Epoxy garage floor coating vs floor tiles vs vinyl rolls

[Smtwnwygrl]

In the spirit of car related threads, I want to get some opinions regarding doing a professional epoxy garage floor coating versus something like an interlocking floor tile system or vinyl rolls. Do you have opinions about one versus another as far as aesthetics are concerned, and also longevity or durability?

I have a 3 car garage and the double car bay floor is experiencing some chipping and crumbling on the surface. It was poured in 1989 so it has seen a lot of cold winters. My concrete guy is going to look at it for me and let me know what kind of repair coat might be needed before they could do a professional epoxy sealant over it.

It just got me thinking that if I were to go with a floor tile system or with some of the vinyl roll systems, I could skip the repair process all together and just go right to the tiles or the roll out mat. It would be a somewhat easy weekend project and I wouldn't necessarily need to do the entire floor, either. I could just do the parking bays if I wanted to.

I mainly want to make it look nicer while at the same time protecting the floor. I think that will cut down a lot of the dust that we get in there. What I like about tiles is I can do checkerboard patterns and there are many color options. Rolls seem to be the easiest. Epoxy would cover the entire floor so there would be more uniformity.

 

[Smtwnwygrl]

In the spirit of car related threads, I want to get some opinions regarding doing a professional epoxy garage floor coating versus something like an interlocking floor tile system or vinyl rolls. Do you have opinions about one versus another as far as aesthetics are concerned, and also longevity or durability?

I have a 3 car garage and the double car bay floor is experiencing some chipping and crumbling on the surface. It was poured in 1989 so it has seen a lot of cold winters. My concrete guy is going to look at it for me and let me know what kind of repair coat might be needed before they could do a professional epoxy sealant over it.

It just got me thinking that if I were to go with a floor tile system or with some of the vinyl roll systems, I could skip the repair process all together and just go right to the tiles or the roll out mat. It would be a somewhat easy weekend project and I wouldn't necessarily need to do the entire floor, either. I could just do the parking bays if I wanted to.

I mainly want to make it look nicer while at the same time protecting the floor. I think that will cut down a lot of the dust that we get in there. What I like about tiles is I can do checkerboard patterns and there are many color options. Rolls seem to be the easiest. Epoxy would cover the entire floor so there would be more uniformity. metallic epoxy flooring tampa

thanks for any help

 

[TNHEADDUCK]

Take a look at Race Deck, we used it in a wash bay when I worked at STRATOS Boats where they did a final detail before shipping. It had excellent slip resistance and was easy to clean with a mop and soapy water.

 

[L J]

 

[antwon412]

I have SwissTrax in my garage. I would not do it again. If you actually wrench on your vehicles, they are a pain in the ass. Can’t easily put a jack stand on them. Small nuts, bolts and washers fall through them in a hard to retrieve. Even a regular floor jack when lifting up the TJ will dent the floor tiles. Looks cool. Not for people who actually use the garage as mechanics.

 

[TJ Don]

I'm looking to do something with my garage floor this spring/summer too. I too have a 3-car garage; one bay serves as a shed for stuff because we can't have a shed per our HOA. I'm leaning toward epoxy or polyurea - just dreading the prep work and playing reindeer games with all the stuff in the garage.

@antwon412 - I've already ruled out the mesh tile floors despite how sharp they can look as you've demonstrated with your garage!

 

[Apparition]

I have SwissTrax in my garage. I would not do it again. If you actually wrench on your vehicles, they are a pain in the ass. Can’t easily put a jack stand on them. Small nuts, bolts and washers fall through them in a hard to retrieve. Even a regular floor jack when lifting up the TJ will dent the floor tiles. Looks cool. Not for people who actually use the garage as mechanics.

View attachment 409003

View attachment 409004

How do they hold up to a welder?

 

[Viking Jeeper]

I helped a friend install plastic floor tile. I really like the idea of it and almost did it in my garage but not being able to use a jack or jack stand without a large piece of plywood underneath finally made it a bad idea for me.

 

[antwon412]

How do they hold up to a welder?

Sadly I don’t know how to weld (yet!) But I can guarantee you, they would not hold up to welding Sparks. I’m sure they would melt. They are for show garages, not working garages.

 

[Apparition]

Sadly I don’t know how to weld (yet!) But I can guarantee you, they would not hold up to welding Sparks. I’m sure they would melt. They are for show garages, not working garages.

That’s what I guessed. They do look good though.

 

[NDSpeed]

i think the most impressive thing in this whole thread is a 3 car garage in the UK!!

all the places i went in the UK you could barely fit a VW Golf in a bay.

 

[LJGreg]

I have a racedeck floor and just throw an extra tile under my jack and jackstands. It is a bit of a pain but manageable.

Bigger annoyance is on sunny days the floor raises when part is in the sun as it expands unevenly.

 

[Smtwnwygrl]

@TNHEADDUCK thank you so much for your suggestion

 

[DWR]

I helped a friend install plastic floor tile. I really like the idea of it and almost did it in my garage but not being able to use a jack or jack stand without a large piece of plywood underneath finally made it a bad idea for me.

View attachment 409030

Do you know the brand? Using a pice of plywood sounds like an easy trade of to me. Do these just click together or are they glued down?

 

[Cotnballs2000]

I would look into how much it would be to pour a new garage floor vs other options. If its that bad it might just be a better option. I have done the epoxy on two garage floors. I put rubber pads on the floor to park on to prevent hot tire pickup of the epoxy. It held up fine but even if you put anti-slip stuff in the clear its still slick as hell when wet.

 

[Smtwnwygrl]

@Cotnballs2000 also thank you so much for your suggestion

 

[xXDavidCXx]

I did poly aspartic instead of epoxy, pro install.

 

[Mr. Bills]

I had a polyaspartic floor coating applied to my garage floor before I moved anything in. It has now been almost 10 years and the floor looks as good as the day it was new.

Yes, it was expensive to install. However, over the long term it has been no more expensive than any of the other "just as good as" solutions and over the useful life of the coating it may actually turn out to be less expensive in the end.