Garage Floor Material

[walkernet]

Hi All,

I was thinking about re doing my garage floor and looking for a good material to choose from. 

I searched the forum but was not able to find any topics on this.

My current options are as follows.

1. Terracotta - This is relatively cheap, and like the finishing as well. However it tends to erode a bit more than the rest and tends to absorb any oil residues. This has to be maintained carefully for long time.
2. Tiles - Have to find one with rough finish, good for long time.
3. Cement finish - Tends to be slippery and can go for rough finish but would be hard to manage with dust.

If you have any thoughts on this matter would love to hear them out.

Edited July 22, 2019 by walkernet

[kush]

Terracotta will be a pain, gets damage even for shoes

Dark color homogeneous tile will be the best option, bit expensive though

There are special hard wearing flooring material (industrial use)  

[RWD]

+1 on homogeneous tiles. Its not too pricey. If you buy during Avurudhu and Christmas there are lot of sales. Had the same decision last year and went for them. 

If you really can't afford it buy some Chinese tiles. Still better than the other options.

 

[walkernet]

3 hours ago, kush said:

Terracotta will be a pain, gets damage even for shoes

Dark color homogeneous tile will be the best option, bit expensive though

There are special hard wearing flooring material (industrial use)  

Thanks for your input. I was having the same concern with terracotta.

39 minutes ago, RWD said:

+1 on homogeneous tiles. Its not too pricey. If you buy during Avurudhu and Christmas there are lot of sales. Had the same decision last year and went for them. 

If you really can't afford it buy some Chinese tiles. Still better than the other options.

 

Seems that's the best option can you let me know from where you bought them. Is it from the Nawala tile showrooms.

[Devinda_Z]

What about a polyurethane or epoxy coating?

[RWD]

22 hours ago, walkernet said:

Thanks for your input. I was having the same concern with terracotta.

Seems that's the best option can you let me know from where you bought them. Is it from the Nawala tile showrooms.

Yes- for cheaper Chinese options there is a road just before the big R*cell showroom down Nawala Road. Go down about 100 meters and on the right hand side is a tile shop. They have good value. Cannoot remember the name of the shop. They had a small showroom and a warehouse.  

[Davy]

Terracotta is a big no no as it's fragile as already mentioned as well as absorbs oils and stuff quite easily. 

Cut and polished (also known as Titanium cement) cement flooring is hard wearing and is pretty easy to maintain as well. Cleans off oils and mud etc well because it's not porus. A couple of relatives have it and I think it looks great in a neutral (or raw cement) colour. 

Epoxy coating like Devinda_Z said is great too. Not really sure if we have proper companies in Sri Lanka that does it. If done properly, it'll last a lifetime. 

[kusumsiri]

51 minutes ago, Davy said:

Terracotta is a big no no as it's fragile as already mentioned as well as absorbs oils and stuff quite easily. 

Cut and polished (also known as Titanium cement) cement flooring is hard wearing and is pretty easy to maintain as well. Cleans off oils and mud etc well because it's not porus. A couple of relatives have it and I think it looks great in a neutral (or raw cement) colour. 

Epoxy coating like Devinda_Z said is great too. Not really sure if we have proper companies in Sri Lanka that does it. If done properly, it'll last a lifetime. 

So is it possible to use a car jack on said Titanium cement floor ?

[Devinda_Z]

2 hours ago, Davy said:

Terracotta is a big no no as it's fragile as already mentioned as well as absorbs oils and stuff quite easily. 

Cut and polished (also known as Titanium cement) cement flooring is hard wearing and is pretty easy to maintain as well. Cleans off oils and mud etc well because it's not porus. A couple of relatives have it and I think it looks great in a neutral (or raw cement) colour. 

Epoxy coating like Devinda_Z said is great too. Not really sure if we have proper companies in Sri Lanka that does it. If done properly, it'll last a lifetime. 

I've noticed a number of new hotels, commercial building car parks and workshops now feature this so I'm guessing it's readily available...

Cost though I know not ??‍♂️

[vitz]

For mine, homogenous (Rxxel) gave no problems for 8 years. I withstand lot of abuse, including jacking up the vehicle. But, make sure to get tiles laid  by an experienced basunneha fello

 

[Davy]

13 hours ago, kusumsiri said:

So is it possible to use a car jack on said Titanium cement floor ?

I'm not sure to be honest. According to my knowledge, polished concrete floor and titanium cement floors are two different things. Polished concrete is basically regular concrete polished with a diamond bit grinder to achieve the shiny look. Titanium cement is a layer of cement on top of the concrete and based on the compound used, different colours can be achieved.

I'm positive that polished concrete floors can withstand impacts and will not chip or anything when a jack or jack stands are used. But titanium cement might be a different story because it's a different paste applied on top of the concrete. 

[iRage]

14 hours ago, kusumsiri said:

So is it possible to use a car jack on said Titanium cement floor ?

Cut cement and titanium are different. I would strongly advice against having titanium floor on garages, kitchens and toilets (only in areas where it does not get wet). Titanium floors get really really slippery and is dangerous to have in a garage. Same goes for cut cement to be honest....if you want it to be non slippery then the cement floor will need a bit of coarseness to it...if you leave a bit of coarseness then it becomes a pain in the rear to clean as the dust and other gunk gets stuck in the little coarse pockets....You can get industrial grade tiles..or even tiles in between that can be used for garages, etc....

I used cut black stone slabs...durable but again..pain to clean if there are any oil spills as the stone absorbs them...the dust and stuff are not a problem though once the stone gets properly worn-out (granted I do pressure wash it)

[walkernet]

6 hours ago, iRage said:

Cut cement and titanium are different. I would strongly advice against having titanium floor on garages, kitchens and toilets (only in areas where it does not get wet). Titanium floors get really really slippery and is dangerous to have in a garage. Same goes for cut cement to be honest....if you want it to be non slippery then the cement floor will need a bit of coarseness to it...if you leave a bit of coarseness then it becomes a pain in the rear to clean as the dust and other gunk gets stuck in the little coarse pockets....You can get industrial grade tiles..or even tiles in between that can be used for garages, etc....

I used cut black stone slabs...durable but again..pain to clean if there are any oil spills as the stone absorbs them...the dust and stuff are not a problem though once the stone gets properly worn-out (granted I do pressure wash it)

I also would love to put stone slabs, but seems to be an expensive option  

[Sampath Gunasekera]

My best option - Rxxxl homogeneous tiles with matt surface

Affordable, very easy to clean, not slippery, strong enough...

Edited July 25, 2019 by Sampath Gunasekera

[kusumsiri]

16 minutes ago, Sampath Gunasekera said:

My best option - Rxxxl homogeneous tiles with matt surface

Affordable, very easy to clean, not slippery, strong enough...

Strong enough to use a car jack in case ?

[Sampath Gunasekera]

12 minutes ago, kusumsiri said:

Strong enough to use a car jack in case ?

Have not faced such opportunity up to now. If needed I will use another homogeneous tile between jack and floor.

[kusumsiri]

35 minutes ago, Sampath Gunasekera said:

Have not faced such opportunity up to now. If needed I will use another homogeneous tile between jack and floor.

I think the second tile will easily break. How about a 2x4 piece of wood ? Willing to know the experiences who has faced.

(Seems your Lancer also polished & waxed same as Elite)?

Edited July 25, 2019 by kusumsiri

[vitz]

16 hours ago, kusumsiri said:

Strong enough to use a car jack in case ?

Trust me, it can bare the force created by the car jack. I've tried even 2000 kg Cross over. Though I don't usually do, better to place the jack on a wooden plank

[walkernet]

On 7/25/2019 at 5:39 PM, Sampath Gunasekera said:

My best option - Rxxxl homogeneous tiles with matt surface

Affordable, very easy to clean, not slippery, strong enough...

Went to their factory outlet in Koswatta (Nawala) and found the exact same tile. Hoping to buy that ASAP. Thanks

[Sampath Gunasekera]

On 7/28/2019 at 5:00 PM, walkernet said:

Went to their factory outlet in Koswatta (Nawala) and found the exact same tile. Hoping to buy that ASAP. Thanks

Now only I see your post. Good to know that you selected the same tile. I am happily using this tile since 2017 without any problem. I have used same tile for pavements and all outside area at my home. (This tile had two colours Red and Brown and I selected red) . Take care to select the tile from same manufacturing batch to ensure that all tiles are in exactly same colour)