Best flooring for detailing

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baseballlover1

New member
i am getting all the scimatics laid out in my head right now for my detailing garage for my house. I am planning on doing a mobile business with winter and some cars done at my house. This part of the garage is going to be GREAT. Heated and cooled. Im hoping custom cabinets (probably some made by me). Product storage, desk in the back. 1.5 car capabilities for extra room for detailing... i cant wait!



Im working out some plans though and i cant seem to find the BEST flooring. I thought about just staining the concrete which would be kindof cool cus i could put my logo in it, but then realized the regular white epoxy flooring would be neat also... there are soo many possibilities and im trying to get the best. WHat is your favorite. I think the smooth epoxy would be good on knees.



Whats yalls opinions?
 
I think I'd use VCT personally. Would create a really smooth surface all around which would be good if you use a rolling chair for polishing the sides (I do this). It would also be easy cleanup and with a couple of coats of urethane/laquer (whatever they use), it would be really glossy and easy maintenance. Plus, I don't think it would be too hard to install yourself if you wanted to save a few bucks.
 
I know you asked only in regards to detailing but keep in mind if you ever get into metal working and welding you'll want to have an area with bare concrete since the slag will wreak havoc on any flooring. Just a thought..
 
You can have a drain if you add a grease trap, and they have a texture they can add to concrete that still looks nice but adds traction. Also, stained concrete looks kick a$$.
 
Line-X the floor! :lol I would if I had the chance! But for now, when detailing at home I have Rustoleum epoxy with flake and it does very well, even with chemicals I've spilled on it...but it is rather slickery when wet! I have to make sure not to fall and bust my ***!
 
i'm moving into a new house (for me anyway) and i've got the same dilemma. i'm leaning toward two 10'x22' mats with a coin pattern 85 mils thick, goes for just under $1000. i think install would be a breeze and would look nice as well as funtion well.
 
Im thinking epoxy, or stained right now. This garage would ONLY be used for detailing and car storage for my personal car every night. This "wing" of the garage would be added onto our pretty large garage already that is concrete.



As for the drain, there are a couple problems i plan on by passing. My house isnt hooked up to the sewer system, we have it drain under ground in backyard so it is a little hard. Since we have to take up the whole thing anyway we are just going to put a drain that goes directly behind the garage. This is illegal but we can just tell the inspector that we dont like water collecting on the floor. Theres gotta be a way around it.
 
I kind of doubt that your sewage simply "drain(s) under ground in backyard"...I find it a bit more likely that that you have a septic system...perhaps you can hook your garage drain into that. And I'm sure the inspector has heard the story before about how the drain doesn't really go anywhere...
 
Setec Astronomy said:
I kind of doubt that your sewage simply "drain(s) under ground in backyard"...I find it a bit more likely that that you have a septic system...perhaps you can hook your garage drain into that. And I'm sure the inspector has heard the story before about how the drain doesn't really go anywhere...
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we have a septic tank yes, but i know that all the cleaner water (sink, shower) go to the back yard. To be honest, i am not completely sure how it all works, i just know that we are not hooked to the sewer system and it would take WAYY too much to put a drain in legally. And ide bet he has also. We would show him exactly where it would come out. Ide just say it is just for when we pull our car in while its raining we do not have to deal with any water pooling.
 
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.
 
some people re-use the gray water for non-potable purposes like watering the lawn or landscaping. it's a conservation effort.
 
admac said:
some people re-use the gray water for non-potable purposes like watering the lawn or landscaping. it's a conservation effort.
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We do not.



Again, im not possitive how it works. me and my father have a 13 hour car ride to FL today so ile ask him and have an answer for you tomorrow.
 
baseballlover1 said:
Im thinking epoxy, or stained right now. This garage would ONLY be used for detailing and car storage for my personal car every night. This "wing" of the garage would be added onto our pretty large garage already that is concrete.



As for the drain, there are a couple problems i plan on by passing. My house isnt hooked up to the sewer system, we have it drain under ground in backyard so it is a little hard. Since we have to take up the whole thing anyway we are just going to put a drain that goes directly behind the garage. This is illegal but we can just tell the inspector that we dont like water collecting on the floor. Theres gotta be a way around it.
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If you do epoxy, I can't stress enough how important the first step of stripping/cleaning the floor prior to application is. If you don't do it properly, the epoxy will peel up. Usually, the only time I've seen a problem in the 7 garage my father and I have done is when the concrete was sealed already. If it is, the acid cleaner won't do enough. You will have to purchase some concrete etch to remove most/all the sealant, then use the acid cleaner, then apply.



As for the drain, yes, the EPA sucks sometimes, but now with my floor epoxied and smooth, I just spray with a hose or PW and use a 24" squeegee to wipe dry.
 
admac said:
some people re-use the gray water for non-potable purposes like watering the lawn or landscaping. it's a conservation effort.
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I'm familiar with the technique, having lived through two periods of water rationing. I'm just not familiar with building a house with two sets of drain plumbing to facilitate that or to relieve the load on a septic system (in which the aforementioned "draining it under the back yard" would not be considered a conservation method).
 
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.:eek:

My $0.02
 
Setec Astronomy said:
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.
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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.
 
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.
 
baseballlover1 said:
we have 1 septic tank and the fluids spill over and into the septic feild. the solid matter is eaten by bacteria.
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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?
 
baseballlover1 said:
..i think im going to go with epoxy.
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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.
 
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