So shortly after I painted the garage, I decided to splurge and cover the floor. I had a few criteria.
1. Needed to be able to do without moving out all my stuff out.
2. Easily repairable
3. Quality look/feel.
4. Cost effective / DIY-able.
For those reasons, I decided to go with PVC flexible tile. I knew the risks (I'll get to that later). For the price ($2.67/sqft) I was able to meet all my requirements. The whole floor cost me just over $3k shipped for about 1k sqft and they even put the pallet in my garage for me.
It turned out great! I love the look and the feel of the garage now. I still have a few more things to do (wall base trim) but I needed to live with the floor for a bit to see what it's needs were. There are a couple of things I don't like, but they weren't all unexpected going in.
Install took about 12 hours total from start to finish.
Started out with laying out the centerline of the garage with my pattern.
This was less than an hour in.
Made some templates for going around the hoist.
Finished:
I also finished my cabinet install. I needed to put some plywood over the support studs under the loft to be able to install the cabinets. I also built a small shelf under the cabinets to push the workbenches out so I had vertical room to work, otherwise the benches would have been right under the cabinets.
Now, the downsides. My garage is south facing, meaning it gets some sun. As soon as ANY sun gets on it, the tiles expand (it doesn't even have to be hot, just sun energy). I left the recommend gap around the edges. But what I learned is with cars on it or with my cabinets on it holding the edge tiles down, they don't slide, meaning I get tenting and a row or two pop up. They either buldge a bit or the edges start to overlap.
The other thing I don't care for is when they are dirty, it isn't hidden. I'll actually have to clean these floors. I still need to seal them, so that may help, but they show dirt more than just concrete or epoxy.
But I wouldn't change my decision so far. I've emailed the company (garageflooringinc) to see what I need to do to help with the buldging. Even if I have to use adhesive, I'm happy enough with the look, I'm ok with going with a semi-permanent install. And the cost vs. epoxy and the fix-ability and DIY-ability of the floors makes it worth it for me.
Next steps - rubber base betwen the floor and the walls to help with water drainage. I also want to redo the steps into the house with the some left over Trex boards I have from our deck and I have some slat wall to go up behind the Miata for yard tools.
It's almost (never gonna be) done! I'm still working on tool and parts organization. My basement is a complete disaster area since I emptied all of the cabinets in order to move them for paint and flooring. I did put sliding feet under them though, so all I need to do is unscrew them to slid them away from the edges now.
