Need floor advice

[1carguy]

I recently had glue down VCT installed on my toy garage concrete floor. It looked great, but everytime I back my motor home in the vct tiles pop whenever I have to turn the steering wheel. I tried using different glue, etc. on the popped areas to no avail. The garage looks terrible because of this.

The VCT installed was made by Tarquett. It had to be glued down to the concrete slab and was not the self adhesive type.

The front axle on my motor home weighs 20,000 lbs. I am ready to rip up the VCT and try something else. I thought about race deck, but suspect it will do the same thing. Thus epoxy is probably my best choice.

The problem I have is the garage is over 4,000 SF. I tried today to pop the VCT up using a hand scraper. I spent all afternoon doing this and only got 10 tiles up. This leaves 3,990 to go! What a huge job!

Does anyone have any idea how one could get the VCT up easier? Any floor alternatives that you might suggest that would allow me to go over the existing VCT?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[Kevin54]

Does anyone have any idea how one could get the VCT up easier?

Go to your local rental company. They should have what looks like a small hand held jackhammer and you can put a scraper on the end of it. They may also rent a tile remover. It is a four wheeled machine that kind of puts you in mind of a sodcutter. Our shop used one to remove quite a few thousand square feet of tile. Then you will have to rent a concrete sander to get everything else smooth. Here is a pic of one type

Kevin

 

[Jason B]

I would call the place that installed this for you. Maybe they didn't something wrong, or didn't use the right clue. They should remove it for you at no cost.

 

[volvo]

..
Read this thread "" Clear epoxy over VCT or just polish? ""

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5484&showall=1

and look at what ( gb70 ) did to solve his floor motorhome problems with VCT tile ....H

 

[1carguy]

Thanks for the great advice. This is the third garage that I have had VCT installed in.

The first I had no problem with. The second popped tiles each time my wife drove in the same as my toy garage. Difference is the first garage I could pull straight in without any need to turn the steering wheel. Both problem garages required the wheel to be turned. Had the same result with both an SUV and a 50,000 lb. motor home. Both VCT applications were direct glue down to a concrete slab. Based on my experience I would never use VCT again for this application.

I have had good experience with race deck. See my current garage: www.davebrewer.com/p1a_misc.htm Truning car wheels does not seem to impact this floor. However, my friend has a garage with race deck that he stores his motor home in. He says if he turns the wheels it will pop up.

Therefore, only application for me is epoxy. I assume I will need to grind the floor to remove all glue residue? Any thoughts on this?

Thanks

 

[BreBar21]

I believe in that other thread someone mentioned that if you use a heat gun to heat up the adhesive behind the VCT, it'll peel right up. I'd try that instead of chipping away 4,000 tiles piece by piece.

I would think that you'd want to get it back down to bare concrete before you etch and apply the epoxy, so all the glue residue would need to come up.

You have some amazing cars, by the way. They're absolutely gorgeous. I'd love to see some more pics. Also, are you hiring?? lol

 

[icnsltmfg]

Yes...the heat guns work like a charm.

 

[1carguy]

I found someone locally that has a scraper type machine. His cost to remove it and haul it away including grinding the floor is 75 cents/SF. Works for me. I cannot imagine how long it would take me with a heating gun to pull up 3,000 SF.

Thanks for the great advice.

 

[Thomarann]

...Therefore, only application for me is epoxy.

What about just polished concrete?

Marc

 

[boiler7904]

The quickest way I've ever seen VCT pulled up is with a Bobcat using their scraper attachment.

 

[thegarageguy]

Removing mastic is a bit tricky but with the right tools and know how its actually not difficult. You just need patience. You can rent a grinder from certain rental centers. Stay away from edco. Use the carbide scraper. If its not coming up, then soften it with laquer. You can also use some sand to make it gum up into chunks. A great machine I use is the Hilti dg 150. The thing is a monster! It ususally doesn't need anything to help it eat anything. 3000 sq ft though, you might want to maybe go over it with a resurfacing material. Its basically a resinous cement. Goes on about 3/16 to 1/4 inch. Basically bury all that tile. Broadcast right into the resurfacing material and create a super strong 12,000 psi floor that you can drive mac trucks through and not budge. It's basically becoming the standard for resurfacing firehouses throughout the nation.

 

[hammerdog]

First off...what year 'Cuda? My ex got the '68 340 Formula S.

Did you use epoxy or standard urethane polish? I've been trying to find a more permanent solution for the VCT because my costs are running a minimum of $1/sqft/year and I'm never happy in the heavy traffic areas.

I'm a facilities director and I've given up on "the professionals". I found this thread trying to come up with solutions to the VCT maintenance nightmare. Vendors are useless because anything I put down means less sales and work for them. When I talk to epoxy people and it is "pull everything up and only use our product". Like I have nothing better to do then shut everything down and pull up 20,000 sqft of vct!

As anyone every used an epoxy over VCT with success????

 

[SC-Eric]

We make an epoxy hybrid system that is routinely put down over VCT... Contractors had done complete grocery stores with it...