I'm glad I asked...everything I'm seeing about the tiles puts them above the rest.

Cost is obviously steeper, looks like $1,500-1,700 to do the area I have, but I guess I'll throw some discretionary funds to the side for a bit for it.

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
Chongo,

Epoxy isn't difficult and can be done by the homeowner. Only time you might need a company to professionally is; you don't have the time to do it right, mentally incapable of reading and following directions, or you once heard/saw someone who did it (Bubba) and in part because Bubba couldn't understand words with more than three letters ("ah fuk" he say) you need someone with a high school degree thing to do it.

Prepping is the most challenging part. If your garage is more than ten years and/or has damage/stains to it, the prep work will be a challenge.

My personal observations; it's moving everything out of the garage for a week or two to prep, install, and cure. Between moving everything out, having a place to securely stow the stuff, and having fully dedicated time to complete without pause is the hard part.

and the key sentence to all this dribble is "If your garage floor is over ten years and/or has damage/stains to it, the prep work will be a challenge." Which basically describes the majority of garage floors!!!!! Builders don't give a whole lot of consideration to making the garage floor perfect when they pour it in the first place. Also you forgot to mention if you put the epoxy on too thick it will peel easily. If you use sand, you want to put it in the first coat only, then regular epoxy on the second coat to lock in the sand and makes cleaning the floor much easier.

That being said, I've used Corotech high performance epoxy 100% solids (V430) from Benjamin Moore and it's a very good product that lasts. It's just not worth days of my time to ever do it again.

It's $800 to have a 2 car garage floor done here (20'x22') by professionals. That includes the pressure cleaning of the floor, acid wash, epoxy, color chips and has a 10 year warranty.

When you consider what the epoxy and materials cost, then breathing muriatic acid and sweeping it around, plus the labor to paint the epoxy on the floor, $800 is a deal. I'd rather go work for a little less than 2 days at my normal job and pay someone else to do that, and know it's going to be perfect. A customer of mine just had his garage done on a 18 year old floor and it looks like the finish on a new car, super shiny and no imperfections.

Wish we had that price here Jimmy!

Swisstrax for the win. I've been talking to a lot of guys and doing my research about flooring treatments as I plan a remodel of my own garage. I can't tell you how many have said that they did epoxy and would NEVER do it again. Aside from all the issues with proper prep and condition of the existing concrete base, even with chips or sand, when it gets wet is can be slick as ice. I've slipped twice on my current garage floor running back and forth while working on the cars or washing them, it was not fun.

I spoke to Swisstrax reps at Barrett Jackson Scottsdale a few months back, had a chance to handle the product, walk on it, and see it under heavy use. It's really the way to go, specifically Ribtrax. Even more so than other brand tiles like RaceDeck and others which are thinner and more prone to flexing and expansion. That's what I'll be doing as soon as I'm ready. First I need to repair and retape the drywall so I can get paint on the walls.

I looked at the tiles a few years ago but never bought. My question was - if you spill oil, soft drink, etc, does it get down between the tiles and onto the floor anyway? So then you have to pull up the tiles to clean under/between them?

I just put a sealer on mine and it has done well for 7-8 years. Spill something, I wipe it up, no stains. The downside is that if I park a vehicle on it, it will pull a little of the coating up. So I have 4 spots where I park my truck. Oh well.

A friend of mine put peel and stick 12"x12" regular linoleum floor tiles on his garage floor and they lasted a long time and wore well. He alternated black and white tiles (like a race theme).

Racedeck or similar would be my choice, as our garage would need a lot of prep work & I can't move everything out for an extended time.

With the tiles, I could do it 1 stall at a time.

My fire department went with locking tiles. They're a bitch to keep clean. Without a floor cleaning machine they stay dirty and mopping just pushes the dirt around. Also they take forever to dry if there is any standing water. Just my $0.02.