VCT Installation - VIDEO

[EpicCowlick]

I just finished the floor in my garage. Here's my experience:

 

[dlc]

Great video, garage floor looks much better. Well done!

 

[Rickster55]

Very nice job!

 

[AndrewBigA]

thats a great video. the more i see vct the more i want it.

 

[Matt M PA]

Nice work indeed....I really have wanted to do that in my detached for a long time.

 

[EpicCowlick]

Thanks. Yeah, it was a sorta fun project. The thing I've learned about VCT is that it can move. You saw the part where I had to lift and re-set some tiles. The floor has been down for a month now but I'm still afraid to park the car & truck directly on the tiles. It's the front tires that cause the problem as they must have some tension on them. For now, I'll just keep driving up on the boards.

 

[super50]

awesome! The garage looks really nice.

 

[EpicCowlick]

I've since added new cabinets on the walls to close everything up. No more anything hanging on nails on the walls! I also put commercial casters on the fridge and freezer and an open rack so they are really easy pull out and clean under. The new rule in my garage is, it has to have wheels if it's on the floor.

 

[Chuck W.]

Great video, nice job!

 

[EpicCowlick]

Great video, nice job!

Thanks. Your floor looks great also. I was just going for a little more subtle look. But then again, I don't have Porche's in the garage either...

 

[dipper]

Nice video! I have to strip and re-seal my VCT soon.....

 

[Rothaus]

The video is blocked

 

[jimmie jam]

The video is blocked

 

[hpw]

This video contains content from EMI, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.
Sorry about that.

 

[EpicCowlick]

Sorry guys, it was Peter Gabriel's fault. You won't be able to listen to Sledge Hammer on this version. It should be fixed now.

 

[Rothaus]

Thanks for fixing the video, great video, nice floor and nice truck.



Those EMI guys ****

 

[ScaldedDog]

Nicely done! Naturally, I have a few questions:

1) Did you prep the floor any other way than grinding those ends and pressure washing? Was any degreasing necessary?

2) Any issues driving your SuperDuty on it, particularly since you have to turn a little to get in? I've got an Excursion, and the only reason I haven't pulled the trigger on this is a fear of tearing up the floor or having to baby it with the heavy vehicle.

Mark

 

[EpicCowlick]

Nicely done! Naturally, I have a few questions:

1) Did you prep the floor any other way than grinding those ends and pressure washing? Was any degreasing necessary?

2) Any issues driving your SuperDuty on it, particularly since you have to turn a little to get in? I've got an Excursion, and the only reason I haven't pulled the trigger on this is a fear of tearing up the floor or having to baby it with the heavy vehicle.

Mark

Sorry for the slow response. Been traveling.

Floor prep was pretty easy, no degreasing. I did fill the joints with some thinset in the widest gaps but I left the narrowest gaps alone. So far so good. The video showed me pulling up and replacing some tiles due to pulling the car onto the floor too soon. That was actually 24 hours after setting which was WAY too early. I had to pull up about 10 tiles and it took an hour to do. My solution for the drying phase was to simply drive up on a board which worked great. It's been two and a half months now and we're not using the board anymore and there has been no slippage. It just means you have to give the adhesive enough time to set fully. I am still watching it closely though.

As far as the Mazda vs. the Ford, there really isn't any difference in how the tiles behave. A couple of tiles moved under the Ford as well so I used the board system there too. My estimate is that you shouldn't put the front tires of cars directly onto the VCT for a couple of months. The back tires don't have any lateral forces pent up so they don't need boards. I've found that driving or even turning on the tiles is not an issue. It's the relentless tension pent up in the front suspensions that will slowly shift a tile.

Regardless, if a tile moves, then heat it up and replace it. It's really fast and pretty easy. If you can't get it out in one piece, then chip it out (again fast) and put in a new one. The only problem is that when you do that, you start the adhesive drying clock over from scratch again.

At this point, I am still very happy with the floor even with the adhesive troubles. The appearance and "walkability" is just awesome. It also cleans so much easier than concrete. Everything wipes up perfectly clean. I have learned that you can't use brake cleaner on the vinyl. I squirted a spider running across the floor and actually melted the vinyl. That can only be fixed by a strip and sand. I'm very happy and will report back after winter so see how it handles melted salty snow.

 

[gsport]

great video... one of these days

 

[BlindViper]

did u do all that grinding with no mask on?

 

[rickairmedic]

Viper dont worry he painted without one as well so the paint will encapsulate the concrete dust .


Cowlick the floor does look great so dont take us picking on your safety equipment to badly .


I will say though now is as good a time as any to extend your life and start to use it .

Rick

 

[repomannwp]

Love it, great job. I bet you still have concrete dust coming out various orifices

 

[CaptainRay]

I was thinking about using the VCT in my shop but was worried about the tiles slipping like you mentioned. Are you still having the problem or did it go away? Did you have problems when it got hot in the summer months?

 

[jdaallen]

Viper dont worry he painted without one as well so the paint will encapsulate the concrete dust .


Cowlick the floor does look great so dont take us picking on your safety equipment to badly .


I will say though now is as good a time as any to extend your life and start to use it .

Rick

Hearing Protection also!!!

 

[Woffski]

Great job!! Very nice transformation.

 

[ersatzs2]

Man you can work really fast! Seriously, nice job and thanks for making the big production...

 

[EpicCowlick]

Thanks everyone for the comments and the concern for my health... I was just lazy and know it's best to use proper equipment. I didn't use the mask for the grinding part but I did put on proper gear right after I started the paint. I was just trying to get the gun setup before I committed to the job.

As I mentioned before, I did have problems with tiles sliding but I finally found a solution. Even after two months the tiles would slide under the front tires. I found that out after I stopped using the boards and parked directly on the tile again. Sure enough, soon there was a couple millimeter gap. So I heated and removed a couple of tiles again and used some regular construction adhesive. I went back to parking on the board for a couple of days and then parked the truck directly on the same tiles again. I was starting to question my judgement on selecting the VCT but this time around the tiles have stayed in place!

If I had it to do over again I'd mark where the car tires were going to be and go straight to construction adhesive on those tiles. It appears that that glue hardens completely and won't give. There is no movement of the tiles elsewhere on the floor so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. This has been a learning experience. If I had known then what I know now about the adhesives, it would have been a simple installation.

So far I've been through two snow storms with blobs of dirty snow melting off the cars and onto the floor. What's cool is that the water runs quickly on the floor to the drains instead of pooling and kind of soaking into the concrete. The sand/mud quickly dries and can be swept or mopped up when I choose to get to it. The bottom line is that the whole garage is dryer because the VCT sheds the water really well. The wife and kids actually comment on how nice the floor is.

Also, the wax surface is holding up extremely well. I expected scratches and scrapes but none yet. When I damp mop it looks freshly waxed and I only put on two coats right after installation.

I'll update again if anything changes but so far so good. Really liking the finished product.

 

[Nitsuj]

Do you by any chance have motorcycles? I like the look of the floor but it's the motorcycles that worry me. I have 4-6 parked in my garage at anytime. I'd like to know how those tiles hold up it kickstands.

 

[EpicCowlick]

I have a few ATV's and a motorcycle sitting on a kickstand. I just checked and there is zero deflection or dent in the tiles.

The tires on the Polaris RZR started to leave yellow marks so I just place an extra tile under those tiles when I park it. All the other ATV's leave no marks. Go figure.