Best flooring for detailing

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.
 
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 :D



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
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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- 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.
 
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.
 
StrutMotors said:
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.
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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!!!!!
 
bufferbarry said:
I could not agree more..[that you need things like an oilo separator].. forget the cabnets and other stuff. your shop don't need to pretty! it needs to function!!!!!
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Heh heh :xyxthumbs I don't have any fancy cabinets, and I have *zero* artwork/etc., but I spent a pretty penny on bringing my (home) shop up to commercial-shop code. Stuff like this is sorta transparent but that doesn't mean you can just ignore it.



And yeah, I take some ribbing for not having any decoration in the shop (might decorate the office some day), but I go there to *work* and I'm only paying attention to the job at hand.

strutmotors said:
Picking out floor coatings and cabinets is a long way down the road.
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Well, it *does* pay to figure out your flooring early on. I messed around with this for a while before getting my floor coating done late in the game, and it didn't turn out nearly as well as it would have if I'd figured it all out before starting. But yeah, cabinets/etc. can always be added later...figure out the stuff that has to be done right the first time and get that done before anything else.
 
I would say a good epoxy flooring or just a simple clear sealer would be the best.

If money were no object you could use some tile like they have in ultra-high-end shops, but that is $$.



If you want an in-depth discussion of what to use for a detailers flooring I'd check on this site:



The Garage Journal



They have a flooring section in their forums and the guys there are VERY knowledgeable.

I would also go with a light colored floor to better reflect the light.



Bets of luck.



For-what-it's-worth I'm just going with a clear sealer on my floor to keep the dust down.
 
If you have the means, go with Race Deck.



I have it and love it. It cleans up easily with some simple green and a stiff bristle broom.



Plus if you move you can take it with you. :chuckle:
 
Here are my thoughts from past experiences.



Do not use that textured sand stuff in the paint. The reason? It's a HUGE pain to clean and if the floor gets wet and you want to squeegee it off you won't be able to. You'll always have to vacuum the floor because brooming won't do much with that texture. Go smooth and just be careful and wear shoes made for restaurant employees for non-slip on wet surfaces.



If you go the paint route have a professional do it. Ask for references and CHECK the references and ask about their warranties. Most will warranty it for 2-3 years at least.



I'd stay away from tile if you are going to be using it a lot. Tile works great on garages that are used for weekend cars and man caves.



I've been thinking of having my garage floor done with epoxy but talked myself out of it. I have enough maintenance to do around the house that I don't want the garage floor to be something I have to do every few years to keep it looking good. Personally I decided to just either leave it concrete or put a clear concrete sealer on.
 
Danase said:
Here are my thoughts from past experiences.



Do not use that textured sand stuff in the paint. The reason? It's a HUGE pain to clean and if the floor gets wet and you want to squeegee it off you won't be able to..
Click to expand...



Different experience here. Noting that I have rocks-in-epoxy and not just regular paint, I don't find the sand makes it necessary to suck up the moisture. (although, yeah, that *does* work best).



You're right about it not squeegeeing all that well (and it does wear the squeegee something awful), but I'm able to use a fine-bristle push broom to push almost all of the water to the trench drain. The little bit of water that's left evaporates pretty fast, even this time of year (and even after I turn the thermostat down).



I have unsanded painted concrete floors in some areas (I'm thinking esp. of the house's sub-basement, where the floor gets wet quite often), and finding footwear that doesn't slip on it when wet is easier said than done :eek: There's just *no* way I could have that same floor in my shop, somebody'd break their neck in no time.



Heh heh, how often do you and I get to disagree about anything :p
 
I have 3, 10'x22' mats 75mil thick with the raised line pattern. Works nice because water travels to the entrance of the garage (if you garage is built correctly without a drain). All you need to do is sweep it out when it collects. The bad part about the mats is that they get slippery when they are wet.
 
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