Another VCT install (Vinyl Composition Tile)

[G-force]

I finally got my VCT garage floor installed and have began the polishing process. Over the next week I will be installing black rubber cove base and most likely renting a buffer to give it that extra sheen before laying down the last few coats of polish. I used Armstrong #51927 Field Gray and Feature solid black. So far I love it!

Thanks to Sid (ssleepingbeauty here on GJ) for coming down from Tacoma and putting the professional touch on the tile install. It was great meeting another member. I think I probably could have done the install myself, but with all the special cuts with my design, I probably would have wasted 20% more tile, not to mention it probably would of taken me a whole weekend. Sid finished it in about 5-6 hours start to finish, including leveling the floor.

I chose VCT because of the cool design possibilities. Keeping it shining is more labor intensive than epoxy, but I think I will personally get a sense of accomplishment maintaining the finish. Plus it gives me a reason to clear out the garage to clean the cobwebs once a year or so.

I'll keep updating this thread over the next couple weeks as I get everything dialed in and back into place.

Before:

During:

All tiles down:

First coat of polish down:

After 2-3 coats of Armstrong Excelon polish 18% solids (Home Depot)

 

[mishkaya]

Looks great! Keep us posted as to how it holds up.

 

[TONE]

It wont-cant.............be prepared for endless scuffs and wear and tear.

Im sorry, if I sound rude, not my intentions. The pix look great but Ive lived this-done that.

It is not meant for cars to drive on and still look perfect.

 

[marty_p]

RE: VCT install

Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about!!! Looking TIGHT, G-force!

 

[G-force]

It wont-cant.............be prepared for endless scuffs and wear and tear.

Im sorry, if I sound rude, not my intentions. The pix look great but Ive lived this-done that.

It is not meant for cars to drive on and still look perfect.

Thanks for your "opinion"

 

[smooth72]

Thanks for your "opinion"

that pretty much said it all.
Nice install and garage. One thing nice if one gets damage for about 68 cents you can replace it.

 

[jayoldschool]

How does this hold up in a salty, wet, winter environment?

 

[JohnK007]

I think it looks pretty damn good. How do you level the floor?

 

[G-force]

I think it looks pretty damn good. How do you level the floor?

He just put a thin skim coat of material to fill in any pits or minor low spots. My floor was in pretty good shape so it did not take much.

 

[rustedgoat]

I would guess for motorcycles its going to be just fine. I would agree that full size cars would be tough on tiles.

 

[easyrider7467]

WOW, It looks great. Enjoy it. Please let us know its durability status in months to come...

 

[gsport]

looks like a showroom..... i like it

 

[joecaver]

as one VCT garage owner to another, I love it. Nice work!

 

[dipper]

Looks great!!! The wax should do a good job of sealing the floor from wintery weather.
I'll be doing the same in the next month or two. I still cant decide if I want to get another color and do a pattern or just put all the same tile down. I already have the tile and would have to buy more to do a pattern.

 

[ssleepingbeauty]

It wont-cant.............be prepared for endless scuffs and wear and tear.

Im sorry, if I sound rude, not my intentions. The pix look great but Ive lived this-done that.

It is not meant for cars to drive on and still look perfect.

So..... I guess all of these years of installing grocery stores, it must have been my imagination seeing all of the carts, pallet jacks, fork lifts running across the floor and the VCT holding up to it

It's called maintenance. You see it's called Vinyl Composition Tile (VCT) which means it's a solid composition, where the pattern is throughout the whole tile. You would virtually have to completely wear through the entire tile before it was no good. (Yes I have repaired tiles that have completely worn through.) And it takes MANY years of daily industrial use.

Mike, your wax job looks like it turned out great You really made me look good

 

[oldgeek]

Inside is a closed environment without hug temperature changes and large tires pressing against the floor.

You cannot compare a garage floor with a supermarket or your kitchen.

If you live in southern california, texas, or parts of the south your garage and the outside of your home has a rather gentle time of it. If you live where the weather has swings and changes, you garage floor will be subject to tougher conditions.

At that, the maintenance and attention that supermarkets and other public places do to their flooring it is not trivial. Washing, waxing, using cleaners to remove scuffs. Did you ever notice the floor mats that these places have at their entrances?

Bottom line, lots of real work to keep a floor clean and a garage is a real challenge, as I noted especially where mother nature is a real mother.

 

[Chris Adams]

snip
If you live in southern california, texas, or parts of the south your garage and the outside of your home has a rather gentle time of it. snip.

You make some realistic points but don't think that in southern california the outside of your home gets it easy.


Everyplace has its problems.

OK, if you live in Lompoc or San Diego, your outside is like most places inside, but here in the High Desert stucco temps hit 150 all the time, and drop to 15 in winter.
Heat and cold would be murder on tiles in a lot of places.

Earthquakes seem to mess up tiles real good here as well.


More on the topic, I had a lot of retail stores with VCT tiles. And we rolled pallet jacks through them a lot, steel wheels with eight foot tall loaded 4x4 pallets and the VCT held up fairly well, but we replaced a few tiles every year in every store.

And if a starter core or battery got dropped we replaced tiles that day.

They do look purty though.
Probably well worth the work to replace a few every year.

Not a good idea in a 'working' garage where jack stands, a portable lift and roller jacks were a daily thing.
Or I would go with them in my shop.

 

[TONE]

What Im saying is that yes it looks good, looks awesome actually.

However, if cars drive on it daily it WILL get scuffs and such.

As for grocery stores and hardware stores. Pay real close attention next time your there.

They look shiny (they usually strip and rewax constantly) but they do have damaged areas. you just dont pay attention because after all its just a store.

I worked at years in a store called "handy Andy" the floors were always SUPER SHINY because they where waxed every other week. But the fork lift left black areas from tire wear.

Once again it didnt look bad, it was just a store.

My point is that this photo looks nice and the work performed looks spectacular, its just that it wont hold up to this level.

I did not mean to offend I just wanted to share my experience and opinion.

Inside is a closed environment without hug temperature changes and large tires pressing against the floor.

You cannot compare a garage floor with a supermarket or your kitchen.

If you live in southern california, texas, or parts of the south your garage and the outside of your home has a rather gentle time of it. If you live where the weather has swings and changes, you garage floor will be subject to tougher conditions.

At that, the maintenance and attention that supermarkets and other public places do to their flooring it is not trivial. Washing, waxing, using cleaners to remove scuffs. Did you ever notice the floor mats that these places have at their entrances?

Bottom line, lots of real work to keep a floor clean and a garage is a real challenge, as I noted especially where mother nature is a real mother.

 

[AlphaGarage]

Put on a coat of good epoxy primer, top with a good urethane, it will then be a breeze to keep clean w/o buffing and waxing all the time.

 

[oldgeek]

In spare time and just for fun go visit several car dealerships. The floor in the showroom will be remarkably different than that in the service area.

Even in your home garage a 3,500 lbs car with hot and cold tires, wet etc is very different than seeing traffic from moving pallets or shopping carts. Don't get me wrong I like the look of the tiles, and in a previous garage where I parked my occasional driver ( A MGA) it looked great. The other garage stalls had different flooring not because I did not like the tile, but the care to maintain them was more work than I was willing to do.

 

[55cadillacking]

Not sure how I stumbled across this thread, but I am curious to know how, 3 years on, this VCT floor is holding up.

 

[Fredartic]

Me too I'm curious. Please give us news!

 

[SteveB]

I'm not sure of his but my VCT floor is now coming up to 7 years old and is holding up very well. I haven't replaced a single tile. None have cracked or lifted. There is a slight brown tire stain where each car is parked but they are on dark tiles so not as noticeable.

In the next month or so I will be stripping the built-up polish. I have done this once before. This time I may apply an epoxy finish.

My normal routine is a foam mop cleaning a couple times a year followed by a quick application of Armstrong liquid polish.

My garage houses 2 cars, one driven year round and is my hang out area, no heavy machinery nor welding. I do perform regular maintenance in there plus a bit of body work/painting.

The photo above was taken recently.

For details on my VCT install see this link.

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/281382/1996-mazda-miata-mx-5/page-14/


VCT has worked very well for my purposes and I would use it again.

 

[Fredartic]

Thank you for the pictures. Wow! It is very nice! All is nice, the cars, the floors, the set up... You did a very good job!

 

[bullnerd]

SteveB ,I love the silver Miata, and beacause of your pics I will own a miata that looks just like yours someday.(soon)Is there a build of it somewhere?

Floor looks great too.

 

[SteveB]

Thanks, the grey tile wasn't designed to match the car, just looks that way.

Although a little dated, here is a link to my car build, suspension, brakes, supercharger, paint and stripes, some track days. The car pretty much looks the same way now. The yellow 92 belongs to my wife.

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/281382/1996-mazda-miata-mx-5/

 

[skyking]

Beautiful !

 

[G-force]

The floor is holding up nice, no lifted or otherwise damaged tiles since it was installed 4 years ago. Mostly only the motorcycles stay in the garage anymore and any major work gets done out in the shop. Moral of the story is if I had to do it again, I would!