Roger555 Official TL Garage build thread
08-12-2012, 01:07 PM
#41
Whats up with RDX owners?
iTrader: (9)
I cant wait until I can purchase a garage with a house attached.Very nice garage, with a lot of smart touches. I like that it's all DIY, too.
If you haven't the visited Garage Journal site, you should. Lots of guys there would enjoy seeing what you've done.
Before you jump on epoxy, you might want to consider ceramic or porcelain tile. Everyone loves epoxy until the first time their hot tires peel up a section of it, and the prep (diamond grinding, acid) can be pretty intense. I did my 20x21 garage in inexpensive ceramic tile, and it's held up to a pretty serious amount of work (engine drops on the car, welding, lots of fabrication work). I installed the tile myself and the total outlay was only around $400 -- which is a lot less than most epoxy systems.
Since you've wrung a lot of utility out of a two-car space, you might enjoy reading about mine. I made a website for it at:
www.12-GaugeGarage.com,
and there's also a thread about it on the Garage Journal.
If you haven't the visited Garage Journal site, you should. Lots of guys there would enjoy seeing what you've done.
Before you jump on epoxy, you might want to consider ceramic or porcelain tile. Everyone loves epoxy until the first time their hot tires peel up a section of it, and the prep (diamond grinding, acid) can be pretty intense. I did my 20x21 garage in inexpensive ceramic tile, and it's held up to a pretty serious amount of work (engine drops on the car, welding, lots of fabrication work). I installed the tile myself and the total outlay was only around $400 -- which is a lot less than most epoxy systems.
Since you've wrung a lot of utility out of a two-car space, you might enjoy reading about mine. I made a website for it at:
www.12-GaugeGarage.com,
and there's also a thread about it on the Garage Journal.
I treated it like a single piece -- used thinset to fill the valley.
The pad had already had 85 years to settle. However, I'm right over the La Brea tar pits, basically, with (believe it or not) active oil drilling under my tiny 1/8-acre plot of land. So I had both a presumably stable piece of concrete and also the prospects of constant upheaval (worth noting: earthquakes). That said, I'm past the four year mark and the expansion joints have not done anything to the tiles up above them. I might be lucky, or the pad might just have worked out all of its issues back when Calvin Coolidge was still in the White House.
The pad had already had 85 years to settle. However, I'm right over the La Brea tar pits, basically, with (believe it or not) active oil drilling under my tiny 1/8-acre plot of land. So I had both a presumably stable piece of concrete and also the prospects of constant upheaval (worth noting: earthquakes). That said, I'm past the four year mark and the expansion joints have not done anything to the tiles up above them. I might be lucky, or the pad might just have worked out all of its issues back when Calvin Coolidge was still in the White House.
08-12-2012, 01:20 PM
#42
Whats up with RDX owners?
iTrader: (9)
Also, why does your name sound familiar? (directed at Jack Olsen)
08-12-2012, 01:59 PM
#43
Safety Car
You have an in-floor lift, right? Have you used a floor jack and jack stands on the tile? My main concern is jack stands putting a lot of pressure on one specific point of a tile (well, technically four). The pressure is much more focused then when the car is on four wheels.
Some people use regular ceramic tile, others use something else (don't remember what it was called, but it sounded like it was expensive,porcelain maybe), some recommend using different types of thinset, etc.
One pretty common thing I did see was many people using a floor jack on it with no problems. I was surprised at that.
I really want to tile my garage, and if I can get a nice looking tile at a screaming price, I think I will give it a try. The only thing I'm not going to be happy about is the big step transition between driveway and garage.
Thinking I might lay a 4" tile on the driveway at the step to ease the transition.
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civicdrivr (08-12-2012)
08-12-2012, 02:20 PM
#44
Whats up with RDX owners?
iTrader: (9)
Morgan, I was worried about the same thing, and many others, so I surfed around on that garage website he linked earlier, and came away more confused than before.
Some people use regular ceramic tile, others use something else (don't remember what it was called, but it sounded like it was expensive,porcelain maybe), some recommend using different types of thinset, etc.
One pretty common thing I did see was many people using a floor jack on it with no problems. I was surprised at that.
I really want to tile my garage, and if I can get a nice looking tile at a screaming price, I think I will give it a try. The only thing I'm not going to be happy about is the big step transition between driveway and garage.
Thinking I might lay a 4" tile on the driveway at the step to ease the transition.
Some people use regular ceramic tile, others use something else (don't remember what it was called, but it sounded like it was expensive,porcelain maybe), some recommend using different types of thinset, etc.
One pretty common thing I did see was many people using a floor jack on it with no problems. I was surprised at that.
I really want to tile my garage, and if I can get a nice looking tile at a screaming price, I think I will give it a try. The only thing I'm not going to be happy about is the big step transition between driveway and garage.
Thinking I might lay a 4" tile on the driveway at the step to ease the transition.
I need to buy a house before I renovate a garage though
08-12-2012, 03:58 PM
#45
Instructor
http://www.mckinnonmaterials.com/ here is a place we use for metallic epoxy(aurora, here). Also Roger look into polishing the concrete with a painted border. The painted border will save you money. I do this line of work mostly commercial/industrial for the last 20 years. If you go the epoxy route have the floor diamond grind with 16~20 grit diamonds and try to use a poly aspartic urethane topcoat, it is stronger and more scratch resistant than regular urethane. There are plenty of good contractors in your not so immediate area but pretty close. decorativeconcrete.com is a good place to see actual work of great contractors. give me a pm and we can discuss further. I travel that way alot doing Nascar floors so maybe i can help.
08-12-2012, 04:05 PM
#46
Whats up with RDX owners?
iTrader: (9)
That Aurora finish is crazy deep. I love it, but Im not sure how well that would work in a garage. If I were to drop a tiny screw, having a floor that is that reflective could make it difficult to locate quickly. But that may just be the color used in the example pics.
08-12-2012, 04:12 PM
#47
Instructor
Yes... probably. We normally charge $16.00 per linear foot for polishing edges. Painting a border is included in the polish. It takes alot to polish edges, the painted border is usually only 4 to eight inches wide depending on what the customer likes. Your imagination on the border to match the floor or contrast it.
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civicdrivr (08-12-2012)
08-12-2012, 04:17 PM
#48
Safety Car
We kind of hijacked this thread
roger
So after all the floor talk are you still planning on doing this?
I actually wanted to do the floor first but it was winter when I moved in a way too cold out. However i'm glad I didn't now because with all my projects I would have scuffed it up to some extent. If you look around the garage everything I built besides the large bench is actually suspended off the floor so I wont need to move much before doing the epoxy. I just need to rent a diamond sander to resurface the top then I'll be ready to lay the epoxy! This is the look I'm going for.
I agree it looks great, and it was originally what I wanted to do also, however, it's all in the prep. After looking into everything involved in doing this, I decided it was way more work/cost than I am willing to put in.
rogerSo after all the floor talk are you still planning on doing this?
I actually wanted to do the floor first but it was winter when I moved in a way too cold out. However i'm glad I didn't now because with all my projects I would have scuffed it up to some extent. If you look around the garage everything I built besides the large bench is actually suspended off the floor so I wont need to move much before doing the epoxy. I just need to rent a diamond sander to resurface the top then I'll be ready to lay the epoxy! This is the look I'm going for.
08-12-2012, 04:34 PM
#49
Burning Brakes
Wow, it looks great! I think i have just been inspired 
my husband & i have been in our house for 2.5 yrs and while we had hopes for the garage it has sadly sat as we felt like it was an impossible task. It looks like your before pic, with lots of other crap just tossed in the middle. Any tips on the overhead storage? Im very eager to maximize the amount of storage with something like that, but have always been afraid of it coming crashing down on the car lol
my husband & i have been in our house for 2.5 yrs and while we had hopes for the garage it has sadly sat as we felt like it was an impossible task. It looks like your before pic, with lots of other crap just tossed in the middle. Any tips on the overhead storage? Im very eager to maximize the amount of storage with something like that, but have always been afraid of it coming crashing down on the car lol
08-12-2012, 09:04 PM
#51
http://www.mckinnonmaterials.com/ here is a place we use for metallic epoxy(aurora, here). Also Roger look into polishing the concrete with a painted border. The painted border will save you money. I do this line of work mostly commercial/industrial for the last 20 years. If you go the epoxy route have the floor diamond grind with 16~20 grit diamonds and try to use a poly aspartic urethane topcoat, it is stronger and more scratch resistant than regular urethane. There are plenty of good contractors in your not so immediate area but pretty close. decorativeconcrete.com is a good place to see actual work of great contractors. give me a pm and we can discuss further. I travel that way alot doing Nascar floors so maybe i can help.
http://www.epoxy-coat.com/catalog/in...44fbe27d91564e
I've read quite a bit about the different options out their and this seems to be a very good quality epoxy for the money.
We kind of hijacked this thread
roger
So after all the floor talk are you still planning on doing this?
I agree it looks great, and it was originally what I wanted to do also, however, it's all in the prep. After looking into everything involved in doing this, I decided it was way more work/cost than I am willing to put in.
rogerSo after all the floor talk are you still planning on doing this?
I agree it looks great, and it was originally what I wanted to do also, however, it's all in the prep. After looking into everything involved in doing this, I decided it was way more work/cost than I am willing to put in.
Wow, it looks great! I think i have just been inspired my husband & i have been in our house for 2.5 yrs and while we had hopes for the garage it has sadly sat as we felt like it was an impossible task. It looks like your before pic, with lots of other crap just tossed in the middle. Any tips on the overhead storage? Im very eager to maximize the amount of storage with something like that, but have always been afraid of it coming crashing down on the car lol
my husband & i have been in our house for 2.5 yrs and while we had hopes for the garage it has sadly sat as we felt like it was an impossible task. It looks like your before pic, with lots of other crap just tossed in the middle. Any tips on the overhead storage? Im very eager to maximize the amount of storage with something like that, but have always been afraid of it coming crashing down on the car lolI actually made the sensor enclosures to protect them and keep them aligned. I was constantly bumping them with my floor jack or pressure washer which would knock the two out of alignment and prevent the garage door from closing. Got sick of this so now with the enclosures over them and screwed into the cement wall I can bump into them all I want!
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MissAlyyTL (08-13-2012)
08-12-2012, 09:59 PM
#52
While some of us are on the topic of ceramic tile I thought you might be interested in seeing my Kitchen floor install I did earlier this year. This was my first time tiling anything & despite all the research I did this was a much bigger (time consuming) project then I thought it was going to be. Took me several hours every night after work for about 2.5 weeks. However I took my time to do everything right (I hope).
Total material cost: ~$650
Experience & knowledge gained: Priceless
The Nasty vomit looking Vinyl floor that was done when we moved in. The floor was actually recently done but it had to go.
Cutting and putting the backer board down took the whole first weekend! Thinset under the backboard do it right!
Now find the center of the room and do a dry fit! We wanted diagonal regardless of how much "harder" it was supposed to be.
I bought a 40$ wet saw and made this little tool out of a yard stick which allowed me to mark every any cut I needed without using any type of measuring device.
I am very proud of this cut!
On to the grout then shoe molding!
DONE!!
Total material cost: ~$650
Experience & knowledge gained: Priceless
The Nasty vomit looking Vinyl floor that was done when we moved in. The floor was actually recently done but it had to go.
Cutting and putting the backer board down took the whole first weekend! Thinset under the backboard do it right!
Now find the center of the room and do a dry fit! We wanted diagonal regardless of how much "harder" it was supposed to be.
I bought a 40$ wet saw and made this little tool out of a yard stick which allowed me to mark every any cut I needed without using any type of measuring device.
I am very proud of this cut!
On to the grout then shoe molding!
DONE!!
Last edited by Roger555; 08-12-2012 at 10:03 PM.
08-12-2012, 10:23 PM
#53
Whats up with RDX owners?
iTrader: (9)
08-12-2012, 11:33 PM
#54
Safety Car
For a level concrete slab,which I have, it's less prep to tile than to get the concrete ready for the painted floor. I like the painted floor look, but for me its much more cost/labor intensive than tiling.
Outstanding job, you do excellent work 
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civicdrivr (09-02-2012)
09-02-2012, 03:07 PM
#56
Whats up with RDX owners?
iTrader: (9)
About how much is the epoxied floor costing you?
09-02-2012, 03:14 PM
#57
Moderator
iTrader: (3)
I still want to see this in person! NC meet at Roger's house!
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civicdrivr (09-02-2012)
09-02-2012, 05:31 PM
#59
Team Owner
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Looks like you're off to a good start.
In for more pictures, Roger.
In for more pictures, Roger.
09-02-2012, 11:54 PM
#61
Sorry about not seeing the replies here.
Yes. Before I had the lift, I jacked the car up all the time on the tile. Properly installed on top of a concrete pad, it's no issue at all.
Even with the lift, there are some things I still have to use jack stands for. This is from when I was putting a new sheet of aluminum over the underbelly of the car.
Hard to say. I'm active on Garage Journal. I go to tracks in Southern California pretty frequently.
You have an in-floor lift, right? Have you used a floor jack and jack stands on the tile? My main concern is jack stands putting a lot of pressure on one specific point of a tile (well, technically four). The pressure is much more focused then when the car is on four wheels.
Even with the lift, there are some things I still have to use jack stands for. This is from when I was putting a new sheet of aluminum over the underbelly of the car.
Hard to say. I'm active on Garage Journal. I go to tracks in Southern California pretty frequently.
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civicdrivr (09-03-2012)
09-03-2012, 10:20 AM
#62
Moderator
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^
09-09-2012, 02:50 PM
#67
Last week I decided all this work it would be stupid not to apply a clear protective top coat which is to be applied within 24 hours of the epoxy. Meaning my project was pushed out another week! I'm ordering it today so the floor is going down next weekend hopefully!
Add $ 240.00 to the project cost
Add $ 240.00 to the project cost
09-21-2012, 06:21 PM
#70
Last week I decided all this work it would be stupid not to apply a clear protective top coat which is to be applied within 24 hours of the epoxy. Meaning my project was pushed out another week! I'm ordering it today so the floor is going down next weekend hopefully!
Add $ 240.00 to the project cost
Add $ 240.00 to the project cost
09-23-2012, 11:46 AM
#72
Moderator
iTrader: (3)
09-23-2012, 09:25 PM
#73
Alright guys seriously exhausted right now but here are some pics! Still need to move all my stuff back in and set it up so more to come later this week.
This is what I used
Epoxy Primer 4100 (http://www.garagecoatings.com/Produc...r%20Sealer.pdf)
Epoxy-Coat kit (Light Grey)
(http://www.epoxy-coat.com)
Polyurea 5073 Top Coat
(http://www.garagecoatings.com/Produc...%20Coating.pdf)
FLAKE BEFORE CLEAR
FLAKE AFTER CLEAR
This is what I used
Epoxy Primer 4100 (http://www.garagecoatings.com/Produc...r%20Sealer.pdf)
Epoxy-Coat kit (Light Grey)
(http://www.epoxy-coat.com)
Polyurea 5073 Top Coat
(http://www.garagecoatings.com/Produc...%20Coating.pdf)
FLAKE BEFORE CLEAR
FLAKE AFTER CLEAR
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09-23-2012, 09:39 PM
#74
Team Owner
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Outstanding work Roger.
Damn, that's a lot of work, but wow!
Damn, that's a lot of work, but wow!
09-23-2012, 10:48 PM
#76
Whats up with RDX owners?
iTrader: (9)
Sweet shoes
Great job
Great job
09-24-2012, 11:18 PM
#78
Moderator
iTrader: (3)
Wow, what a transformation
09-25-2012, 01:59 PM
#80
Whats up with RDX owners?
iTrader: (9)
