VCT score! (and questions...)

[jayoldschool]

So... the school that I teach at uses Armstrong VCT flooring. The floors were replaced two years ago. I mentioned to one of the custodians that I was considering VCT in my garage. He said, "really? Follow me." We proceeded up to the mechanical room, and went into a little storage area behind the boiler. He points over to the corner, and says, "do you think that is enough?" There are at least 50 or 60 boxes of unopened tile. My jaw hits the floor. Apparently it is all leftover, and they don't need it or care about it. He checked with the boss, and I can have as much as I want!

After the initial shock sank in, I began to check out the colors. Some of the white with fleck. Some solid black. A bunch of both the light blue with fleck, and the pink with fleck. Some of the reddish cranberry color. My initial plan of four by four black and white checkerboard is obviously out. What can I come up with these colors? I'm thinking mainly blue, maybe with some grey squares. Might do a cranberry stripe about 6' off the wall, and everything between the stripe and the wall black.

Maybe something along these lines:

My garage is about 30x40. I'll get exact measurements, and I will total the number of boxes of each color tomorrow so I know how many sq ft of each that I have to work with. I can't believe that I am going to be able to do this for only the cost of adhesive and wax! Oh, one more thing. The custodians said not to worry, they would come help me install, then come back to do the wax with the big floor machine from school! I know our floors look like mirrors, so I am pretty excited. I'm thinking a few cases of beer and some good steaks will be happening after the install...

How about adhesive? I know that everyone has used Armstrong S-750 adhesive. Anyone use the S-515 Moisture Resistant Adhesive? I am in Ottawa, and winter is nasty. There will be snowy/slushy cars parked on the tile in one bay, while the other two bays will be used for car storage for the summer cars. I do have radiant floor heat, and floor drains.

 

[54FordPanel]

Sweet score. I love stuff like that.

 

[gc427]

You my friend are a luck man!

 

[sasquatchpa]

I too, work for a school system. An employee took a bunch of 'leftover' material home last year. Now she is a former employee. Move slowly. Theft is theft.

 

[jayoldschool]

Just checked my local hardware store, and the S-515 Armstrong adhesive is only $31.00 per gallon! However, the other adhesive they show is S-700, not the 750. I'll check the Armstrong site, but does anyone have any advice?

edit: looks like the 700 is black. I know the 515 is clear, and I believe (from other threads) that the 715 is too.

I think I'll go with the 515.

 

[jayoldschool]

I too, work for a school system. An employee took a bunch of 'leftover' material home last year. Now she is a former employee. Move slowly. Theft is theft.

Thanks for the downer. I'm not being sneaky here. They were going to throw it out. It has been approved by the head custodian, and he even double-checked with the school board supervisor. Do you really think I would jeopardize my career for a garage floor? I don't even bring home pens...

 

[mrb]

Thanks for the downer. I'm not being sneaky here. They were going to throw it out. It has been approved by the head custodian, and he even double-checked with the school board supervisor. Do you really think I would jeopardize my career for a garage floor? I don't even bring home pens...

just make sure you CYA. I wouldnt take a single tile until I had something in writing. Email the school board supervisor, with a 'can you please confirm I can have this tile to take home' print and keep his reply. People have a funny way of forgetting they told you it was ok to take all the tile when they suddenly need more of a now out of production color (for example)

 

[jayoldschool]

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind...

 

[Bojans]

Sounds like a good deal. Pehaps you have seen my previous post about using an epoxy clear coat on the tile to eliminate waxing. Might be something to consider (and yes, I am looking for a guinea pig before I try this).

Good luck.

 

[jayoldschool]

I'm going to give the wax a try for the first year and see how it looks/holds up. I know our school floors look fantastic, and they have no problem with 1500 kids tracking salty, slushy snow on them for five months.

Here is a shot of the tile colors that I will probably work with. There are also some solid tan, and some flecked green/teal that I don't think I will use. Clockwise, starting from the right: blue/fleck, light pink/fleck, grey/fleck, burgundy/fleck, solid black, and white/fleck.

If someone is feeling artistic, feel free to make suggestions on a pattern for me!

 

[SteveB]

I've had my VCT floor for over 3 years now and still think its the perfect set-up for my garage. We don't the Ottawa volume of snow (born there and moved away at age 21) but every once in a while I use the squeegee to push snow/water back outside and the VCT has held up just fine, no cracks, no lifting, no problems. Floor drains would have been nice. Twice a year I clean my floor and mop on a couple coats of Armstrong liquid polish and let it air dry. Somewhere down the road I may consider an epoxy clear coat but the current finish works for me.

Something to consider in your design, tires do interact with VCT and leave yellowish stains very quickly. They are difficult to remove. Try and arrange to have darker coloured tiles situated under your tires so that the stains won't be as obvious. I'm not all that artsy so went for a simple solution/design and laid a pattern of black tiles which outlined our cars.
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/281382/14

 

[jayoldschool]

Thanks, Steve! I am aware of the tire stain issue. I will just live with it. The problem is that the summer parking is different than the winter parking. In the winter, we get two cars into one bay, and the other two bays are filled with summer toys that are parked. In the summer, one car is moved outside, and the summer cars spread out a bit to get used. So, I won't be able to have a pattern of dark tiles in the parking areas.

 

[SteveB]

I store 3 Miatas in a 2 car garage over the winter by placing one car on a set of wheel dollies. They don't stain the VCT with their large rubber/plastic? wheels.

 

[jayoldschool]

I will probably put something under the tires of the cars that will sit all winter.

So, the tires will stain the tile right through the sealer and wax? Even with a thick coating put down by a commercial machine?

 

[SteveB]

I have never used a commercial polishing machine but yes, stains are to be expected especially if you have a sticky performance tire. I run a fairly aggressive tire compound on my Miata compared to my wife's car. Both will stain VCT but my car seems to react with the flooring quicker. I have noticed staining occur within 2-3 days. My flooring was initially sealed and has 3 coats of Armstrong S-480 polish hand applied every spring and fall. Every 3 years I use a rented machine to totally strip the finish on my VCT, an all day job (S-490)
In a pinch you can slip carpet remnants under the tires for long term storage. Make sure they don't have a rubber backing (obvious, I know).

I have watched this site and others for recommendations on how to remove tire stains but none, thus far, have provided a total solution. I use a combination of tile cleaner (S-485) and #0000 steel wool. This removes MOST of the stain and ALL of your finish.

 

[jayoldschool]

Good info, thank you. I do have two cars that have sticky, summer-only track/road tires. I'll go with carpet under the tires for parking.

Wonder if Westley's Bleche White would work on the stains...?

 

[joecaver]

this link http://www.americangaragefloor.com/floor-designer-agt.php will take you to a tool that allows you to try out different colors and patterns. This one is not for 12 x12 but you can still see what it will look like. When I did my floor I found one that was for 12 x 12 but I can't find the right site. Look around there are other websites out there that can help you.

 

[malibu101]

just make sure you CYA. I wouldnt take a single tile until I had something in writing. Email the school board supervisor, with a 'can you please confirm I can have this tile to take home' print and keep his reply. People have a funny way of forgetting they told you it was ok to take all the tile when they suddenly need more of a now out of production color (for example)

Where I work we have many times like this to take anything from light fixtures to computers to many things.
My company makes the taker and a person of authority to sign a stock form.
This keeps both sides at their word. I'm alright to take it and at the same time I can not hold the company liable for anything that may arise from my "accepting" their "refuse".

 

[dreamingmuscle]

Go and pay the front office a dollar and get a Receipt for your new purchase.

Glen
________
buy volcano vaporizer

 

[kartracer23]

I have never used a commercial polishing machine but yes, stains are to be expected especially if you have a sticky performance tire. I run a fairly aggressive tire compound on my Miata compared to my wife's car. Both will stain VCT but my car seems to react with the flooring quicker. I have noticed staining occur within 2-3 days. My flooring was initially sealed and has 3 coats of Armstrong S-480 polish hand applied every spring and fall. Every 3 years I use a rented machine to totally strip the finish on my VCT, an all day job (S-490)
In a pinch you can slip carpet remnants under the tires for long term storage. Make sure they don't have a rubber backing (obvious, I know).

I have watched this site and others for recommendations on how to remove tire stains but none, thus far, have provided a total solution. I use a combination of tile cleaner (S-485) and #0000 steel wool. This removes MOST of the stain and ALL of your finish.

I was messing around in my kart shop where I have some tire stains. Just grabbed a piece of green ScotchBrite pad and some WD-40. Took it off like nothing. These stains are from kart stand tires (like utility cart tires), so not a lot of weight or anything, but I was surprised at how shallow they were. Normally, I set the stands on OilDri pads, but I had moved one off the pad for a while.

 

[jayoldschool]

Dug out my house plans so I had the correct size for this. Used a tile program to get the sizes correct. The three garage doors would be at the bottom, and the bump in is for the stairs up to the house. The black squares represent one tile. The blue areas are three by three. I think the front border is a little wide...

Let me know what you think!

 

[TONE]

I like it!

you might want to consider moving the red border in some and leaving another color behind it.

im assuming you put the red there to "frame" the other color-patterns and to give it some pop.

the thing is, after the garage floor is layed the cabinets, tool boxes and other stuff will be put in place and that stuff usually goes against walls.

that would hide alot of the red.

just a thought

Dug out my house plans so I had the correct size for this. Used a tile program to get the sizes correct. The three garage doors would be at the bottom, and the bump in is for the stairs up to the house. The black squares represent one tile. The blue areas are three by three. I think the front border is a little wide...

Let me know what you think!

 

[jayoldschool]

Here's my original idea with the black border...

 

[Commando]

Did I miss the square footage you have of each color, as that might help with a pattern?

 

[jayoldschool]

Yes, one black square is one square foot. Garage is 42x31. Three ten foot doors, with 2'6" between the doors.

OOPS, I just re-read your question, and realized you were asking about the number of tiles I have to work with. I'll go count and get back to you...

 

[jayoldschool]

Ok, back from the dusty counting of boxes.

Here's roughly what I have to work with:

51904 Blue 16 boxes
51904 Grey 8 boxes
51984 Burg 6 boxes
51905 Pink 6 boxes
51899 White 2 boxes
Amtico Black 4 boxes

45 tiles per box.

So, it looks like my pattern above will work, except I couldn't use that black border all the way around. The blue and the grey are really close in shade, so a grey border around the blue squares won't be great. I was thinking white, but I won't have enough. I wanted to avoid the pink, but it looks like that may be the choice.

 

[Commando]

Well it would look to me that you you will have about 11 left over boxes so that could include the pink. If it were me I would have liked to have done something with the red (burgundy) and black contrast but you only have 4 boxes of black.

One thought would be to have 3 smaller patterns inside each bay. Maybe use the blue to form the border all the way around and the 2 separators between the doors, as you do have a lot of that.

You ever see a hardwood floor in an older home that is put in from the outside in, so that the last pieces are in the center. (Did a quick search and couldn't find any pics). That non repeating design might look pretty cool, but that all depends what you are going for.

 

[jayoldschool]

Yes, I had considered the "three bay" pattern, too. I'll see if I can draw it up...