Longevity of tile with HEAVY use?

[GreekPower]

Firstly I'd like say there is soooo many amazing garages here. Which is inspiring me to transform mine.

Now that my intro post is out of the way. Currently my flooring is just smooth concrete with no cracks currently. I do ALOT of mechanic work in my spare time so using jacks, engine cranes, sliding around engines is VERY common.

I was thinking of using tile but I'm concerned that I will break/crack tile often. So does anyone here have tile flooring and do anything like I'm saying? complaints? pros/cons? should I stick to a certain size tile? maybe certain strength?

Sorry for the really vague and noob questions I'm a first time home owner and tile isn't new to me.. but for something like garage flooring it puzzles me.

I was going to do the epoxy route but seems everyone says it chips and peels off?

Thanks for any tips/help

 

[bdamico]

search for porcelain in titles

 

[JimVonBaden]

There are several people here who have porcelain tile and work on them. As a matter of fact, I have yet to see one person complain about the durability of porcelain. I have, however heard people complain about every other product!

Jim

 

[Dakota00]

Longevity of tiles and heavy use go hand in hand.

I do a fair bit of work on my vehicles and woodworking as well in my garage. I gave the floor a good work out yesterday, had to prep 4 vehicles for winter which included changing the wheels. Once I was done, a quick wash of the floor it was back in showroom condition in a couple of minutes.

View media item 35047

 

[slickgt1]

Doing this to see my own signature.

Edit,
click link.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=95966&highlight=floor

Dakota, add your floor to that link too.

 

[JakeKohl]

Firstly I'd like say there is soooo many amazing garages here. Which is inspiring me to transform mine.

Now that my intro post is out of the way. Currently my flooring is just smooth concrete with no cracks currently. I do ALOT of mechanic work in my spare time so using jacks, engine cranes, sliding around engines is VERY common.

I was thinking of using tile but I'm concerned that I will break/crack tile often. So does anyone here have tile flooring and do anything like I'm saying? complaints? pros/cons? should I stick to a certain size tile? maybe certain strength?

Sorry for the really vague and noob questions I'm a first time home owner and tile isn't new to me.. but for something like garage flooring it puzzles me.

I was going to do the epoxy route but seems everyone says it chips and peels off?

Thanks for any tips/help

It works for Grand Central Station....

 

[Garage Flooring]

Doing this to see my own signature.

Edit,
click link.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=95966&highlight=floor

Dakota, add your floor to that link too.

In the user CP there is a preview button for this. I was messing with mine over the weekend because we decided to remove the link to our site from our signature due to potential google issues.

 

[Jack Olsen]

Smiling idiot of an owner.

Rolling the 500# engine on a little floor jack.

Work getting done.

Click on the image to see inexpensive ceramic taking hits from a 4-lb sledge.



The car is sitting on top of tiles that were set on the steel top of the lift.

 

[Garage Flooring]

Smiling idiot of an owner.

Rolling the 500# engine on a little floor jack.

Work getting done.

Click on the image to see inexpensive ceramic taking hits from a 4-lb sledge.



The car is sitting on top of tiles that were set on the steel top of the lift.

+1

 

[Jbizzle]

I am heavily leaning toward doing tile in my garage now. We just bought a new house and now I finally have a 3 car garage! I was going to do epoxy like I had in my last garage but I plan to do some light welding and other metal projects (plasma cutter etc...)

I plan on putting a post up on my garage one of these days so I can contribute a little back.

How would the tile hold up to doing welding/cutting and possibly having slag and sparks landing on the floor?

 

[slickgt1]

Um, nothing will hold up to welding slag. I mean tile won't blow up, but you will probably leave burn marks on it. If you do a brown / black slate type of porcelain, I bet it will hit it mostly. But, a welding blanket is not that hard to throw down.

 

[Jbizzle]

True, I was planning on epoxy and then using a welding blanket but after seeing some of the tile floors on here I really don't know what to do....

When I am ready to do this stuff I will put up a post asking for advice and all that. Haven't put too much thought into it just yet. Getting ready to do it though. My New Age cabinets just showed up!

 

[Dale Leeds]

Smiling idiot of an owner.

Rolling the 500# engine on a little floor jack.

Work getting done.

Click on the image to see inexpensive ceramic taking hits from a 4-lb sledge.



The car is sitting on top of tiles that were set on the steel top of the lift.

Hey, Jack. I about gasped when I saw the third picture down from the top. I thought, Holy Cow!! He has that car sitting on a stool? I had to give it a second look. Good luck with the new engine.

 

[N0tt0N]

I have porcelain tile going in now. Can't speak to durability yet but will have steel wheels from the EZCarLift, Engine Hoists, Jacks, etc. regularly. Jack convinced me!

Now I just need to find a stool to set the car on like he does, too!

P.S. Its a good friend that sticks his head in the wheel well while you yank on the body and kick on the engine. LOL! I smile with joy every time I see your place, Jack, or watch your videos. Life's good!

 

[boostme]

Im in for porcelain tile too..never thought it could be used

Homedepot has some rated about 350 lbs break strength or something like that. Its about 80 cents or so sq ft!

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

 

[stage20]

Im in for porcelain tile too..never thought it could be used

Homedepot has some rated about 350 lbs break strength or something like that. Its about 80 cents or so sq ft!

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

that would be "ceramic" what i call clay. id say what you are looking for is going to run about 2 dollars a foot unless you want to spend more.

you go with ceramic, youll have the top wearing off and chips off the corners in no time.

 

[JimVonBaden]

that would be "ceramic" what i call clay. id say what you are looking for is going to run about 2 dollars a foot unless you want to spend more.

you go with ceramic, youll have the top wearing off and chips off the corners in no time.

The delicacy of "ceramic" tile is up for debate. There are a couple of people using it very successfully.

Obviously Porcelain is more ideal, and the cost not that high:

http://www.lowes.com/pd_399386-3469...L=?Ns=p_product_price|0&page=1&facetInfo=Thru body porcelain

Often on sale under $1.

Jim

PS Add $0.50 per sq ft for supplies to attach and grout it. Of course the sky is the limit, but it is usually cheaper than nearly anything else if you can do it yourself.

 

[slickgt1]

Yea, and Jack has ceramic. You know that dude with the pictures with the Porsche above. That is $0.50 ceramic.

 

[Jack Olsen]

Hey, Jack. I about gasped when I saw the third picture down from the top. I thought, Holy Cow!! He has that car sitting on a stool? I had to give it a second look. Good luck with the new engine.

It does look that way. We were using it while pulling the caliper back there. I have worried about it being underneath there when the car lowers down. Could get ugly.

The engine's been going strong for over two years, now. Mostly track use. Knock on wood, right? It's already an 18-year-old engine, but I'm hoping for another 10 years at least.

Its a good friend that sticks his head in the wheel well while you yank on the body and kick on the engine. LOL! I smile with joy every time I see your place, Jack, or watch your videos. Life's good!

Thanks! That's my good friend Tyson positioning the engine, and my father watching the line-up at the flywheel. You know the expression 'a good man in a fire?' That's those two guys. I'm lucky to have both of them in my life.

Yea, and Jack has ceramic. You know that dude with the pictures with the Porsche above. That is $0.50 ceramic.

If I did it again, I'd go with porcelain. No reason not to. But I have inexpensive ceramic, and it's held up well. I do have some chips that I just touch up with paint. If I ever damage one more than that, I'll just replace it.

 

[Theo911]

Jack how's that 2nd used 3.6 holding up in BB2? I'm a fellow Pelican with a 3.6 transplant but I went the rebuild route and going on 4 years without a running engine due to mechanic issues and then after he finished it it spun a bearing after 5 track days again. Long story short I wished I would have just put another used 3.6 in it now!

 

[Jack Olsen]

Jack how's that 2nd used 3.6 holding up in BB2? I'm a fellow Pelican with a 3.6 transplant but I went the rebuild route and going on 4 years without a running engine due to mechanic issues and then after he finished it it spun a bearing after 5 track days again. Long story short I wished I would have just put another used 3.6 in it now!

Oof. I'm sorry to hear that.

Although, I also had a similar problem from the other direction. I bought a second engine in August of 2010 after the previous one was showing its age after 10 years of track use (and another 7 years of use by its original owner). The engine looked good, but there was a previous-owner issue that (for not very complicated, but long-to-explain issues) meant I spun a rod bearing about six months later. A rebuild followed -- and now I'm a little more than two years downstream from that, with the motor doing very well.

In retrospect, I could have rebuilt the existing motor. But like you've seen, there can be problems going that way as well. I hope you get yours sorted out and back on the road.

It's odd to think that when I did my first swap in 2000, a 1992-1995 engine was still pretty new. Now, it's 13 years older than that.

But a 3.6 in an older 911 is still a pretty potent combination. Here's video.