Garage Project Step 1: Floor

Greetings!

I'm about to start a project to redo my garage. I live in a town home in Dallas and I'm trying to clean things up. I've posted an image from the Ikea room planner that I've used to design the cabinets I'm planning to use with a few modifications to their stock offerings that outlines the general direction I'm heading with the project.



Step 1 of the project is the floor. I have a few issues with the flooring and I'd appreciate any suggestions. I've been lurking here for a few years off and on planning this project and the timing is finally right.

I'm planning to use Armstrong standard Excelon in nougat, then to coat the tile in 1109 epoxy (paging AlphaGarage ). Prep work will begin in the next few days so I'll be ready when the special order tile arrives. I have a few open questions for the collective wisdom.

1) What should I use at the edge of the VCT for the car to drive onto the VCT? I've seen references to metal strips, but what exactly is this product?

2) What should I do to handle the bad edges on the step? I'm planning on using a sander to smooth out the high spots on the concrete, but what about the voids? I'm going to use metal step edging to help support the step, but I doubt that will be sufficient.

3) Can I use the 1109 Epoxy on vertical surfaces? Any suggestions on how it should be prepped?

3) Any comments on work order? I'm planning on prepping the whole floor with a cleaning agent just to be sure I get a good bond. Then I plan to start at the garage door and move towards the step. After a few days (2-3?) I'll move all that stuff off the edge of the steps and tile that area. Then after another few days (#?) I'll epoxy the floor in reverse starting with the step.

Please don't tell my wife I posted pictures of the garage in that condition.

smccray said:

1) What should I use at the edge of the VCT for the car to drive onto the VCT? I've seen references to metal strips, but what exactly is this product

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I used 1.5" wide by 1/8" thick aluminum strips. They were sold in 12' lengths from a local metal supply company. They cut them to my specs. I paid $10 per piece. Home depot sells the same thing in 8' lengths for around $20.

Yes, you can use BondTite 1109 on vertical surfaces.

It's our epoxy topcoat that may need special attention if it's used on walls etc. The reason being that it's just heavy, while most epoxies weight under 9 lb.per gallon, LiquaTile clocks in at about 12.3 pounds per gallon. Ceramic content accounts for the extra muscle weight. BondTite 1109 doesn't contain ceramics.

blazer1974 said:

I used 1.5" wide by 1/8" thick aluminum strips. They were sold in 12' lengths from a local metal supply company. They cut them to my specs. I paid $10 per piece. Home depot sells the same thing in 8' lengths for around $20.

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So "product" is overstating a little! That was easy enough.

AlphaGarage said:

Yes, you can use BondTite 1109 on vertical surfaces.

It's our epoxy topcoat that may need special attention if it's used on walls etc. The reason being that it's just heavy, while most epoxies weight under 9 lb.per gallon, LiquaTile clocks in at about 12.3 pounds per gallon. Ceramic content accounts for the extra muscle weight. BondTite 1109 doesn't contain ceramics.

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Excellent. I'll contact you next week to order and talk a little more about how to install on the vertical walls.

Scott

Placed the order at Home Depot for VCT this weekend. Now it's prep and wait.

Sunday was a long day working in the garage preparing the floor for the VCT install. The step in the back of the garage has been cleaned and etched and it's ready to go. I also used an angle grinder on clean up the excess concrete so the bottom of the riser will hopefully have a nice crisp line. No photos- I'll grab one or two next weekend.

More to come!

xiaqinghua1989 said:

Nothing is impossible to a willing heart。

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... and 3 gallons of floor epoxy.