Nugi
Nugi Reader
5/22/19 2:17 p.m.

Yes, garage flooring has been covered here and elsewhere ad-nauseum, but my case is somewhat unique, and maybe your experince can help. I live off a poorly-maintained quarter mile dirt road in the mountains of Colorado. I have a nice 2.5 car garage that I fit 3 cars and 4 motorcycles into, and somehow want to work on them as well. I have 2 engine rebuilds planned this summer and am lowkey stressing about it.

My issue is constant grit, sand, dust. Everywhere. Every winter they sand and mag-chloride the roads. And then the trip down my poorly prepped county roads just tops off the tires with abrasives and fill the tread with sharp pea gravel. The usual snow-grime puddles are usually 1/8th to 1/4 inch thick when dry, I have to chip them up to sweep. In the summer, the road turns to dust and coats the cars, no matter how slow I drive. I have a 50ft asphalt driveway that gives a couple clean rotations of the wheels, but thats it. I used to keep a disorganized, but clean shop. Now it looks like a cutscene from a mad max movie. 

Current floors are untreated concrete slab, with 30 years of wear, chipping, and stains. They are ok for rolling the creeper, but I can never seem to get all the dust from its porous surface. When I do sweep, by the time I get it halfway clean looking the rest of my belongings are now coated in it, leading me to airgun it all and start over. Its a vicious cycle of me hiding all the dirt in progressively harder to reach places.

I looked at epoxy and polyurea, but have heard that the grit will embed itself or quickly wear... currently considering Carpet tiles, VCT tiles, or just Floor paint that I can easily retouch after some patching and leveling. I am thinking repairability over longevity might be a better approach.

I figure many of you have had similar issues with either dirt roads, or snow crud, or both, to weigh in. Maybe I just need to put it all on casters and buy a pressure washer? Hire a full-time live-in garage maid? Give in and just use clean play sand for flooring? All opinions welcome. 

mbmsg
mbmsg New Reader
5/22/19 2:27 p.m.

quite sweeping and vacuum with a good high quality wet dry vac. Ill leave the floor covering to people with more experience.  I vacuum my garage twice a yr (YMMV) just to keep from covering every surface with dust.......

rslifkin
rslifkin UltraDork
5/22/19 2:38 p.m.

Whatever flooring you use, I'd think about adding drains (or making sure the floor is sloped towards the doors).  That way you can easily rinse off whatever dirt can't be swept / vacuumed up.  

Nugi
Nugi Reader
5/22/19 3:15 p.m.

Okay, my shop vac is obscenely loud, almost painful to use. I don't ride my motorcycle, or run my grinder, with earplugs, but I run that damn vacuum with a pair. I suppose I need to replace it with something civilized so it actually gets used more. Might be uphill battle, but at least it will cut down on airborne. One point mbmsg.

Drains are an issue. I am on well and septic, no tolerance for any chemicals going down the drain, as it all ends up directly in my yard, and in 15-150 years, my water. Second issue is that this garage is part of a 2 story, wood framed house. 2 walls are cinderblock, dug into the mountain, but the other 2 are structural wood. I am hesitant to spray it out without first treating all inner area and making sure insulation would not be a problem. I do occasionally mist the floors before sweeping on dry days to keep dust down, but enough moisture to kill all dust is too much to sweep without streaking. Could I cast in curbs and make a catch basin? I feel like I am already overthinking it. 

Good ideas. Keep em coming. Maybe cheap walmart space rugs I can replace every year? While none of the cars or bikes leak, spills do happen, and a rug would trap the winter sludge. Idk if useful, but garage never gets below 38 degrees, water bottles set next to doors have never frozen. Only ice/snow is what falls off cars and bikes after a drive. 

 

 

TRoglodyte
TRoglodyte UltraDork
5/22/19 4:30 p.m.

Floor sweep? Looks like a red or green damp sawdust, keeps dust down when you sweep.

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