Tim Wasmer

All:

Well I installed my tile this weekend. All I can say is WOW and to a lesser degree OUCH! My back and knees are telling me why I don't do this for a living

Below is my best set of instructions for install. I hope this helps anyone who is going to install this in their garage.

Costs:

Tile - $404.35 (630 sqft 14 cases) (my garage measured 574 sqft)
Glue - $45.48 (4 gallons)
Floor leveler - $16.67 (1 gallon)
Beer - Unknown.....lots

Step one:
Clean out your garage

Step two:
Sweep of power blow the floor

Step three:
Power wash floor

Step four:
Fill cracks with leveler ( I did the seams as well)

Step five:
Beer (i.e. let it all dry. I waited a day)


Step six:
Using a chalk line or the seams in your floor, establish horizontial and vertical reference points. I used my floor seams as they were almost perfect. This will allow you to set your tile as clost to square as possible.

Step seven:
Using your notched trowel (spec'd to your adhesive - it is on the canister) spread the adhesive in the first section as below.


Step eight:
Allow to dry untill tacky. The time will depend on your humidity etc. Mine took about 20min early in the day. As it rained in the afternoon the dry time stretched to 45min.

Step nine:
Starting from your inner point (mine was where the 4 seams intersected) begin laying tile. Snug it up and go. It takes longer to prep. the floor than it takes to lay the tile. I only layed the full tiles. Then while the next glue section was drying I cut the custom edge or trim pieces.




Step ten:
Talk to your nieghbors as they come by and call you nuts (yes this happened). Provide beer to the nice ones.

Step eleven:
Repeat as needed till you cover the floor.


Notes:
*The adhesive does not cover what it says. It says it covers 350sqft. Not in this garage it didn't. I used 4 gallons.

*Have a good sharp razor knife on hand to trim tile.

*Make sure you buy more tile than you need.

*The adhesive is workable for up to 24 hours.

*Walk on each tile after you lay it to firm its adhesion (You can rent a heavy roller to roll the floor if you wish)

*It would be easier to do with two people. One laying glue and one laying tile.

Here are some completed pictures. I had a helper in my cat Pumpkin. I was working with the doors closed and could not find him thus the one self explanitory picture.

I hope I got it all.

Signal-9

it looks great... but why ? is there an advantage im not aware of? easier to clean oil off of? Its tempting to me from a looks point of view, but i wonder what other advantage it may provide..

mooty

very nice
are they vct? vinyl composition tiles?
what brand? armstrong?

Tim Wasmer

Easier to clean for sure. Looks good.

Better than Epoxy in my opinion. My epoxy needed to be redone ever 4 years or so to keep it sharp looking.

Yup, it is Armstrong VCT. Picked the colors out to match the house and trim. It was .60 a sqft from Lowes and Home Depot.

Signal-9

Tim, so when my garage is cleaned out, you gonna come over to Boulder and help me do mine.. (grin)....

Tim Wasmer

Hehehehe

I can supervise

Bauer

Looks great!

You wouldn't believe how much money you saved doing it yourself...Plus the added pride.

I worked for a carpet/tile layer and the labor he charged was absolutely crazy.

caf

Tim, I'm curious if you're talking about "do it yourself" epoxy floor finish or the professionally installed kind. I'm thinking about epoxying my garage floor, and it seems to me there's a huge difference in the two. The commercial guys prep and grind the floor, and also power finish the floor between coats. The professionally done ones I've seen in my area look really good, although none of them are 4 years old yet. I like the fact that the whole floor is seamless and extends seamlessly up the wall for 4 inches as well. They also do speckled patterns that hide the dirt nicely.

Scouser

Looks great. Only thing I don't like is the moggy in your car.

Tim Wasmer

Moggy?

Well I did the "do it yourself epoxy". The surface itself held up fine but it was a light gray and it just got dingy over time.

This I hope will hold up for a LONG time

Riad

Very nice job. Looks fantastic... man you must be a cat lover to let your cat in the p-car

TurboMark

Looks great. How do the armstrong tiles hold up to heat?

Regarding one of the previous posts on professional vs amateur epoxy. I dont know about the professional jobs but I have NEVER seen an amateur epoxy paint job that held up to tire heat more than two weeks.

996Gurl

Tim, thanks for posting up the steps! We're thinking of doing this as well, so it's great to have a walk through!

okbarnett

Is that a cat living in your car?

mooty

i am contemplating b/n vct and prof epoxy? any professional mechanic on rennlist? i understand that prof garages have epoxy's. why? is it really durable or is it still something that needs replacing every few years?