New Floor Installation (Prose & Pix)
07-23-2006, 11:05 AM
#1
Team Owner
Thread Starter
New Floor Installation (Prose & Pix)
I have wanted to finish out my garage for a long time but haven't due to time or budget constraints. We recently moved to Indiana and sold our home in Atlanta. This new grarage was begging for finishing and I decided I wouldn't wait any longer to create a new home for the C5 that i have wanted for so long.
I spent a lot of time researching the various options for garage floor coverings including epoxy (diy and pro installs), VHT tile, stain and seal, the roll-out PVC sheet and the modular, floating tile floor system known as Racedeck and all the similar copies.
After much careful consideration based on my particular new concrete garage floor along with my requirements (accompanied by much nashing of teeth and copious amounts of angst), I decided on the Racedeck tiles. I designed the tile pattern I wanted on the Racedeck web site and figured out the number of different tile colors I'd need.
Compared to a professional epoxy coating application, the pricing was a wash and it's one of the easist and fastest to put down by the diy'er. It is so easy, in fact, that Mrs. Patches installed the majority of the tiles while I cut down the edge and oddly-shaped pieces to fit the stairs. We installed it yesterday - it took us a good 5-6 hours including some long breaks and a couple of distractions during the project. We definitely took our time as it's a fun and easy project.
Here's a shot of the garage before we embarked on the installation.
The first thing I did was to prep and epoxy the bordering concrete stem wall last weekend to give it a bit more finished look and blend in with the floor. This took me the better part of a day. I cleaned it thoroughly one day and painted it the next. I used the Rustoleum epoxy paint from HD. I still have most of it left over which I plan to use on a utility room in the basement.
Ready for the tile. Prepping for the tile involves simply clearing the garage out and giving the floor a thorough sweeping or blowing it out with the leaf blower.
The first few rows. Assembly is easy - lay out some tiles based on the design you've chosen. The tiles simply snap together by hand or using a rubber mallet to help them along. I chose to trim each edge tile to maintain the exact centering of the tiles due to the symetrical design I had chosen. It extended the installation a bit but was worth it IMO. A pattern less sensitive would have cut back on the trimming significantly. The rest is simply filling out the floor using the layout you've chosen, making sure to check the alignment at the beginning to ensure the rest is correct. Once you've established that, the rest will stay aligned pretty much automatically.
Mrs. Patches quickly became the installation expert. She thoroughly enjoyed herself.
I tried my hand at it as well between trim cuts.
About a third of the way done - we were "on break".
A half-inch or so gap between wall and tiles is necessary to accomodate expansion due to heat. Our garage was extremely square (kudos to the builder) so very little adjustment was necessary to maintain symmetry other than a couple of slight changes to trimmed edges due to a bit of wave to the concrete stem wall.
Halfway done.
I spent a lot of time researching the various options for garage floor coverings including epoxy (diy and pro installs), VHT tile, stain and seal, the roll-out PVC sheet and the modular, floating tile floor system known as Racedeck and all the similar copies.
After much careful consideration based on my particular new concrete garage floor along with my requirements (accompanied by much nashing of teeth and copious amounts of angst), I decided on the Racedeck tiles. I designed the tile pattern I wanted on the Racedeck web site and figured out the number of different tile colors I'd need.
Compared to a professional epoxy coating application, the pricing was a wash and it's one of the easist and fastest to put down by the diy'er. It is so easy, in fact, that Mrs. Patches installed the majority of the tiles while I cut down the edge and oddly-shaped pieces to fit the stairs. We installed it yesterday - it took us a good 5-6 hours including some long breaks and a couple of distractions during the project. We definitely took our time as it's a fun and easy project.
Here's a shot of the garage before we embarked on the installation.
The first thing I did was to prep and epoxy the bordering concrete stem wall last weekend to give it a bit more finished look and blend in with the floor. This took me the better part of a day. I cleaned it thoroughly one day and painted it the next. I used the Rustoleum epoxy paint from HD. I still have most of it left over which I plan to use on a utility room in the basement.
Ready for the tile. Prepping for the tile involves simply clearing the garage out and giving the floor a thorough sweeping or blowing it out with the leaf blower.
The first few rows. Assembly is easy - lay out some tiles based on the design you've chosen. The tiles simply snap together by hand or using a rubber mallet to help them along. I chose to trim each edge tile to maintain the exact centering of the tiles due to the symetrical design I had chosen. It extended the installation a bit but was worth it IMO. A pattern less sensitive would have cut back on the trimming significantly. The rest is simply filling out the floor using the layout you've chosen, making sure to check the alignment at the beginning to ensure the rest is correct. Once you've established that, the rest will stay aligned pretty much automatically.
Mrs. Patches quickly became the installation expert. She thoroughly enjoyed herself.
I tried my hand at it as well between trim cuts.
About a third of the way done - we were "on break".
A half-inch or so gap between wall and tiles is necessary to accomodate expansion due to heat. Our garage was extremely square (kudos to the builder) so very little adjustment was necessary to maintain symmetry other than a couple of slight changes to trimmed edges due to a bit of wave to the concrete stem wall.
Halfway done.
07-23-2006, 11:05 AM
#2
Team Owner
Thread Starter
The rest of the installation up until the trimming around the end wall and stairs was pure repetition. Trimming the tile around the stairs and at the end wasn't difficult, though. I used a combination of a circular saw, a hand saw and a jigsaw to trim the tiles. The plastic cuts easily.
Several shots of the completed floor.
We are totally thrilled with this flooring system. It looks great, is tough and durable and the installation was a fun, one-day project anyone can do. Really, it was like a putting together a big jigsaw puzzle. The pattern possibilities are practically endless and one can disassemble and take the tiles to a new locale if desired. The price was considerably better than the advertised retail price because I ordered it from another source that heavily discounts it and put it in the same range as the pro-installed epoxy floors I researched.
This is the first step in finishing out the garage - I have some items on order and a few planned that should complement the new floor nicely. I'll update as I go along.
Several shots of the completed floor.
We are totally thrilled with this flooring system. It looks great, is tough and durable and the installation was a fun, one-day project anyone can do. Really, it was like a putting together a big jigsaw puzzle. The pattern possibilities are practically endless and one can disassemble and take the tiles to a new locale if desired. The price was considerably better than the advertised retail price because I ordered it from another source that heavily discounts it and put it in the same range as the pro-installed epoxy floors I researched.
This is the first step in finishing out the garage - I have some items on order and a few planned that should complement the new floor nicely. I'll update as I go along.
07-23-2006, 11:15 AM
#4
Supporting Tuner
Wow Ed, that looks outstanding!!!
07-23-2006, 11:20 AM
#5
Safety Car
Looks great!!!!
07-23-2006, 11:21 AM
#6
Burning Brakes
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Patches, that looks great!!! I did the epoxy paint this weekend on the single garage (we have a 3 car garage). I had been debating also between the tile and epoxy but could not find a place to sell them at anywhere near the cost to paint. Do you mind PM me with the store name, I would like to do the 2 car garage in 2 weeks if I can. I really like the design you chose and the colors seem to match the paint really well too. Thanks for the tips and sharing. Have a great day.
07-23-2006, 11:32 AM
#9
Drifting
Patches- Wow that looks great. I'm looking to do mine, but have been considering epoxy due to the fact that I have dual drains in my garage and as a result, there is a slope in the stalls to each drain. How do these tiles flex to contours in the floor? Very cool! Zuti
07-23-2006, 12:02 PM
#14
Team Owner
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by Zuti
Patches- Wow that looks great. I'm looking to do mine, but have been considering epoxy due to the fact that I have dual drains in my garage and as a result, there is a slope in the stalls to each drain. How do these tiles flex to contours in the floor? Very cool! Zuti
Btw, this system accomodates drainage under the tiles well and does not have issues with mold/mildew underneath - one of the reasons I went with Racedeck tiles. Also, with our winters, I wanted to avoid shrinkage issues possible with an adhesive-based tile setup that I can do myself.
07-23-2006, 12:04 PM
#15
Le Mans Master
Originally Posted by Patches
The price was considerably better than the advertised retail price because I ordered it from another source that heavily discounts it and put it in the same range as the pro-installed epoxy floors I researched.
This is the first step in finishing out the garage - I have some items on order and a few planned that should complement the new floor nicely. I'll update as I go along.
This is the first step in finishing out the garage - I have some items on order and a few planned that should complement the new floor nicely. I'll update as I go along.
That does look good.
Can you give me the info for the "source" you bought the floor from.
07-23-2006, 12:16 PM
#17
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St. Jude Donor '06
Hi Ed 
I like it. I'll be interested to see you post in 6mths on how it cleans/stands up. Take care.
I like it. I'll be interested to see you post in 6mths on how it cleans/stands up. Take care.
well done!
07-23-2006, 01:19 PM
#20
Melting Slicks
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Ed,
That looks totally awesome Love the colour combo, would definitely use the same in mine as I have the same wall colours. All you need now is the natural gas heater hanging off the ceiling
That looks totally awesome
Love the colour combo, would definitely use the same in mine as I have the same wall colours. All you need now is the natural gas heater hanging off the ceiling