Garage Floor Options .. (need your opinions)

[Turbota]

This is my first post here, so I would like to say Hi to everyone.
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I am moving into a new house in about a month.

It has a 3 car garage that is roughly 31' W x 17' D. That gives it a floor area of about 520 Sq Ft.

The garage floor is just your standard concrete slab and it would be nice to put something on the floor that looks a little better than the plain cement that's there now. I am not going to make the garage into a real fancy "man-cave", but I want it to look kinda nice nevertheless.

The house I have in the Philippines has 16" tiles on the carport floor and on the driveway. Looks very very nice, but I think installing tiles on my garage floor here in Florida would be just too expensive of an option. Costs are alot higher in the US than they are in the Philippines.

Here is the tiles I have in the Philippines:

Again, I think installing tiles like that here in Florida might just be too expensive for my budget.

Anyone here have any ideas as to what is available that would look nice on my new garage floor without breaking the bank? I have read about the epoxy surfaces, but I am a little worried that it might not look that good after a couple of years ... especially if I bought readily available epoxy coating and did the job myself.

I am thinking that installing tiles like in the top photo would really be the best permanent solution .. but I don't know what the cost would be per Sq. Ft.

Below is a photo of the house I am buying here in Florida: (I have no photo of inside the garage unfortunatly)

Thank's
Ron

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

If tile works for you, stick with it. I will bet you can find a good deal on tile in Florida if you shop around.

 

[Turbota]

Thank's for the reply.

I am thinking that tile is really the best permanent solution.

16" tiles are really not that expensive. It seems like the labor is what is high. In the Philippines, I can get a good tile installer to work for 600 pesos per day ($13.95), but that ain't going to happen here!

In fact, I was looking at the price breakdown for the materials and the labor to have the tile installed on my concrete carport and driveway in the Philippines:

The total area measured 715 Sq Ft and cost me $1,006 in equiv. US Dollars. That equates to $1.41 per Sq Ft. for the tile, setting materials and labor.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Wow that is cheap. Epoxy will cost you 4.00 to 5.00 per square installed, race deck is similar.

 

[dcs Inc]

The purchasing power is 76% lower compared to the US. gene

 

[Garage Flooring]

My least expensive garage flooring options would cost you more than that and likely not be what you are looking for. If you have found a way to do what you want at an affordable price, I would do it!

 

[waxoffwaxon]

DYE the floor. I do it for lots of customers, it inexpensive, last and can be repaired.. I am not talking about a stain that home depot sells, I am talking about a true dye. I am here in Ft Myers, I do a ton load of dyed concrete.


Clint
Waxoffwaxon.com

 

[dcs Inc]

Dyes work well but a sealant of some kind should be used to lock it down and protect it from getting dirty. A thin mil urethane top coat is what I favor when applying something other than a poly aspartic or epoxy. gene

 

[JimVonBaden]

VCT!

Self installed in a couple days for under $1 a sq foot.

Jim

 

[Jack Olsen]

I did my own tile. The ceramic itself was .59/sf.

All-in, I was well under $500 for 440 square feet, and that included buying tile cutters and other tools.

I'd never set tile before.

 

[dcs Inc]

Looks good guys.

 

[AlphaGarage]

Great looking castle!

If you do go with VCT consider protecting it with an epoxy coating. Eliminates the wax-strip-wax routine.

 

[Turbota]

Well, I looked at the Swisstrax website.

They have those snap together tiles called "Sportrax" that look nice, but there $4.71 each. They are 13" x 13" square. I would need 513 of them since my garage floor is 602 Sq Ft. That would cost $2,416.

I am thinking I might be able to get 16" ceramic tiles installed for close to that price if I can buy the tiles cheap.

 

[Turbota]

Question ...

Is there anyone here on this message board that sells the Swisstrax cheaper than the $4.71 per piece as shown on the Swisstrax website?

Any discounts out there for "Garage Journal" members?

Thank's

 

[TheChanMan]

If you do anything with liquids, interlocking tiles are a no-go. Any oil, gas-whatever you spill seeps through, they're plastic-and melt with heat. A buddy and I melted half of his racedeck onto the slab being careless a couple years ago. VCT is "stuck down" with adhesive, grout is permanent (tile replacement can be a pain), epoxy and other "paint like" floorings are poo pood on also, but are proven to be durable. BMW Motorrad specs floor treatments, idk what brand, in all of their dealership's service dept's, and our Orange Park store was done over a greasy *** slab, and is holding up pretty well. I'm going through the same debate about my project, but I crossed off interlocking tiles at the onset. I don't know the answer, yet, but any racedeck style product is out.

 

[admranger]

Question ...

Is there anyone here on this message board that sells the Swisstrax cheaper than the $4.71 per piece as shown on the Swisstrax website?

Any discounts out there for "Garage Journal" members?

Thank's

RaceDeck has discounts for GJ members. PM Racedeck1 for the details. I like it.

 

[RaceDeck1]

RaceDeck has discounts for GJ members. PM Racedeck1 for the details. I like it.

drop me a line and we can get you information and a quote. Thanks

 

[Helios]

I personally keep coming back to tile. Classic, nice looking, hard surfaces are pretty easy to keep clean, solid non-compressible (plus for jacks & stands). The biggest downsides I can think of would be the susceptibility of cracking if large tools are dropped (which I typically try to prevent anyways), install time (I'd be doing it myself) and cost (vs epoxy paint). I need to do more research on the installation process, but I think I'd be kicking myself in the **** down the road if I didn't do what I really wanted in the first place. I hate redoing work.

BTW, I love you're garage Jack (and the Porsche ). Definitely an inspiration for me.

 

[Turbota]

Well, I remeasured the garage floor. It's exactly 30' Wide by 19.5" Deep. That gives me 585 Sq Ft. total floor area.

I found 20" x 20" Bedrosians brand Glazed Porcelain Tiles at Lowes for a total of $851 + tax. That will give me some extra tiles to be on the safe side. The tiles have a PEI Rating of 4 and are 3/8" (9.55 mm) thick.

Thinset Dry Mortar Mix and Sanded Grout will cost about $170.

I have a tile guy with 15 years experience that will do the job for $1.50 per Sq. Ft here in Florida ... So, the labor will cost $878.

Total cost for the job will be $1,900 ... not bad for a 3-car garage.
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That's still a little cheaper than professionally applied epoxy or RaceDeck or SwissTrax, so I'm happy ... Seems to be a permanent solution, and porcelain tiles do look nice.

Ron,
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Something like this: