Thread: Cool Garages

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Well Bob, you thought that out well with the electric start--good move!! I investigated the RaceDeck/Tuff Deck stuff and what discouraged me most was their answer to the following question:

Q. By design I assume water could get underneath the tiles, correct?
A. Yes
Q. Did you design in a method then for the water to evaporate from underneath the tiles so as not to cause mildew/mold, etc?
A. No....but...shouldn't be a problem.

Q. What happens when you drive on it with stones embedded om the tread, will it scratch?
A. Yes, it could, but it would be easy to replace the affected tiles.

I went two part epoxy with silica beads for adhesion. Love it.

Thanks TC.

That answers part of my concerns. I sent some questions to them early last week and still haven't heard back. If the stones in the tires could be a problem, then the hardware I'm concerned about can't be too good for it either.

One more word of advice on the floor coverings--it should TRULY be last on your list of "improvements". Take your time on that one. You're probably gonna degrease or acid etch the concrete no matter what you choose, so take your time. Then again, once you decide to move in--get it done. My personal opinion is definitely do a moisture test before final surface regardless of where you live--let that concrete cure.

Bob, looks like garage about ready......you are right about the Racedek tiles....I sent for sample one.....left mt car parked on it......and fond some deflection in material....not i,pressed. I painted my floor as you recall.....and it is lifting after only 2 weeks..and I prepared it to the hilt. What type of vinyl will hold up to floor hoist and hot tires???.....let me know..I also have another idea for floor I am kicking around....need to verrify from manufactuter if it will work...Jerry..aka Troglodyte/Vetteman

Hey Jerry,

It would be good to know at what temps your epoxy was applied and cured, and for how long. Also, did you do the moisture test, a potential problem on even cured concrete? I ended up doing the epoxy coat, though I don't have any opinion yet about finish as I completed it 3 days before we left for a few weeks R&R in the desert. It's supposed to cure for a week before vehicle or other "heavy" traffic, so I figured three weeks would be better. As TC indicated, the clean up is the big work part of the project. Even though my concrete is "new" (meaning no grease stains) I did have to deal with some latex overspray from the painting. I did a complete scrub down with Goof-Off which did a pretty good job of taking up most of the overspray. The rest came up with the wash material that came with the "kit". I used the Rustoleum setup that looks to be very similar to the "U Coat It" stuff in the rod rags, without the bucket, glasses, roller, gloves, etc. I already have. I ended up with one wash, and three scrubbing rinses, plus some hand touch up. Very tedious! Compared to the prep, the coating was a snap, basically mix, wait the induction time, and roll (rock & if you want to ). I had prewarmed the shop for a couple days to 65f, made sure the floor temp was over 55f (per manufacturer rec.) and then kicked the temp up to 75f for cure for about 24 hrs (manufacturer rec was 8-10). I had called the Rustoelum hot line because they didn't recommend an acid wash specifically. They indicated there was a mild citric acid in the wash mixture they included that was sufficient. It did do a mild etch on my concrete which had cured for about 100 days. I got no indication of trapped or migrating moisture under the three patches I did (two outside corners, one center). So, we'll see. Sorry to hear yours lifted, hope mine doesn't.

As for tile, the supposed best is VCT (Vinyl composite tile). You can go to the Armstrong Tile site www.armstrong.com and look under "commercial" products. It looks to me like the stuff you see in a lot of industrial offices and shops. Kinda cheesy looking colors, at least in the lower cost stuff, but durable I'm sure. Whether it performs any better under jacks, stands, etc. I don't know, haven't read anything where an actual, specific testimonial confirms. Lowe's and HD have basic VCT in grey and beige in stock.

Let us know about the alternative you're exploring, always interested in that kind of stuff.

Well, the inside of the garage expansion is pretty much done. The moving in process has begun!! Floor is painted, cabinets are hung, heater is working, and organizing is a pain!

There are two more cars, and a garage stall full of "junk" to pack in here yet, but it's still going to be great. Soon as better weather sets in, we can finish the outside!

Ohekk, what's up with the old dealership building?

Heck Bob, lets trade, I'll pull my cabinets outta my kitchen and trade them for the oak ones in your garage!!

Its sure looking good tho.

Larry

Thanks Larry.

Actually, those ARE the kitchen cabinets from this house. When we bought this place my wife just hated the house, mainly because of it having one of the most poorly designed and laid out kitchens I have ever seen. When we decided to go ahead with our kitchen remodel, the difference between adding more of this kind and reconfiguring, or going all new wasn't that much, so we sprung for the new. Darn!!! I had to do SOMETHING with those old cabinets. As it turns out, once they were broken down into their modules, I was able to rearrange them into a pretty functional setup for the shop. I used the left overs and scraps from the VG fir flooring to make the counter top.

Waste not, want not!! I am unemployed you know!

Back when I was building my home in Olympia, my cabinet guy turned me on to another kithcen job he had going and said the homeowner had all the old cabinets out on his patio, all "free" for the first one to haul them off. Boy I was there in a heartbeat.

They were all the 'ol painted 60's style plywood but were in good condition other than needing a new color painted on them. I even took them out of that house when I sold it and re-installed them in my new garage here.

I've never been able to come accross another "FREE" set after that. Ya just can't have enough of them organize and to store junk in thats for sure.

Larry

Hey Bob, those cabinets look alot like the ones I just tore out of my kitchen and am putting in my shed to store my tools, I just wish we would have been able to save my parents cabinets too when they remodeled. Those were solid oak that were built when the house was built in the 60's, could only save the catch-all the rest had to be tore apart to take down. , But I got alot of spare wood now to build more cabinets when my garage is done.
By the way nice garage. it looks bigger than my house

Look's great Bob. Nice flexible floor pan to stuff in lot's of toys if needed.

Congradulations on your garage. That should keep you out of trouble........Don

Bob,

Progress seems slow... but we're getting there!

PHASE I - Complete

- The showroom is renovated and 3 cars parked in there for the
winter.

- Two storage rooms have been cleaned and re roofed.

- The main shop area is gutted of all the old elec, plumbing,
steam pipes and ductwork.

Ready to start (This month):

PHASE II

- Remove the arched steel roof

- Remove the roof parapets

- Install elevator

- Install steel & precast concrete floor system for second level

Plans for "residence" are done and approved

PHASE III

- Build "residence" starting April!

Hope to move in by end of year!

Here's the story in the local paper:

http://www.jsonline.com/news/wauk/nov02/93020.asp

OK you guys...

I hear what everybody is saying about the epoxy floor system and from the examples I've seen it's probably the best way to go.

BUT ...I need to do about 5000 sq ft!

The estimates I've gotten are bewteen $6 - $8.00 per sq foot!

My wife says: "uh.. uh! No way! not in your dreams! are you Nuts?"

Is the "U-Coat" system the ONLY alternative for do it yourselfers?

I could probably do vinyl or even quarry tile myself cheaper than epoxy...OK so I might have to replace a tile from time to time but
good grief 30K for a floor?

Suggestions PLEASE!

Hey Tom, great write up in the paper. You'd better get a wholesale deal on candy for next Halloween though!! Kinda funny, we left our "city" neighborhood home to come out to the suburbs. Our halloween count went from 7 in 2001 to about 80 here in the "country".

As for the epoxy floor. Mine's only been down about two months, but so far so good. It had a full 3 weeks to cure before I put anything on it (cabinets, tools, car). I've drug my table saw across it, some of the cabinet units, and rolled some steel wheeled tools over it, and no signs of lifting. Some light surface scratches that rubbed out fine (I'm not that anal, just curious if it would make a difference or not). The U-Coat-It isn't your only choice. I got the Rustoleum kit at Lowe's. Home Depot sells it too. They claim about 250 sq. ft. per kit (one gallon), but I actually got close to 300 coverage, perhaps because my concrete was "fresh" and somewhat smooth. They include a floor washing material that contains citric acid for a mild etch, and don't recommend a muratic acid wash. They don't include, and therefore don't charge for, the bucket, googles, gloves, etc. that U-Coat-It does, but I had that stuff anyway. The cost here was $55.00 per kit, so that works out to less than .20 per foot! Of course I provided my labor, which some say is worth just what I pay for it. The clean up prep is the big part of the job. I ended up with essentially four washes of the floor prior to coating. Like the U-Coat-It, the Rustoleum cleans up with water......until it kicks, then it's tough stuff. Pot life, including the 1 hour induction time, is only 3 hours, so, doing it with a roller means you can't delay too much. With as much area as you have, spraying might be better, but you'd need to be mindfull of the pot life so that the material would still be water soluble for clean up. As for the prep, that might be a good place to have a pro with a high pressure washer do that messy part to cut down your labor, plus that would get rid of most, if not all, of the grundge you indicated was there.
Rustoleum's tech # is 888-683-5667 if you want to talk to them.