New VCT install

[mbolek]

Hello All,

Here is our recent VCT install. Appreciate all vast amount of information on this forum to help with selecting this option. We feel this has been a good update to the older painted floor.

We are in a moderate climate (Northern California) and should avoid any vast temperature swings and minimal rain to keep the floor pretty clean year long.

Couple of follow on questions in order to complete the install.

1. What is the consensus on cleaning/waxing/sealing the VCT? Plan is to come in with a low pH cleaner and follow up with the seller (i.e Armstrong S-485).

2. Any good ideas to clean up the edge transition from the tile to concrete/wall.

3. Installed 1/8" aluminum flat bar to segway the ingress/egress into the garage. Saw this on a couple of older posts and it looked great.

This will be the first part of our garage remodel. Next will be the new cabinets, sports/bike storage, flat panel, etc. Goal is to have another area to enjoy the upcoming football season...


Thx.

Marty

 

[Skeetobite]

Very nice job on the install. Looks great!

That blue-gray is the exact color I used in our garage in Florida. I never waxed or sealed it. The only issue I ever had was hot tires scorching the tile(s) were I parked. I know there are some cool looking parking pads that you can just pull into when parking. This will eliminate the only regret I ever had with that floor.

 

[j6810]

Very nice, looks like you have the Newage Performance Plus Cabinet

 

[JimVonBaden]

Looks great!

For the wall/tile transition use rubber baseboard like this:

 

[kwfloors]

You can get a 4" or 6" vinyl or rubber wall base in any color you want for that curb. Just glue it with cove base adhesive and its done. Check with your local flooring company.

 

[mbolek]

Very nice, looks like you have the Newage Performance Plus Cabinet

Ended up returning the Newage cabinets that I purchased. They didn't work out for me.

Marty

 

[Notgrownup]

Scrub the tile with a neutral cleaner then apply 4 thin coats of high solids wax. In a perfect world you would apply 2 coats of sealer then 4 coats of wax.

 

[Jay Sco]

Looking good. And +1 on the rubber strip along the walls/concrete edge. I've used it at work when we remodeled. Easy, cheap, looks good.

 

[mbolek]

All,

Thanks for the advice/recommendations. I don't know if the rubber strip will work for me. The sides of the garage has concrete that extends from the wall. On the front wall the concrete sits behind the drywall. Need to come up with something that will work for both scenarios.



marty

 

[Notgrownup]

What I ham gonna do is paint the block inside and out with either floor primer from Legacy or sealer paint from UGL or like Kilz...

 

[Kevin54]

JVB......I'd be ashamed. As great looking as that garage is, and no trim around the door.

MBOLEK.....your garage looks great. I've spoke with one person about epoxy on my floor, but every time I see VCT, I like it more and more, partly due to the different patterns that you can do. I had a price of close to $4000 for epoxy, and that was with a discount of almost $2000. I'm going to have to look into the VCT, lay things out on paper, and see what patterns I can come up with.

 

[JimVonBaden]

No worries Kevin, the trim came a bit later:

 

[mbolek]

Hello Guys,

One more question on my new VCT. After applying the sealer, I now have pronounced tire tracks that are pretty obvious. I didn't have these after the install. Do I need to polish in order to help with the tire transfer.

Thx.

Marty

 

[Notgrownup]

What did you seal it with....? Dud you wax over? You should wax over sealer ...at leas 2-3 coats...it willthen need to cure for 24-48 hrs and then polish with a buffer , if slow speed side by side machine use a red iAd with spray buff, if high speed the a white or beige pad dry...just make sure you get all the dust out , use a dust mop or blower.

 

[mbolek]

Zep sealer. Didn't wax over the sealer yet. I think that is my problem.

Thx.

Marty

 

[Notgrownup]

Zep is good , make sure you wait 15 minutes at least after it's dry to the touch before walking on or re coating...I would put at least 2 coats of the same grand wax....buffing is nice but not 100% ...

 

[mbolek]

Thx. Time go get some polish...

 

[mbolek]

Finally finished up the VCT install. My better half helped with applying four coats of wax. We liked the way it turned out.

Thanks to another forum member and their vinyl striping project. Followed his lead and added a nice accent to the painted walls.

Cabinets are up next and hope to be done before football season....

Here are a couple before (sealer only) and after pics....

 

[Chitown_hillbilly]

Wow.. I like that a lot!

 

[Chuck W.]

That looks great. These VCT floors are a labor of love. Keep an eye on Craigslist for a high speed polisher. Get that and a hogshair and white pads and your set.

 

[ketas47]

Great looking floor. I installed mine 1 1/2 years ago and like the way it holds up. Wax mine spring and fall and strip it once per year.

 

[Notgrownup]

You really don't have to strip it down... All we recommend in nursing homes are to top scrub with a detergent cleaner, rinse, rinse, and then recoat with 1 or 2 coats of wax.

 

[mbolek]

Hello,

Still loving the VCT but will have to look at replacing a couple of tiles. I have a lot of tire transfer and can't seem to get it out. I wonder when I sealed and waxed it didn't cure correctly.

Are you guys getting any tire residue on your floors?

thx.

Marty

 

[71gold]

looks great...

here are a couple of pics. of my VCT floor.
after 4 years of high maintenance to keep it looking new... car tire marks, air compressor tire marks, generator tire marks, anything spilled was a witch to get off, mopping , waxing and polishing. I spilled gas on it and 4-5 tiles lifted. even the water that dripped from the car A/C left whitish stains on it.

I went over it with Racedeck tiles, so far all I have done is blow it out with compressed air and damp mopped it.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=262778

 

[71gold]

I found that...Goof Off...cleaned most of the marks from my VCT.

 

[mbolek]

I found that...Goof Off...cleaned most of the marks from my VCT.

Yes. The goof off works well but for some reason these stains have worked into the wax polish.

My wife has these white foam pads that work wonders on marks also.

Going to replace these and tiles and reseal/wax to see if that makes a difference.

marty

 

[mbolek]

Polling the other VCT users out there. Are you experiencing the same tire transfer as I do?

Let me know if you have found a sealer/wax that seems to work well for you.

Thx.

Marty

 

[CHEBANSE]

I work at a power equipment dealer and we have to put spare tiles under tires to avoid transfer. It is a constant problem (15 yrs) that only gets worse with time. Sorry. Eventually the floor will yellow from the wax and the marks won't show as much. We have it stripped and rewaxed at least once a year.

I work with a guy who is retired from Armstrong (who makes a lot of these) Variable Composition Tiles and he said it is the rubber interacting with the hardener in the tile.
He says they are made for industrial "foot" traffic.

 

[mbolek]

I work at a power equipment dealer and we have to put spare tiles under tires to avoid transfer. It is a constant problem (15 yrs) that only gets worse with time. Sorry. Eventually the floor will yellow from the wax and the marks won't show as much. We have it stripped and rewaxed at least once a year.

I work with a guy who is retired from Armstrong (who makes a lot of these) Variable Composition Tiles and he said it is the rubber interacting with the hardener in the tile.
He says they are made for industrial "foot" traffic.

Thx. I was afraid of that.

 

[TexasKen]

Curious to know how the VCT floor is holding up after a few years? Despite the tire marks and the maintenance occasionally to redo the wax - would you use the same product again? I too have read all the threads on various options and am heavily leaning towards using VCT in my redo. How slick is the floor when it gets wet from rain water dripping off the car? thanks in advance the replies!

 

[Chuck W.]

Curious to know how the VCT floor is holding up after a few years? Despite the tire marks and the maintenance occasionally to redo the wax - would you use the same product again? I too have read all the threads on various options and am heavily leaning towards using VCT in my redo. How slick is the floor when it gets wet from rain water dripping off the car? thanks in advance the replies!

Next month mine will be 9 years old. As I stated in an earlier post, it is a labor of love. I enjoy keeping it up, replacing tiles, sweeping/mopping/burnishing/buffing on a regular basis and stripping and re-waxing every year or two.

Wet floors are not an issue. Water will drip from a wet car but the floor is never so wet that it is dangerous to walk on. If I had to do it over again I definitely would.

Here are the photos at eight years;