Vinyl Composition Tile (VCT)

[Garagefan]

I had a VCT floor in a former house (Black & White check pattern) and here were some of the plusses and minuses that I found:

+'s
1) Inexpensive ($.59/sq. ft at Home Depot)
2) Looked great
3) Polished up nicely - I had 5 coats of wax on it.
4) Easy to mop or sweep clean
5) Relatively easy to install - my 2 car garage took 2 entire days with 2 people working.

-'s
1) Tires left brown stains on the white tiles
2) Slick as ice when wet
3) One tile that was always under a tire broke, but it was easy to chip out and replace.
4) My floor jack wheels left shallow indentations in the tiles the one time I jacked up my car on the floor


I went with Racedeck in my current garage mostly because I didn't want a floor that got slippery when it was wet.

[Lota HP]

Any tire stains with the Race Deck?:confused:

[Garagefan]

No tire stains at all.

[70 LS1]

How much was the racedeck compared to the VCT?

[Garagefan]

It was about $3.00 per tile plus shipping. The installation was pretty easy compared to VCT.

[camarojoe]

Thats the biggest downfall of racedeck IMO...its way overpriced. I can do my garage THREE times with VCT and still be hundreds of dollars cheaper than racedeck. a 500 square foot floor would cost you 295.00 to tile, plus about 50.00 for adhesive and polish) vs. 1500.00 for racedeck. If it was even twice as much I may have considered it, but 3.00 a square foot (and i've seen it sold for more than that actually) vs. 59 cents per square foot is a no brainer for me. I personally like the looks of VCT, especially with a fresh coat of polish. As for stains, I've found that a magic eraser, or some fine steel wool takes off just about any marks you may ever get on it, and if any should ever chip or crack, you can replace them for 59 cents in about 10 minutes. (I've only ever had to replace one tile, and that was my own fault) As for the slippery issue, I don't go in and out of my garage much when its wet outside, as the cars I keep in the garage don;t go out when its raining... but i can believe it could get slick when wet. With all that said, I wouldn't recommend it in a shop that gets heavy work done in it, but then again, i don't think racedeck is recommended in a heavily used "working" garage either. I've heard that racedeck can get "squeaky" when you walk on it... any truth to that?

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j293/joebarr/ebaypics218.jpg

[autoist]

So, where does one buy those large squares? Lowe's? Home Depot?

[millpond]

Garagefan's post says he got it for $.59/sq. ft. at Home Depot.

[autoist]

Garagefan's post says he got it for $.59/sq. ft. at Home Depot.

I looked at those also but they're smaller & the guy at HD said they wouldn't stand up to driving on & off them.

[millpond]

I guess you could always put 4 squares together to make a larger size. That's what I did on my Racedeck flooring.

[autoist]

you could always put 4 squares together to make a larger size

True..I'm just concerned with longetivity...they are preglued so you peel & stick...but, wonder how they'd stand up to constantly moving cars around on them? That was one of his negatives.

[camarojoe]

The tile shown the picture i posted above is the 59 cent stuff at Home Depot, laid in 2'X2' squares...they are not peel and stick, these are heavy duty 1/8" thick industrial tiles. Excellon is the official name of the tile from Armstong. They must be glued with a floor tile adhesive directly to the bare concrete. They can be driven on with no problems.

[autoist]

Well, I'm back to HD tomorrow with that info - thanks!

[Garagefan]

Let us know what you decide to do. The VCT is easy to work with but the floor prep & installation takes some work.

[autoist]

So, today I visited Home Depot & Lowe's - Lowe's is less expensive. Here's what I learned:

Armstrong Excellon is a commercial flooring; at Lowe's 12"x12" squares are 64-cents each or a box that covers 45 square feet is $26.20. The glue is $32.97 for a 4-gallon bucket that covers 1400-1600 square feet.....at Home Depot the costs are: 68-cents each or $30.60 per box & glue is $35 per bucket...quite a difference over a large area.

A professional tile layer told me it will hold up to cars driving over it but needs to be protected if floor jacks or car skates are used on it as they put too much pressure on 1 point. He also suggested Armstrong Floor Protectors where the cars will normally sit. To prep my raw concrete floor he said to rent a commercial buffer with a 'red' pad (rough) & do the entire floor; if there are low places or places where the floor isn't level, skim coat is needed.

So, my garage is right at 2700 square feet which means we're talking around $1500 for tile & glue.....time for me to look for a tile outlet!

[Administrator]

You always have the option of a "work" area that is left bare concrete, and a separate "show" area with VCT. That way you can zone the garage into separate areas and at the same time save a fortune on flooring.

BTW - I think 2,700 sq. feet is larger than a lot of people's houses.....

[Garagefan]

Thats the biggest downfall of racedeck IMO...its way overpriced. I can do my garage THREE times with VCT and still be hundreds of dollars cheaper than racedeck. a 500 square foot floor would cost you 295.00 to tile, plus about 50.00 for adhesive and polish) vs. 1500.00 for racedeck. If it was even twice as much I may have considered it, but 3.00 a square foot (and i've seen it sold for more than that actually) vs. 59 cents per square foot is a no brainer for me. I personally like the looks of VCT, especially with a fresh coat of polish. As for stains, I've found that a magic eraser, or some fine steel wool takes off just about any marks you may ever get on it, and if any should ever chip or crack, you can replace them for 59 cents in about 10 minutes. (I've only ever had to replace one tile, and that was my own fault) As for the slippery issue, I don't go in and out of my garage much when its wet outside, as the cars I keep in the garage don;t go out when its raining... but i can believe it could get slick when wet. With all that said, I wouldn't recommend it in a shop that gets heavy work done in it, but then again, i don't think racedeck is recommended in a heavily used "working" garage either. I've heard that racedeck can get "squeaky" when you walk on it... any truth to that?

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j293/joebarr/ebaypics218.jpg

Racedeck does make a dull clacking sound when you walk on it. It kind of bothered me at first, but now I don't even notice it.

Also Racedeck has a satin finish, so it doesn't shine as much as VCT does with a couple of coats of polish.

[bhays]

Do you have to have an electric floor polisher to apply polish to your vct? How do those on the forum polish their vct?

[Garagefan]

I applied mine with a floor mop and never polished it with a buffer. It was really shiny for the first year or so, but got dull after a while. I'm sure it would have shined up after that, but I never got around to buffing it out

[camarojoe]

You'll laugh at me, and I won't try to say it was the "best" method, but I buffed mine on my hands and knees with an automotive buffer/grinder with a wool pad. I just put 4 good coats of Armstrong Excellon Polish on with a sponge mop, letting it flash for about 20-30 minutes between coats, then the following day I started at a corner, and set the buffer on a medium speed, no additional compound/wax, and just buffed the heck out of it. it took out any dust flecks, streaks, etc.. and made it shine like glass. I haven't buffed it since, but i think this spring I'm gonna clear out the whole place again, put another coat or 2 of polish on it, and buff it again... it still looks good, but not as glassy as it does after a fresh polish/buff. By the way, NEVER use a Swiffer duster on it, the spray stuff that comes with those dusters will instantly eat right through the polish down to the bare floor... learned that the hard way!

[Garagefan]

This is a repeat from an earlier post in another thread.

Here are the steps I went through to install a VCT floor in my old garage:


1) First I cleared out the garage.
2) Next I swept the floor, and removed any surface imperfections with a putty knife/scraper
3) Then I hosed out the garage and let it dry
4) The next step was to measure (multiple times) and then snap chalk lines
5) I started in the front center and worked my way to the back of the garage. I wanted the pattern to be symmetrical, so I ended up having to make cuts along both sides. I used a wide blade putty knife to spread out about 4 tiles worth of adhesive at a time. I used a damp rag to wipe any adhesive that oozed up from between the tiles
6) I did the sides and back of the garage last. This required many cuts and took an entire day.
7) I glued rubber cove molding along the base of the side and back walls. Once I saw that the cove molding covered about 1/2 inch of tile, I realized that I didn't need to be so precise with my tile cutting!
8) I waited a day or so to put down 3 coats of polish

The finished results were amazing.

Whatever you do, don't forget to invest in a good set of knee pads..you're gonna need them.