015

impressive i have to say. did you do a self install?

tom

Dakota00 · Oct 5, 2015

Steves32 said:
This floor was perfect for me. A Racedeck or epoxy floor would have been destroyed in this garage. I work on it every day & would do it again w/o hesitation. End of the day- probably more expensive per sq ft installed than other options but 0 worries & I only have to do it once.

In some cases tiles are the cheaper route, considering time wasted on many hours of labor and renting a bunch of tools just to prep a slab. And that's no guarantee with all that prep work that the epoxy will stick or hold up either. But to each their own!!

I installed my floor just over 2 years ago and it's performed flawlessly!! I've used an engine hoists on it a few times, constantly using a floor jack and jack stands for my vehicles with nothing under them to protect the floor. As no damage will occur. I treat my tiled floor like it's a concrete slab. Best part, ZERO maintenance... A quick wash or sweep after doing a task "if needed" and the floor looks like I just installed it.

Steves32 · Oct 5, 2015

encantofred said:
impressive i have to say. did you do a self install?

tom

Had a friend/tile installer do job. He owed me some money & I needed tile installed. I do install tile- just not this time. This was a win-win at the time.

arrowhead · Oct 5, 2015

Do the grout joints cause any difficulty when rolling heavy loads like car dollies, loaded engine hoist or engine stand?

Steves32 · Oct 5, 2015

APEowner said:
Thanks for the update. I'm seriously considering going the porcelain tile route in my shop. I'm happy to see that burn marks from welding and cutting slag don't seem to be an issue.

Did you use any kind of sealer on the grout?

How big a hassle are the grout seams when you're rolling stuff around?

Grout joints are 1/8" and no issues rolling stuff around over it. My grout joints are about level with top of tiles. I used standard grout but used an expensive stuff that was suppose to seal- used in place of water. It was expensive & a waste of money. I went dark grey so I wouldn't be worrying about stains.

Cutting slag is a non-issue. Weld slag does leave a mark if welding on or near the floor so I don't do that. Dropping weld slag from 3 ft off floor doesn't seem to be an issue on this tile. I got a tile that varies in shading & has veins running through it so even if the slag marked it- I doubt it would be noticeable. I have a welding blanket but covered the engine with it- not the floor.

UpstateNY · Oct 5, 2015

Steves32 said:
Had both but I prefer the 4 post in this garage for the type of work I do. I have the jack so working under it is a breeze. It's up on jacks in pic now w/ no front suspension & no rear wheels. Plus- I can raise car up & park under it if I want. I can even remove a body from frame if I want. Raise lift- roll car under it less engine- run straps from ramps under body- raise lift lifting body- roll out frame- drop body on dolly- done.

Steve,

Thanks for the response. I have a 33 Ford myself, but no lift, yet. I've been obsessing over a 2-post vs a 4-post, leaning towards the latter. Refreshing to see a fellow hotrod builder went with the 4 post and is happy with his decision.

One more question if you don't mind: Looks like you have only 1 rolling jack, and you seem to use a heavy wooden board between runners with jackstands if you need to support the entire car ? How thick is that lumber ? Do you use that setup for a fully-assembled car as well ?

Steves32 · Oct 5, 2015

UpstateNY said:
Steve,

Thanks for the response. I have a 33 Ford myself, but no lift, yet. I've been obsessing over a 2-post vs a 4-post, leaning towards the latter. Refreshing to see a fellow hotrod builder went with the 4 post and is happy with his decision.

One more question if you don't mind: Looks like you have only 1 rolling jack, and you seem to use a heavy wooden board between runners with jackstands if you need to support the entire car ? How thick is that lumber ? Do you use that setup for a fully-assembled car as well ?

Ha ha- caught me. I have the rolling jack & a tray too. I loaned the tray to a friend who has his car on stands now. In a pinch- I built a quicky tray from a 2x12 w/ 2x4's mounted to edge to keep it from sagging. Didn't really need the 2x4's because the stands are right near the ends.
It's a steel 34 but they don't weigh much. Maybe 2500 lbs all in. I have the front jack back so far for paint I had to use ratchet straps on rear spreader bar to keep it from being tippy. It's very secure & that homemade tray is overkill for this car. Now if I had a diesel truck up there- different story.

Steves32 · Oct 5, 2015

Here's the home made tray- works great

Here's another floor view

Shea · Oct 5, 2015

Wow, what a great testimonial to porcelain tile for the garage! The floor still looks new.

bdamico · Oct 5, 2015

Come on. We all know that porcelain is too brittle for a real working garage, grout gets dirty, and it's really hard to wheel stuff over grout lines.

venturesomerite · Oct 5, 2015

Steves32 said:
Drop ****? That's my middle name! I'm always dropping stuff on it. Hammers- wrenches- you name it. Heavy stuff? I dropped a transmission on it from about 3ft when my cheap trans jack fell over w/ trans strapped on it. How's that?

Sounds like a brother from another mother to me! And yes, that's as good an example as any I could ask for.

APEowner · Oct 5, 2015

Well, I'm convinced. If I can stop running the race car into stuff long enough to get some time and working capital I'm going with tile.

OJ Bartley · Oct 6, 2015

Great looking working tile floor. I haven't really done anything torturous to mine in the year it's been down, but I am very happy with it. Easy to clean, always looks good, and tough as nails.

AB9NZ · Oct 6, 2015

Living the porcelain dream here too. No regrets. Beautiful shop you've got there '32.

69bigblok · Oct 8, 2015

Looks great!

Cairo94507 · Oct 8, 2015

Very nice floor. I am so happy I found The Garage Journal or I would have done something I would likely have regretted for flooring instead of porcelain. I can't wait to do my 3-car garage.

Beach Dude · Oct 8, 2015

Have yet to see somebody who did ceramic or porcelain regret it.

I need to do mine before I get to old.

Rod N · Oct 13, 2015

No regrets that's for sure

Steves32 · Oct 14, 2015

There were a few spots on floor I missed before. Uncovered the floor after paint & noticed some black marks & spots on slab. It was tar like & it dawned on me it was from the Dynamat I installed in a steel 41 Willys last year (told you I don't clean floor often!). Gave my 16 yr old grand son some gloves, lacquer thinner & some rags & paid him 20 bucks to clean up spots on floor. Took him about an hour & was worth the 20 to save my knees. He also found a few spots where the weld slag stuck to tile surface felt like a sandy surface. Came right up with a 6" razor scraper & is like new now.
Just FYI.

All_Bavarian_Garage · Oct 14, 2015

Steves32 said:
There were a few spots on floor I missed before. Uncovered the floor after paint & noticed some black marks & spots on slab. It was tar like & it dawned on me it was from the Dynamat I installed in a steel 41 Willys last year (told you I don't clean floor often!). Gave my 16 yr old grand son some gloves, lacquer thinner & some rags & paid him 20 bucks to clean up spots on floor. Took him about an hour & was worth the 20 to save my knees. He also found a few spots where the weld slag stuck to tile surface felt like a sandy surface. Came right up with a 6" razor scraper & is like new now.
Just FYI.

I absolutely love the way that tile looks! Would you mind sharing where you got that tile?

Ryan · Oct 14, 2015

In my opinion, if you have the budget nothing beats a porcelain floor in a hard working garage... I just didn't have the budget.

If I were rich, I would have done my entire shop in that super HD porcelain that looks convincingly like wood... Would be so rad.

sledneck32! · Oct 14, 2015

How about drag something sharp across it? Im working on getting mine drawn up. My main concern about the floor is the carbides on snowmobiles. I like to drive in drive out. But carbides are sharp, and hard.

Sent from my LG-H811 using Tapatalk

My porcelain tile floor after 4 years of constant hot rod building.

Well-known member

Well-known member

Active member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Active member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Member

Administrator

Well-known member