Anyone have the hookup on VCT tile?

Blaze

Blaze

The Jeeper Reaper
Joined
Aug 9, 2005
Location
Wake Forest, NC
I am going to be putting down VCT tile flooring in my garage in the next few weeks. I can get it from Lowe's or Home Depot for $.68 per sqft, but if anyone here can get it cheaper it would be much appreciated!

Or if anyone sells it and can match that let me know and I'll buy it from you. :)
 
I have a guy local that does big jobs of 100,000 foot +. He often ends up with small amounts (less than 10,000ft) that he sells $20 for box of 45. Look in your phone book and make some calls.
 
I dont have any right now. I just sold 8 boxes that were in the way for 50 dollars for all of it. It was burgandy red...doubt you would have liked that color...i didnt.
I dont have any hook ups either. none that will beat lowes pricing on a small job.
If you needed 15000 ft or more...i have a great hook up.
 
I would not use vct in a garage..if you plan to park a car..or anything real heavy on.

Dont use jack stands, or anything like that. vct works great in a store..but not in a garage. It is not very strong at all and is super easily scratched. It wont look right either, unless you plan to buff and polish it.

It's your house, but I wouldnt waste time or money on it for that purpose. Heck, youd be better off scorpion lining it.
 
yeah...Dyan is right, thats a high maintenance floor.

Clean, lay the wax, buff the wax, polish the wax, buff the wax, strip the wax, lay new wax, buff the wax, polish the wax.........

i did/do this for a living. it sucks if your doing for free..sucks even worse if your payin someone else to do.

ha, the only time i hated have to pick up stripper!
 
Well, I'm going to do it because I always wanted a checkerboard tile floor. And it is easy to fix, repairing an epoxy floor SUCKS, and the Scorpion will be too grippy to roll my rotisserie over.

I've talked to a bunch of Trans Am guys who have had it for years in their garages and they said other than putting wood under their jackstands, they haven't had any issues with it at all.

I know it will get beat to shit, but it'll be what I always wanted. :)
 
they make this interlocking plastic mat you can put down. Do not leave any rubber contacting the floor, tires, casters, rugs.....the vct will absorb the oils in rubber.

dont slide anything across it. use dollys for everything.

Make sure the floor is clean and SMOOTH before you put it down. the smallest pebble or piece of dust eventually turns into a bump and blemish in the floor.
 
Then the bump turns into powder like a sweettart does. Then it's a hole. Those transam guys prolly all have eat off the floor clean shops. You have a real mans shop.
Just save some, and replace when needed, i guess.

There is other flooring products that would work way better, and come in black and white checkerboard, but is alot more $$$
 
Here's an idea... and cheaper....
if you want a checkerboard floor... put down a nice white garage floor sealant.
Then get out the tape (you tape stuff off for al iving, right??) and tape off squares... paint on the black squares w/ a nice sealing paint...
Now for floor looks cool, sealed, and maintanance free. If part gets too scuffed, you just repaint it.

I'm not that familiar w/ VCT but default to the opinion of guys who know flooring above.
For a real shop garage, get a floor designed for a real shop garage.
 
I'm not going to do paint, I stopped doing it with my business because that stuff just doesn't hold up to real abuse. No matter how good you do it. The guys who just park their cars it is fine, but the guys who drag shit across it will destroy it.

And I know there is stuff that is much better, but also much more expensive.

And now that I'm having my water heater replaced in about 2 hours I am all about cheap.:shaking:
 
Blaze,
In my experience, the paint holds up 10x better than the VCT...and I agree the paint is shitty so take that for what its worth.

Id bet in less than a year you will have a surface that you cant push a cherry picker across with an engine on for example.
 
Sky is right. with vct and wax, if you start rolling things accross it, any dirt or dust that the rollers pick up turns into sandpaper for the floors.

The way the large stores keep floors looking good is with like 10 coats of wax and ride on buffer they use once a week.

have you looked into stained concrete. ive seen that turn out REAL well. the expensive stuff and somebody that knows what they are doin can make you do a double take sometimes....it likes marble
 
I have black and white VCT in my garage and it's nice looking when it's clean (no surprises there) and not too bad looking even when it's dirty ....I sweep it once a week and mop once a month ....it has about 5 coats or wax on it and was buffed once as well. My wife babies her side :) , but I just use my side like a garage floor with a few guidelines

You need to be careful about what you do on it ....jackstands and floor jacks need to go on a Luann or plywood pad , no welding, no brake-clean, acetone, paint thinner spills .

Dirt, Mud, oil, grease cleans up OK ....new offroad tires , like Iroks leave brown stains on the floor unless on pads. Dropping a socket wrench or hammer doesn't seem to bother it. Creepers are OK.

Obviously if you have a "accident" , you can scrape up the damaged tile and replace it ....so that's a plus.

Hope that helps
Steve
 
Take the extra time when preping the floor. Make sure to use floor patch on any cracks or bad spots, as these will telegraph thru the vct quickly.Make sure it is clean of debris, small rocks, dust and any oil stains and such will keep your vct from bonding right.

You might already know this, but here are a few tips.
After cleaning and prepping the floor, measure and divide the floor into 4 quadrants. Use a chalk line to make straight lines. Only glue one..or 2 quadrants at a time, depending on your ''laying speed''.

Biggest tip..

After gluing WAIT until the glue gets tacky.DONT use a fan to help speed up drying..this will only dry the top of the glue, while the bottom will still be wet. Put your hand on the glued floor...if glue does not get on your hand..it's ready. Use a heavy roller to roll after instalation. OR pound each tile with a rubber hammer. I do both most times.

You can heat the tiles with a heat gun, or torch...Then it cuts like butter with a utility knife(only needed on crazy cuts and curves.) Just score your straight cuts and break tile. If you measure right, you should have equal size tiles at all perimeters. Try to resist the urge to start on a straight , long wall, and start in the center. It will make for a nicer job.

You probably knew this already, but if not, There ya go! Happy laying!
 
tile

I know a few floor guys,I'll see what I can do about getting you some tile if you still need it.Vct can take tons of abuse,within reason.
 
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