Porcelain Tile over Epoxy?

[Reborn996]

Hello everyone, recently moved into a new home and had my garage epoxied like I had at my old house with great results. I added an extension to the front driveway and the coloring was quite a bit different than the original driveway... so I decided to have the driveway epoxied in a nice grey finish. It did not go well well, even though I used the same contractor (that has done many installs for friends I know) that did my garage the driveway does not look good. Lots of outgassing bubbles all over and he has already redone it twice. Plus it just doesn't look good to me overall...

So my question, thinking of going with porcelain tile for the driveway. Can it be installed over the epoxy? The overall concrete condition is very good, no cracks or other issues and the house was built in 2003. It's about 600 sqft of area (3 car spaces) and am thinking this may be the better option price wise than an overlay or something similar.

 

[duneslider]

The tile will only stick as well as the epoxy is stuck and if you are having issues with the epoxy then I would be very hesitant to put something over it. Doesn't seem like a good idea to me.

Just curious where you live that epoxy, or tile, would be something for a driveway? I lived in south america for a bit and I did see a lot of tiled driveways. I just have never seen anything like that in the USA.

 

[Reborn996]

The epoxy seems like it is good just not cosmetically pretty. I will certainly have it checked out first by any tile installer. I live in the SF Bay area so no winter conditions and moderate climate.

Open to other ideas, just seemed like tile was an easy option since the concrete was in very good shape and not worth replacing.

 

[MJK]

For the garage:

Clear the floor. Diamond grind it off. Get a laser level and a really LONG straight edge to plane things out. Acid etch. Power wash. Let it dry. Fill in expansion joints. Use elastomeric thinnest and back butter 100%. Darker grout. Seal it. Let cure. Move back in and enjoy. Been there, done that. Tile is wonderful. Use PEI 4 or 5 outdoor tile.

For the driveway:

Unfortunately, been there done that too. I re-epoxied a driveway that had been poorly done. It was a PITA to keep clean and ended up looking dingy and craptactular despite good epoxy performance. Not my thing. Maybe it would be better if I had picked something more dirt colored. My solution was to move to a house with a bigger garage.

I have tiled a back porch in a similar fashion to the above, which worked well. But never a driveway. Not sure tile is the best option if it freezes & has load. Could be, but I would lean towards pavers.

 

[duneslider]

Tile will hold up just fine on a driveway, its not my cup of tea but it is very common outside of the USA. I am just personally a fan of concrete. Most tile will not be as slip resistant as broomed concrete so keep that in mind.

 

[Armorpoxy]

Not sure who recommended epoxy for a driveway, but almost all epoxies are not suitable for outdoor use since they are not UV stable and break down and yellow/discolor in the sun. Only one epoxy we carry which is a lower solids water based can be used outdoors. Would be interesting to know what brand/product they used for a driveway.