Best flooring for detailing

**imported_MBenz** · 03-30-2008, 12:11 PM

The way most septic systems work to my knowledge is what is a 2 tank system. The solids fall into the first tank and the liquids spill over into the second thank. From there the liquids will go out into the leach field. It is dry enough here in Colorado that you can noticeably see how the grass is greener over the leach filed. That is probably why you think it is draining into the backyard. Just a friendly word of advice, know where your septic tanks lids are and get them pumped as a precautionary measure when you move in.

Anyways, back to the subject at hand,

I`ve personally had really good luck with just plain concrete. I really wish i had a drain in my garage, especially in the winter when the snow melts off the cars and pools up. I`m not sure what it takes to put in a drain in Virginia, but if you are going to do it to code, do it right, trust me it will pay off. If the inspector is a real A$$, he could make you rip it all up and do it again.

My $0.02

**BlueLibby04** · 04-22-2008, 01:26 PM

Originally Posted by Setec Astronomy

Wow, I`ve never heard of a house with separate drain plumbing for the sinks and showers from the toilets. What do you call that...you have sanitary lines for the toilet, and gray water lines for the sinks and showers? Sounds to me like all that extra plumbing and keeping it all straight would be more expensive than just having a properly sized septic system, but then again, you do live in one of those affluent areas where people would pay more to run their gray water somewhere other than the septic system.

Its not that complicated. All of the pipes in our house go to the basement. It just so happens when they built the house, they made it so all the showers and sinks in the bathrooms went into one 2" pipe with the washer(which is in the basement). We cut that and sent a pipe over the hill for the showers and sinks. Works out great!

Usually you have one big tank(ours is 10, 000 gallons) then a smaller tank for the water. The water stays on top of the poo then goes into another small box called a distribution box. This is where all the water goes out into the yard.

**baseballlover1** · 05-08-2008, 05:48 AM

we have 1 septic tank and the fluids spill over and into the septic feild. the solid matter is eaten by bacteria.

i think im going to go with epoxy.

**Setec Astronomy** · 05-08-2008, 07:19 AM

Originally Posted by baseballlover1

we have 1 septic tank and the fluids spill over and into the septic feild. the solid matter is eaten by bacteria.

So what was the answer, do you have separate lines for the sinks and showers that bypass the septic system, as you said earlier, or does all of the water go to the septic system?

**Accumulator** · 05-08-2008, 11:37 AM

Originally Posted by baseballlover1

..i think im going to go with epoxy.

If you mean epoxy *paint*, note that a) it probably won`t adhere 100% even if professionally installed on a new floor (voice of experience several times over), and b) it`ll be *VERY* slippery when wet unless you add some friction media (e.g., sand) to the top layer.

There are other "epoxy" floor coatings. I have a mixture of epoxy and stone (they advertise these for basememts/etc.) that`s also sealed with more epoxy. This has the friction media too, but after ~8 years it`s wearing away enough that I know I`ll have to have it redone some day.

The "regular"/unsealed epoxy and stone flooring did *not* work well for me...it held water and made for way too much humidity. They`d said that the water would flow to the drain and that it`d dry out, but that didn`t happen so they had to redo the whole (44` x 44`) floor.

Oh, and I really would give some thought to the drainage. A lot of the stuff that`ll be going down the shop`s floor drain is stuff you *do not* want to just leave untreated. I`m nobody`s idea of a tree-hugger, but still.....this is a case where IMO you really oughta do the responsible thing.

Yeah, I know, that`s a big PIA over "what goes down the drain". When we were looking for our current place, stuff like that was a big part of deciding which property was/wasn`t suitable. Before we built this place, I had to have a commercial building to do my detailing as my previous homes just weren`t set up to handle such stuff.

**RDAVEX7** · 07-30-2008, 11:17 PM

I cant believe I missed this thread!

Anyways, I guess this is where you learn a little about me, and why a house would have separate drainage systems. Oh, and I know nothing about garage flooring :chuckle:

I am a plumber and have been for a long time. It`s the only thing I know how to do well because I grew up doing it. My dad has been a licensed plumber since before I was born and I followed suit. Heck, I was almost born in a plumbing van, no lie! The truth is that even though I have made alot of money plumbing I love cars and have realized that I would be much happier in this field. This is why I love Autopia, it`s like my code book for auto detailing! By the way working with your dad is pure hell when your young lol, but as you both get older you will learn to appreciate him. But im torn between what I know and what I love so I started my little business in the detailing world and I still work as a plumber but hopefully I can make the complete transition soon. Kinda scary really.

Enough about me. Daniel, do you have an older house? Most older homes were built to old codes or no codes. The septic tanks were usually under sized or only had the sewege in mind. So usually the toilet or the entire bathroom are the only fixtures on the septic tank. The kitchen, laundry etc are all grey water that sometimes bypasess the septic tank and connects straight into the same drainfield. Or they can have theyre own separate drainfield and even have a small inline 50 gal or less grease interceptor outside just for the greywater. Usually they are small homemade concrete vaults that nobody knows is there untill things stop draining. So the 2 separate systems leave the house at different exit points. Things changed along time ago but there are area`s where this type of stuff still goes on.

Somebody said they had a 10,000 gallon septic tank, I think it`s more like 1,000. Septic tanks are sized by the number of bedrooms in the house and they should be pumped about every 3-4 years. Even with only 2 people in the house. Sure you might go twenty years without pumping the tank but all the while the solids have slowly made theyre way into your drainfield and will cause a huge problem down the road. Most septic tanks are one solid tank with 2 separate chambers inside, sometimes 3. The inlet (solids) side, and the outlet (effluient) side. Drainfields are another issue.

It sounds like you would have to instal a sand/oil seperator to have the drain you want in your garage. Basicly you would have to set up like an oil or lube shop in your garage! Thats expensive, and you would have to jump through alot of hoops to get it approved. Then there is the issue of disposal in to a new separate drainfield or where ever the county would let you. They probably would say no. If you were on city sewer you would have more options as the waste water would be treated at it`s final destination. And you would have to pay a company to pump the sand/oil separater on a regular basis. Maybe they would consider it storm drainage but I doubt it since there is the chance of oil getting down the drain.

I know this is an old thread but I kinda feel it`s my way of giving back where I can since I have learned alot of stuff here from some of the best in the biz. I dont have to be a pro to know who`s the real deal and who`s not. I have stepped my game up big time and also alot of trial and error lol.

**Accumulator** · 07-31-2008, 11:59 AM

RDAVEX7- Good to see an expert opining on this thread, and heh heh, you`ve reminded me why I`m glad I`m no longer on a septic system

One area where my experiences have been different though, the oil separator:

I had zero problems with zoning/code having one installed in my home shop, they were *happy* that I wanted to do it. And mine probably won`t need pumped out in my lifetime, based on my experience with a smaller-tank unit at my previous shop (which was a commercial operation with much more oil/etc. going down the drain). I had that tank pumped after ~10 years, and it turned out that it wasn`t really necessary...the thing wasn`t even 1/3 full. The shop that did the pumping was responsible for the disposal, so the whole thing was transparent to me, well, other than the bill!

That was my experience, but there are lots of variables that could factor it, so please don`t take this as an :argue

**RDAVEX7** · 07-31-2008, 08:08 PM

I dont care for septic systems either lol. Your right there alot of variables and set up differences. The waste has to go somewhere kinda like a car wash.

There is still some old houses in the old nieghborhoods here that have septic tanks. Sometimes an apprentice will run 120` of cable into it thinking they are on city sewer lol. City sewer is less headaches for a homeowner.

**Twinscroll** · 07-31-2008, 09:24 PM

I love this site more and more. I`ve been in a good mood all day, minus my accounting class earlier tonight, but to have someone want to give back even though it was an old thread was awesome. U imparted knowledge without the superiority copmlex. I learned a lot to say the least.

I think that to installation of a drain in any matter would be very benificial. Not only is it a business expense but simply the peace of mind that it can give you. Beyond all of that is the fact that with any customer (some are more environmentally concious than others) and if they see you running a business out of the home some might ask how you do dispose of the water. And your answer could be the key to having another repeat customer or not. Might not be worth it in some peoples eyes to just have one more repeat customer for all the money that it might cost to install the drain. But you never know. It`s definitely the responsible thing / right thing to do in a case as the one in this thread.

**EcoAutoCT** · 08-01-2008, 08:33 AM

Detailing from a garage with a drain and without an oil/water separator is so unethical that once the right person found out you`d be pretty well ****ed. DEP and EPA fines would negate the couple thousand you made from customers who didn`t want a mobile provider and went out of the commercial area to your home `shop`. I think the pollution control process involves excavating and treating the ground where the runoff took place- which could mean tearing up your epoxied concrete and backyard.

I know this is true in CT, and it may well be a national code or regulation because people from all over go out of their way to hide or temporarily cover drains during the inspection process. If you want to detail inside pony up the $5K+ and get a separator installed, or find a commercial garage to lease. Additionally your home has to be zoned correctly as well and some ZEO/Planning Depts wont allow this kind of operation if it is found to increase traffic or noise pollution, there will also be a public hearing where neighbors and residents can voice concern/complaints prior to permits.

Picking out floor coatings and cabinets is a long way down the road.

**Accumulator** · 08-01-2008, 10:17 AM

Yeah, this is the sort of topic that doesn`t get nearly enough attention IMO.

Noting that I`m nobody`s idea of a tree-hugger, and I only detail our vehicles, I simply couldn`t do this stuff without taking the proper measures with regard to the runoff....just wouldn`t be right. Another case of doing the right thing even though nobody`s watching

**mikewilson** · 10-13-2008, 10:49 PM

I have a garage with rough floor plz suggest me if i can fitted it with tiles.

**Accumulator** · 10-14-2008, 10:11 AM

mikewilson- Welcome to Autopia.

You`d better check with the tile supplier/installer to make sure, but I`d expect the rough texture will work OK, might even give a better surface for the adhesive/etc. to bond to. There`s almost certainly a limit to how rough it can be though...

That`s assuming real glazed/etc. tiles that sit on a base of (separate) adhesive, not stick-on adhesive-backed ones.

**baseballlover1** · 10-18-2008, 09:22 AM

Well... when i can i am going mobile. When i cant i have my garage. My garage is just about 100% finished. I will post up a few pics. its looks AWESOME. All we have to do now is put up the Art/photos.

**Barry Theal** · 12-05-2008, 06:47 PM

Originally Posted by StrutMotors

Detailing from a garage with a drain and without an oil/water separator is so unethical that once the right person found out you`d be pretty well ****ed. DEP and EPA fines would negate the couple thousand you made from customers who didn`t want a mobile provider and went out of the commercial area to your home `shop`. I think the pollution control process involves excavating and treating the ground where the runoff took place- which could mean tearing up your epoxied concrete and backyard.

I know this is true in CT, and it may well be a national code or regulation because people from all over go out of their way to hide or temporarily cover drains during the inspection process. If you want to detail inside pony up the $5K+ and get a separator installed, or find a commercial garage to lease. Additionally your home has to be zoned correctly as well and some ZEO/Planning Depts wont allow this kind of operation if it is found to increase traffic or noise pollution, there will also be a public hearing where neighbors and residents can voice concern/complaints prior to permits.

Picking out floor coatings and cabinets is a long way down the road.

I could not agree more as i am one who found away and one day the inspectoer showed up and boom fined out my ars. what i did was run a vertical trough threw my wet bat leading to a drain with a sump pump. which lead to a french drain outside occasionally i would clean out the main drain with a shop vac let it dry and throw the dirt away well needless to say. i detailed this inspectors car one week. no idea who he was. he was in my shop i was showing him around as we were looking over his car. later he showed up not knowing he was inspector and buy i found out the hard way. forget the cabnets and other stuff. your shop don`t need to pretty! it needs to function!!!!!