Garage Floor: Epoxy vs. Tiles...?
 

My family & I are moving to a different town. The garage floor at our new place is about 15 years old, but in fairly good shape. It is a 3 car garage with a floor drain.

Not wanting a oil stained messy garage floor like I have now, I'm trying to weigh the pro's and con's of finishing the garage floor. The garage is already insulated and sheetrocked and painted (white) but it is not heated (I live in MN).

The epoxy finishes sound nice, but I'm worried about "peeling" and longevity. The tiles are more expensive, but I can take them with me if I ever move. But the tiles might shift around under the drive wheels (or worse yet, under my jack stands).

So those of you who have finished your garage floors: What would you do now, knowing what you know now...?

Thanks,

- Patrick

first of all, kitty litter does a fine job on oil stains... no to tiles... not sure what you mean by epoxy but try to go seamless if possible...

A lot of folks at http://www.autopia.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=42 like epoxy, but I've done mine with a perfect prep and it still lifts. Just a year later it looks horrible, and I know of others with similar probs. Has to do with trapped moisture which you'll never get rid of.

Ken Silver
--------------
~1993 SL500, glistening triple black, xenons, AMG facelift to 2002 style.
~1999 SLK 230 Kompressor, silver/black leather, CD, immaculate
~1999 Lexus LX470, sand/ivory leather.
~1999 Suzuki Grand Vitara. black & silver.
~ex 350SL, 230E, 280E, MX5, Jaguar Daimler and a lot of other makes not nearly as nice.

<img src="http://www.kensilver.com/newSLsig.jpg">

a friend of mine does the epoxy for a living (it's called something else though) and has never had a problem... he has done locker rooms at ND and garages and other businesses and it's really awesome but slicker then concrete which to me is a down side...

Howdy Patrick,
Check out stuff called Racedeck.

I've never heard of the non professionally applied expoxy holding up, and the guy I had quote told me he cuts old garages gaurantess in half versus new.
And he wanted just over 2k to do my new, 16 x 25 floor.

Now keep in mind this isn't a daily use garage, and only my SL goes in there now.

http://www.knudsons.com/images/Garage009.JPG

go to
http://www.knudsons.com/kevins_garage.htm

I think the total bill was about $230, that includes a bunch of extra tiles, and exterior mastic. I do have to be careful, jack stands directly are a no-no, I put them on a piece of ply wood.

But after 8 years, I'm pleased, it cleans up and looks sharp.


The only problem I've had is the hot exhaust / tires shifts the tiles. I resolved this by putting the rear tires an a couple of rubber backed entry type mats.

I would say no to tiles if you are going to do anything other than park cars on it (jack stands will damage them eventually).

If you do use epoxy (very good when done properly) then make sure you add some sort of sand into the mix to make it rough for grip. The workshop floor at work was too slippery in the cash wash bay and it had to be redone within the first week of opening the new building due to cars sliding on the wet floor.

Just imagine driving into the garage after it has been raining and sliding into the back wall :eek: Epoxy is fine when it's rough and laid right.