I am thinking of putting ceramic tile in the garage. Its a 2-car garage. Aside from the cost, am i crazy? Has anybody done it? Any problems or issues?

Also, what do you recommend for lights? Right now i have recessed lights, want to replace it with something that would allow me to detail my car inside the garage with proper and correct lighting. thanks..

 

Are you just going to park or will you be working on your cars??

 

mostly park, some interior work and detail. my garage is so tight, i need to pull the car into the driveway to take off wheels, etc.

 

not sure of the official name, but the lights that detailers use show every little detail of the car...better than sunlight for some things.

I cant think of the name right off hand, but i do know they generate a good bit of heat - so if your garage is "tight" u might want to also consider proper ventilation.

Got any pics of it now? (the garage that is)

 

I have a few friends who have done it, looks great, but use Black instead of white grout. If you aren't jacking, you should be fine.

 

make sure you dont drop any metal tools!

 

I highly reccomend tile we put it in our garage and it is awesome.

 

Any porcelain or glazed ceramic with a PEI of 4 or 5 will work. I would stay away from a glazed tile in places that get wet, or it'll get really slippery. You can look at the tile's coefficient of friction (COF). The higher the number, the more slip resistant it is. Look for a .6 or higher COF

You may want to use an epoxy grout to avoid it getting stained from oil and dirt, or at least seal the grout.

 

thanks. what do you recommend in terms of having awesome lighting in the garage? i have a lot of recessed lights right now but i guess i need to add some fluorescent to it.

 

How high are your ceilings? Where are your current lights located? What color is the ceiling and walls? You want to place the lights around the sides of the cars. If you place the lights directly above the cars, you'll create weird shadows and colors on the cars. A white ceiling will help out a lot too.

There are quite a few different kind of fluorescent lamps. Make sure to get an electronic ballast and not a magnetic ballast. Magnetic ballasts will "hum" and drive you crazy. I'd stay out of the local home improvement store and go to a real lighting store to buy the correct lights. The local home improvement stores tend to give you cheap ballasts which can make weird noises and have problems in the cold (even when they are advertised differently.)

You can try metal halide or mercury vapor fixtures, but keep in mind these lights take some time to warm up and are usually used in warehouses.

 

the rule of thumb for the minimum amount of lighting is 3/4 watt of flourescent lighting per square foot of space. Buy electronic ballasts, i went with 4 foot units, a highly efficient and fairly accurate color reproduction of high end t8 bulbs.

Metal halides are extremely accurate at color reproduction, so if i had it to do over again, i would use some metal halides where i detail and general flourescents for general lighting.

 

On the fluorescents, do you use them bare, with reflectors or with the diffuser covers?

 

i would do bothe if butdget is not a porblemm..

if u can install mr16 lights it would be awesome ... and also flourescenrt lights would be cool...

 

i use the flourescents bare, no reflectors, but mine is a working garage, i f i was doing a lot of detailing work, i would probably step up to metal halides. these tend to be quite a bit more money plus flourescents are quite efficient.

 

If you go with metal halide lights, you'll want to put in a couple incandescent lights too. The metal halide lights take a little time to warm up and turn on, so if you're going to be just in-and-out of your garage, you're also going to want light that you can just turn on and off quickly.