Stone/ceramic Tile cracking/breaking?

[enginerd]

For those of you who have ceramic/stone tiles made for indoor use and who have use it for your garage and/or shop area, how have they held up?

I know they are used in some high end service shops, but how do they hold up to fabrication shop environments where cars are being built?

Rolling parts table, welding tables, dropping big heavy objects, general abuse, how have they heldup?

Pictures of broken tiles?

Pictures of applications?

Thanks

P.S. Here is an example of the stuff we're looking at:

For Showroom:

For Shop:

 

[kbs2244]

Everything you are showing has soft wheels and no chance of hard edge, droped steel type, impact.
I don't think a fab shop is the place for this kind of floor. It is tough but it is just too brittel.

 

[enginerd]

Pictured above is a service and race shop. Drop a bare wheel, drop an exhaust, drop a caliper/rotor, I would think it would put a nice crack in the tiles. Thats not including the couple hundred hard edged tools that are used daily. Impact wrench, ratchets, sockets, drills, you name it.

I've been in that shop above, its a friends business in VA (I used to engineer 5min down the road at a BMW race company).

The other thing I was thinking about was for mounting two posts lifts, it would require cutting out the tile for the baseplates. Plus, sweeping up fluid spills would kind of ****. Also, if you want to anchor stuff to the floor its more of a pain.

Only benefit cosmetics wise, is like the above shop, you can integrate special tiles that fit right in and function as ducts for exhaust that go to that duct on the wall for exhaust extraction.

We're still debating how we are handling exhaust extraction, if we're going underground in the showroom, or just keeping it above hanging extractor. So far, above looks to be the way to go.

Anyone with first hand experience, thats what I am looking for from this post.

TIA

 

[EdNJ]

Our shop floor is ceramic tile with an epoxy-based grout,it's a luxury vehicle dealership.

Dropping tools (including air tools) hasn't hurt it. Our engine hoist has steel casters,hasn't caused any damage either. Neither has any cutting/grinding or welding I've done.

Dropping a large brake rotor or drum will crack a tile,but replacing one isn't too time consuming,at least from watching the construction guys it isn't (I wouldn't recommend them though,people in charge are shortcutting a-holes IMO).

Cleaning up spills is about the same as a painted floor. If it's a small spill,use a mop. Large spills,we use absorbent pads then mop. After hours a cleanup crew use walk-behind "zambonis" to clean up the whole floor.

No photos of our actual shop,but I remember seeing photos of the Penske-Wynn Ferrari service facility and it's almost the same setup (we're UAG-owned like they are).

 

[bahamasair]

I have outdoor ceramic tiles in my garage and havent broken any yet. I bought a 10x20' vinyl mat to go under the 4 post lift and cut a 3' strip from another to go in front of my work bench since they are the only places I really drop heavy stuff anyway. I dont baby the floor I pretty much abuse it and am still happy I went with the tiles. The way I figure it is the epoxy floor would have cost me the same as or more than the tiles. Epoxy will chip up if you drop heavy hard objects on it and then you have to buy another gallon to touch it up. If I break a tile I can replace it in 10 mins and am done.

 

[boiler7904]

Tile is going to be a constant maintenance nightmare. If you go that route, make sure you get a few extra boxes of each type of tile when you place the initial order so that dye lots match when you have replace tiles.

While porcelain ceramic and stone tiles are hard, they won't stand up to repeated impacts from dropping steel parts and tools. Fluids will stain the grout regardless of whether sealer is applied to the joints or not.

Tile should be ok in a showroom environment since the vehicles are stationary for the most part and cars are typically pushed around on dollies - not driven.

If you want the look of tile, have you considered having a concrete floor installed with the following treatment?
1. Sawcut your "tile" pattern into the concrete at 12, 16 or 18 inch centers.
2. Stain the concrete. There are numerous dyes available that give the concrete a mottled uneven appearance that can look like stone tile.
3. Polish the surface and keep it sealed.

Go that route and you'll end up with a longer lasting quality floor without the headaches of tile in a fab shop.

 

[enginerd]

Ed, I'll be contacting you personally, as we're friends with that Ferrari dealership, and I have one of their shop tiles sitting next to me

Boiler, thanks for the input. I agree about the grout and stains.

The showroom will most likely be stamped concrete in the european fan pattern, but there will be a transition area where it turns into the shop/fabrication area.

The shop area (until we looked into the tiles as mentioned in this thread) was a standard polished concrete w/epoxy setup, nothing special. Just plain, easy, maybe some things painted under clear epoxy, but nothing out of the norm.

Thanks!

 

[PAToyota]

With proper bedding, the tile should hold up unless you are really abusive to it. Just remember that epoxy grout does melt with heat. We had a client insist that they wanted it on a kitchen tile countertop - moved a pot directly off the stove onto the countertop and wondered why it stuck...

 

[bmwpower]

Rolling stuff around on a tile floor would drive me nuts. clunk-clunk, clunk-clunk...

Are these tiles specially made for such environments? I know there are different grades of tiles for residential - not sure if there are higher grades for commercial areas.

 

[enginerd]

Yes, the tiles in question are specifically made for commercial use (such as service shops). They actually have "levels" of material, sort of a pre-designed failure point, so if you drop something on it, it'll chip to a certain level, and then you can fill it in.

But, I'm looking for personal experience from others who might have had more abusive environments than a factory high end service shop, where the ground usually just sees hard rubber and "soft" tools dropped.

The tiles looks fantastic, very professional/high end exotic, but for the shop area, it seems straight up concrete is still the best in my book. We'll see what the architect/builders have to say.

Thanks everyone.

 

[Special55]

Ed, I'll be contacting you personally, as we're friends with that Ferrari dealership, and I have one of their shop tiles sitting next to me

Boiler, thanks for the input. I agree about the grout and stains.

The showroom will most likely be stamped concrete in the european fan pattern, but there will be a transition area where it turns into the shop/fabrication area.

The shop area (until we looked into the tiles as mentioned in this thread) was a standard polished concrete w/epoxy setup, nothing special. Just plain, easy, maybe some things painted under clear epoxy, but nothing out of the norm.

Thanks!

Just some feedback on the stamped concrete:

Do your homework and go look at some of the companies work. There is a big difference in appearance from a company that does stamped all the time to a concrete guy who dabbles in it.

I'm sure you have a certain look in mind but the stone, rock and fan style patterns lose a little something when the relief cuts are made. A good freind had stone pattern walkways put in and they look terrible with saw cuts straight across the stone. I choose to go with a random slate pattern and have had people actually mistake it for real slate. The company I used followed the mortar(grout) lines when they did the cuts and you really need to study the concrete to see them.

Just my 2 cents,

Rich

 

[bmwpower]

Just some feedback on the stamped concrete:

Do your homework and go look at some of the companies work. There is a big difference in appearance from a company that does stamped all the time to a concrete guy who dabbles in it.

I'm sure you have a certain look in mind but the stone, rock and fan style patterns lose a little something when the relief cuts are made. A good freind had stone pattern walkways put in and they look terrible with saw cuts straight across the stone. I choose to go with a random slate pattern and have had people actually mistake it for real slate. The company I used followed the mortar(grout) lines when they did the cuts and you really need to study the concrete to see them.

Just my 2 cents,

Rich

Good point. I don't like the way it looks with the straight saw cuts. How did they follow the grout lines in a random pattern? That must have taken a while...

I'm interested in doing some stamped concrete myself and this would greatly enhance the look.

 

[boiler7904]

Good point. I don't like the way it looks with the straight saw cuts. How did they follow the grout lines in a random pattern? That must have taken a while...

I'm interested in doing some stamped concrete myself and this would greatly enhance the look.

They probably used a rugular concrete saw where they could for speed and then switched to an angle grinder to clean up the detail work. Doesn't sound like a fun time to me. I'd think it would be pretty hard to find someone that would cut the concrete like that instead of using straight cuts.

 

[enginerd]

Well, a friend/builder of ours has the euro fan pattern in his garage, more of a showroom. Its a a decent amount smaller than our project, as its only at 3500sqrft, but he did the entire showroom/garage in stamped, ours will only have the "showroom" portion stamped (which is about the same as his showroom so its equals out i guess)...as of now anyways.

Potentially, doing it all in tile, and just having slightly different (possibly contrasting) color patterns between showroom/shop is an alternative. We're going over all the possibilities and now that we have some physical samples of stuff in our hands, its a bit easier. Maybe even going with different size tiles, 24x24 in showroom, 12x12 in shop for easier replacement? Since its not a standard shaped floorspace, it'll be a great project to go with a design for the building features (i.e. match stuff on the house).

Thanks for the help

 

[Special55]

Good point. I don't like the way it looks with the straight saw cuts. How did they follow the grout lines in a random pattern? That must have taken a while...

I'm interested in doing some stamped concrete myself and this would greatly enhance the look.

I'm not sure how they did the cuts as I wasn't home the day they came back to button it up. They may have used a skill saw with a good masonery blade. If you get down and inspect them closely you can see that the cuts are not as deep where they intersect.
The patio/drive has been in for two seasons without any issues so far. I'm no concrete expert but I think the object is to just score the concrete to give the cracks somewhere to go. These guys do allot of stamped work in my area (including car dealers) and I feel confident the know what they're doing.
I don't believe I have any good close ups of the cuts or I would post them. I can't take any right now as we have a small snow problem here in MI at the moment.

Rich

 

[showroomgarage]

Not all tile is created equal. If you are refering to natural stone tiles, then yes, it would be a maintenance issue.

However, porcelain tiles have been engineered to handle the exact kind of punishment you are talking about. If you have ever taken a tour of the Ferrari factory in Italy, take a peek at the floor and you will see porcelain tile used extensively. I inserted a picture of the assebly line at Ferrari where you can see these tiles in use. I've also included images from the BMW Factory in Leipzig Germany, the Ferrari Maserati Headquarters in United Kingdomand the Lamborghini factory in Bolognese, Italy.

Yes, they are appropriate in a showroom, but these tiles were manufacturered to wistand the rigors of "working" garage.

If you would like more information about these tiles you can visit our website at: www.showroomgarage.com

Tile is going to be a constant maintenance nightmare. If you go that route, make sure you get a few extra boxes of each type of tile when you place the initial order so that dye lots match when you have replace tiles.

While porcelain ceramic and stone tiles are hard, they won't stand up to repeated impacts from dropping steel parts and tools. Fluids will stain the grout regardless of whether sealer is applied to the joints or not.

 

[showroomgarage]

For some reason, the Ferrari image did not appear. Here is an image of the tiles used at the factory in Maranello, Italy that are sold by Vault.

My second attempt failed too. Perhaps this will solve it:

 

[showroomgarage]

Stain resistant grout

Here is a good resource to anyone considering porcelain tile on their garage floor. It is a link to Laticrete's website for their anti-stain grout product. This is the tile that Vault recommends for use with our porcelain tiles and what is specified for use in automobile factory related applications where a durable stain-resistant grout is needed:

http://www.laticrete.com/DoItYourself/Products/EpoxyGrout/tabid/224/Default.aspx