Beneath my motorcycle

[KillSwitch]

It's going to be one or the other this spring, for sure.

Leaning towards some sort of mastic-set, polymer tiles. Setting it and forgetting it, is of paramount interest.
To be self installed.

Looking for some 'what-hows'. Spare no details please.

Thanks in advance!

Ref:
Very solid concrete base, 2 car, attached, unheated (when not crewed), chilly northern Illinois.

[Austin city limits]

:bigpop:

[UNTMatt]

I'm looking at the snap in tiles similar to the RaceDeck (http://www.racedeck.com/) garage floor tiles.

I have seen the painted on epoxy floors and I'm not fully sold on their long term durability. With the tiles, you can easily pull up a broken one and replace it or if they become worn after several years, replace it. The tiles are also easy to install yourself, where epoxy coatings will require extensive prep work otherwise the coating won't adhear properly.

[KillSwitch]

Previously moved (with lightning speed at that), due to not being a motorcycle relevant topic.

Certainly more motorcycle related than say.... Thursday coffee (no offense).

It's going to be one or the other this spring, for sure.
Paint or Tile.

Leaning towards some sort of mastic-set, polymer tiles. Setting it and forgetting it, is of paramount interest.
To be self installed.

Looking for some 'what-hows'. Spare no details please.

Thanks in advance!

Ref:
Very solid concrete base, 2 car, attached, unheated (when not crewed), chilly northern Illinois.

Note to self: This will probably get me banned.

[Texas]

So you want to put tile in the garage?

Texas

[Mellow]

moved again... lol.. garage tile has nothing to do with motorcycling.. just like the coffee threads which are in the same area.

[Lou65]

My first thought is to make sure you don't put something
down that is slippery...

Second thought is a replaceable mat

Third thought why bother at all

Aren't I thoughtful? Now go sit in the corner and think
about your posting skills.....

[KrazyKooter]

I would presume that this topic would fall under the Tools & Workshop section...

[Mellow]

I would presume that this topic would fall under the Tools & Workshop section...

Ah.. you have something there sir.. I'll move it.

[KrazyKooter]

Wow. I'm not used to being right. Don't tell my wife...:o:

[Mellow]

Wow. I'm not used to being right. Don't tell my wife...:o:

Don't worry, she wouldn't believe me anyway.. :nanner1:

[Byron]

How about some of the epoxy floor paint. You can get it in about any color and is very durrable and not affected by gas and oils. I've seen shows where they even sprinkle in traction material before it drys.

[racer1735]

If money is no concern go with tiles. You can find some that aren't prone to scratching (which the sidestand/centerstand WILL do). Or, go with an epoxy paint over the concrete. I have gone that route (money WAS an object) and have a large rubber matt (from Griot's Garage) that I sit my ST1300 on. I have outdoor carpet runners that I have for my dirt bikes to sit. Otherwise, the flooring will get scratched and I don't plan to resurface but every three years or so.

[George]

I used the 2-part Rustoleum floor paint, with sprinkles (Ummm, sprinkles! :D) After 5 years it's showing wear under Deba's Lexus. The rest of it looks pretty good.

Ceramic tile, black 'n white checker board, is my fav. but expensive to do. Tiles are subject to cracking, too.

Asphalt tiles are sturdy, dense, stand up well, but all the available glues are subject to heat damage. Not unusual to have a tile "slide" when ya hit the brakes entering the garage.

The more ya spend, the better the result. Keep us posted.

[Highrider]

Killswitch
When I built my shop addition, I finished the floor with asphalt tiles. That was 9 years ago, the floor has seen a lot of serious abuse from welding, painting, mechanical work, and still looks great.
Last summer I coated my 25 year old garage floor with epoxy, used the Rustoleum product, and it turned out great. Both spaces are about the same size and the cost to finish either was about the same (doing the work myself).
If your area is subject to have salt and mud dropped on it, I would suggest the epoxy.
You're more than welcome to come by and check out the results.

[Texas]

Are you looking to do something like this?

http://www.dpdphotography.com/st1300/Garage%20Floor.JPG

Texas

[Mellow]

Are you looking to do something like this?

http://www.dpdphotography.com/st1300/Garage%20Floor.JPG

Texas

That's cool.. if you stand there and stare at it long enough, do you see a picture.. LOL.. sorry, I just had to..

[Texas]

You know, the past few days have been pretty cold. It seems my ST was getting depressed about it and she tried to hang herself (as you can see in the picture)! Thank God I just happened to be going out to the garage and caught her in time. That was a close call.

Texas

[uptoblackwood]

That's cool.. if you stand there and stare at it long enough, do you see a picture.. LOL.. sorry, I just had to..
If that was red check instead of black....and I'd say pizza please!

[Texas]

I keep it clean enough to eat a pizza off of :eat1:

[EJ's 97ST]

Hmmmm, I dono Texas......I'd have to think about whether I could drink beer and negotiate that floor-'er not.:rolleyes: Looks really good when ya ain't drink'in ;) :D
If I was gonna do a checkerd floor I'd prolly use larger tiles and maybe go with red/white-n-blue ;)

All kidding aside....very nice!

EJ :D

[Texas]

Thanks. I get compliments on it all the time. I will be out in the garage and people are just driving by. The car will stop, backup, they get out and start talking to me about it. Personally, I don't know why more people don't do it. I used to belong to a Corvette club, and half of our members did this in their garage (which is where I originally got the idea). A lot of people think it would be slippery, but it is only slippery when I am mopping it, or I spray WD-40 on it to clean spots. It is Armstrong Linoleum Tiles that come in 1'x1'. Each tile has 4 smaller squares on it (2 white, 2 black). You can arrange the tiles so that you butt the blacks and whites up next to each other, thus making a black and white checkered floor that has a pattern 4x as large (I think this is what you were talking about). I like the smaller look because it tends to make the garage look larger. There are some other good things about this floor. 1 - If you drop something, since the tile is soft, the thing you drop has a much better chance of surviving than it does if dropped right onto pavement. 2 - If you cut a tile by accident, and this happens to me at least twice a year, you can easily and cheaply replace the tile that gets cut. 3 - The floor is so smooth that when you spill oil, it is a breeze to clean up. 4 - They are very cheap. The cost to do just the floor in my garage was about $200, and that included several extra tiles for accidents. Now of course I installed the floor myself (only took a day), so that didn't cost anything. The black runners (a nice finish) were pretty cheap. I bought a big box from Home Depot for like less than $50 that did the whole garage, and the white cabinets (also from HD) were quite cheap.

I have done the painted garage floor thing a couple of times before, and you can have it! Way too much maintenance for me. I don't care how good of a paint you get, they still peal up (wet car tires sitting for long periods of time), and if you used the flakes, then try to go back and repair that spot...now it looks patched.

When I take pictures of vehicles in this garage, they get noticed. It has never taken longer than a day to sell a vehicle because of it. When I post the vehicles on Craigslist, I get tons of emails! The last thing I sold was my beloved M109R. I posted it on a Sunday late afternoon and the guy came over that same night and bought it. That same day, two other people also said they would buy it if he didn't. There were other M109Rs for sale in Houston at the same time, but they were still for sale weeks later....and for much less money. I am convinced it is all about that floor. One of the best investments I ever made.

Texas

[racer1735]

Sprinkles can be nice, as are the various colored checkerboard patterns. One thing I consider when putting down a floor in my shop is 'how easy will it be to find whatever small fastener I've dropped?' Thus, I've always maintained a one-color grey flooring.

[Texas]

Sprinkles can be nice, as are the various colored checkerboard patterns. One thing I consider when putting down a floor in my shop is 'how easy will it be to find whatever small fastener I've dropped?' Thus, I've always maintained a one-color grey flooring.

LOL....I hate it when that happens. I have a little laser that I shoot across the floor that picks up those little things. I just go to any corner of the garage, lay the laser down and sweep the floor with the laser in a arc. Picks it up every time!

Texas

[KillSwitch]

"Now go sit in the corner and think about your posting skills....."
Bwahahahahahaha! ... with what.. a cup of coffee?

Some of my friends have had dismal success with the paint kit.
The acid seems to only go so far in prepping. It seems that if
sandblasting were 'practical', that'd be the method for a prep
and install, with greatest longevity, followed only by application
over virgin concrete.

Highrider, I've seen your floor the last time you hosted bike day
at your place. That's what got me thinking. If it weren't for the
pegboards, I'd have thought we were in your kitchen. I'm the
guy that assisted in Allan's rear tire change, and helped carry in
some of the groceries during that snowstorm. With high certainty,
I'll be chatting with you in detail, before I do anything.

At least within 75 feet of me, it seems that money's always an
object. I was hoping to get better overall long term results with
the tile. So far many floor characteristics have been brought to my
attention... amongst of which are heat, salt, surface finish,
dislodging under shear force, etc... including one surprising thing,...
that some of you are successful at and satisfied with the application
and adhesion of the epoxy paint.

Texas, Thanks for the detail. How long has it been down?
Tell us more about the adhesive, and your experiences with it.
I'll be shocked if it's self-adhesive.
Also, having to do it again, what would you do differently?

Killswitch

[nm6r]

I have thought about using the commercial type VCT (http://www.armstrong.com/commflooringna/vinyl-composition-floor-tile.jsp) tiles. They have been using them in grocery stores forever because the hold up and are very forgiving. I used them in our laundry room. They come in 1 ft. squares, 1/8" thick, are cheap and the color goes all the way through. So if one got nicked, it could be buffed out or replaced easily enough.

The VCT would also make for a great checkered flag pattern. You could get 100% solid colors or colors that have the chips built in which is what you most commonly see in stores so you could have a checkered flag that doesn't show dirt or whatever.

The VCT is available at the big box hardware stores.

Ray

[Texas]

KillSwitch,

Yes, they are self adhesive. In fact, the adhesive is super strong. It takes a floor scraper to bring them up. I power-wash and mop out the garage every week to keep the garage dust free, and I have never had a problem with a tile wanting to come up, even the ones on the outside edge where you drive into the garage. My floor has been down for over two years now, and still looks awesome as you can see. I never had this kind of success after two years with epoxy. Based on my personal experience, I would never use anything else.

Texas

[nuke_mech701]

Texas,

How's work on the tile like, I have bike lifts and table lifts in the garage and wondering the ease of rolling lifts and heavy items across the floor or other heavy work.

I also have interest in doing this project to the garage epoxy or else, and this discussion is swinging into the tile direction.

[Highrider]

The durability of the tile is not a problem. The picture I posted is before I cleaned the floor, there is about 6 years of abuse shown here that was recently cleaned off. I used a floor scrubber with Scotchbrite pads to clean it and 2 coats of wax - the floor looks like the day I put it down.
As you can see, bike lifts, hydraulic car jacks and most things you would be concerned about have not been a problem. I did weld pads on the bottom of jack stands that I use on this floor so the edges don't dig into the tile under a 4000 pound vehicle.

[Texas]

Texas,

How's work on the tile like, I have bike lifts and table lifts in the garage and wondering the ease of rolling lifts and heavy items across the floor or other heavy work.

I also have interest in doing this project to the garage epoxy or else, and this discussion is swinging into the tile direction.

The tile is not thick, so you do not have to worry about having problems rolling heavy things across the floor. It is just thick enough to provide some protection in the event you drop somthing that you do not want scratched up. I have rolled my ST around on the lift with no problems.

Texas

[Texas]

The durability of the tile is not a problem. The picture I posted is before I cleaned the floor, there is about 6 years of abuse shown here that was recently cleaned off. I used a floor scrubber with Scotchbrite pads to clean it and 2 coats of wax - the floor looks like the day I put it down.
As you can see, bike lifts, hydraulic car jacks and most things you would be concerned about have not been a problem. I did weld pads on the bottom of jack stands that I use on this floor so the edges don't dig into the tile under a 4000 pound vehicle.

Dave,

It looks like you used a different tile than I did. Yours is made of the harder linoleum tiles that are not self adhesive. Each of your tiles is one color, whereas each of mine have 4 squares (2-black, 2-white). Also, mine have a glossy finish.

It depends which way you want to go. I believe that the tiles that Dave is using are harder, and more durable that the ones that I used. I used the ones that I did because of the look that I wanted to achieve, and I have not had any issues with mine, outside of getting cuts in them when I drop something sharp and heavy. Sometimes I will replace them if the cut is very noticeable. I have about 50 spare tiles (which were really cheap), so it is no big deal.

Texas

[Red Duke Rider]

I'm getting ready to do my shop floor in a house my wife and I are remodeling.

My biggest concern about tiles is that I do some welding and grinding in the shop. How do the various tiles hold up when you drop something on them (accidently of course) that is still hot from being welded?

Tex - I love the checkerboard look. That's exactly what I'm wanting to do - I'm just concerned about the welding and sparks from grinding.

BTW, what does VCT stand for - Very Cheap Tile?

[Texas]

I'm getting ready to do my shop floor in a house my wife and I are remodeling.

My biggest concern about tiles is that I do some welding and grinding in the shop. How do the various tiles hold up when you drop something on them (accidently of course) that is still hot from being welded?

Tex - I love the checkerboard look. That's exactly what I'm wanting to do - I'm just concerned about the welding and sparks from grinding.

BTW, what does VCT stand for - Very Cheap Tile?


These tiles were not designed to drop 1000 degree metal onto. I am pretty sure they were designed for a more in-the-house type of application. I would not recommend them for what you are wanting to do because I think you would be replacing tiles too often.

Texas