Garage floor replacement | GTAMotorcycle.com

Garage floor replacement

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nobbie48

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My neighbour was picking my brain about his cracked and degraded garage floor. At 60 years old it still stores the toys and junk common to a suburban home but looks shoddy.

I watched a few videos on resurfacing but there are so many pitfalls with crack sealers, coatings and epoxies that I'm wondering if it makes sense to patch. A lot of the products have bad reviews so if it looks like crap again in two years the money is gone. The coating cures are not cheap and are based on what they've got underneath.

Does anyone have a ballpark number for a 360 square foot garage floor rip out and replace. Attached garage, bedroom over, double driveway, Bloor & 427.
 
STARSHIP said:
Thanks for the reminder, also need to get mine done.
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Let me know what happens. I'm patching my own as the deterioration is not widespread. I'm using Mag Crete to fill in the pock marks where the tires dripped salt and created spalling. A diamond cup wheel levels things out after it cures.

My floor was sealed but the neighbours wasn't.
 
Gonna be pricy. The old floor will be 4-6yards of concrete depending on thickness - jacking it out and disposal will be a couple grand. Concrete contractors quoted me $7 if it was prepared, and $15/sq' if they did the prep work.

I prepared the base myself and hired some pool deck finishers at the end of their season when they ran out of work - they were great, also familiar with outdoor work that needs to be crack resistant). My slab has no relief cuts and is crack free after 5 seasons. 725sq' cost me $1000 for 6.5yds of fiber reinforced concrete and another $1200 for placing and finishing.

Another option is to clean up the existing surface by covering it with roll vinyl deck ($2/sq') or Racedeck type interlocking tiles designed for garages ($6/sq').

The Racedeck tiles cost more but they are simple to install (if you can build lego, you can install garage tiles) and you can lay them over cracked, rough or worn concrete (unless there are big heaves at the cracks). You're looking at $2K -- but you will have a fantastic looking floor that is easy to maintain.
 
finished space above the garage, so substantial load bearing walls
framed walls I'm guessing?

what does the bottom plate sit on?
if the garage slab was poured after the framing was complete - current method
then cutting out the slab and lifting the pieces out is pretty easy, but messy

if for some reason the bottom plate is sitting on that slab
with a 60 year old house, maybe it is, with foundation under that
could really de-stabilize things if the slab is cut out

there's a method to drill holes in the slab and pump material under to stabilize it
then grind down and pour a new top slab, then an epoxy coating or whatever

no idea on money but it would be faster and cleaner than a rip out
 
Trials brought up a good point in another thread. If I was going to the expense of tearing out and replacing the slab (which will be a lot), I would insulate and heat the new slab. It won't be cheap, but as a percentage of the job it would be reasonable. I'd probably run a glycol loop and heat exchanger stealing heat from the hot water tank.
 
I like the racedeck/cheaper variants in case I ever move, I'm bringing that **** with me to the new place.
 
My garage is also my shop but not so with him. It'll be bikes, toys, Christmas decorations and all the other accumulated stuff. Mine would have a recess big enough for a platform lift.

I see fixing the slab, caulking the cracks, grinding the surface and applying a topping being cheaper than a new floor but a properly built floor will outlive him and if done really right outlive his children. Most patch products have a limited warranty and after two years you're on your own. If it costs twice as much but last twenty times as long you win.

If his garage is like mine the slab is floating so bust it up and pull it out. I also suspect there's only 4" of concrete with no reinforcing.

There's one full outside wall plus the one with the door so I don't think it gets overly cold in there but it wouldn't cost that much to bury a heating cable or loop of pipe. If someone changes their mind the ugly work is done and all thetas needed is a boiler package or 40 amp service.

I'm not sure if he is up to the manual labour and I'm not volunteering. I see it being ripped out in a day by two guys, one on the jackhammer and the other running the pieces to the dumpster. Then level and compact, compact, compact. Bring in the pro's to finish the concrete, especially if a steel troweled finish is desired. They make it look easier than it is.

I hand mixed a similar sized slab by hand back when my bones didn't make funny noises every time I moved. I did it in about eight sections over a week.

From a resale viewpoint a patch or coating that shows underlying defects will detract from a sale price. People will wonder what else was carpeted over. It sucks that with anything you do to your house in Toronto you have to consider that you might have to move someday.

Little boxes, little boxes, they're all made of ticky tacky and they all look just the same.
 
nobbie48 said:
From a resale viewpoint a patch or coating that shows underlying defects will detract from a sale price. People will wonder what else was carpeted over. It sucks that with anything you do to your house in Toronto you have to consider that you might have to move someday.
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My old house was relisted for 20% more 15 months after they bought it. They had done nothing to it. It didn't sell. They suspended to do some polishing. They replaced the new carpet we put on stairs with something woodlike and pulled main floor laminate and replaced with something woodlike. What was eye-opening was they paved over the very cracked asphalt (~35 years old) and more importantly they didn't bother fixing the failing retaining wall holding up the driveway(they drove stakes through it but obviously didn't think about the buried power line underneath). They relisted and highlited the new asphalt but didn't get a buyer thankfully and suspended again. I give the "new" asphalt less than a year before it completely fails.

I knew the wall and driveway was due for replacement when I sold it but it was obvious to any buyers. The current owners have hidden issues (and buyers that read new asphalt will assume it will be good for more than a year) and a lot of home inspectors give outdoor issues a cursory review at best.

That's partly why I called the interior flooring woodlike, they say new hardwood but I put zero faith in anything they touched and assume it will be done the cheapest dirtiest way possible.
 
There have been leaps and bounds made in concrete coatings and if its not badly cracked/heaving you can have a surfacing company come in, grind it, neutralize the surface to halt spalting and make it look pretty nice. None of it is cheap. Better priced than having the slab blown out, but still pricey.
 
crankcall said:
There have been leaps and bounds made in concrete coatings and if its not badly cracked/heaving you can have a surfacing company come in, grind it, neutralize the surface to halt spalting and make it look pretty nice. None of it is cheap. Better priced than having the slab blown out, but still pricey.
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Would I be too out of order to guestimate five or six grand for an R&R? The alternate of grinding, caulking, coating, sealing will take days of labour so with a qualified company it's still not going to be cheap. I have no faith in crack repairs so telegraphing through is to be expected.

Dealing with a bargain contractor too often means the job barely lasting past warranty.

He actually would get a bigger bang for his buck if he combined the floor with some other work he will need in the near future. The digger and dumpster will already be there.
 
nobbie48 said:
Would I be too out of order to guestimate five or six grand for an R&R? The alternate of grinding, caulking, coating, sealing will take days of labour so with a qualified company it's still not going to be cheap. I have no faith in crack repairs so telegraphing through is to be expected.

Dealing with a bargain contractor too often means the job barely lasting past warranty.

He actually would get a bigger bang for his buck if he combined the floor with some other work he will need in the near future. The digger and dumpster will already be there.
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One of the variables is how much does your neighbour care if it is done properly? I have seen some concrete busted up on recent projects where spec called for 3" of gravel underneath and there was barely a single layer of stone (inspected and passed by the city inspector during construction). Start trying to fix those kinds of things during R&R and now you are digging in the garage and bringing in yards of stone.

Based on the prices Mike got, the new slab would be ~$5000. I doubt removal will be cheap as with limited access, a lot will be manual labour.
 
nobbie48 said:
...
He actually would get a bigger bang for his buck if he combined the floor with some other work he will need in the near future. The digger and dumpster will already be there.
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Pour the driveway too!
put a thermal break between the garage and driveway ;)

I imagine permits will be the bigger problem.
 
Expose aggregate is one of the nicest concrete finishes you will ever find, and it's not that hard to do.

... everything is expensive.
 
GreyGhost said:
One of the variables is how much does your neighbour care if it is done properly? I have seen some concrete busted up on recent projects where spec called for 3" of gravel underneath and there was barely a single layer of stone (inspected and passed by the city inspector during construction). Start trying to fix those kinds of things during R&R and now you are digging in the garage and bringing in yards of stone.

Based on the prices Mike got, the new slab would be ~$5000. I doubt removal will be cheap as with limited access, a lot will be manual labour.
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I suspect a thin slab so a bit of excavating to accommodate the new thickness. If it was government it would be lab level, high strength, rebar and sealed micro finish. In reality, decent compaction and general workmanship would suffice.
 
+1 on the racedeck or equivalent. I installed the Costco product on my garage floor and haven't ever regretted that decision. It went right over the old garage floor, divots and all, no problems. Its warmer than bare concrete in the winter (working on a motorcycle with no lift sometimes), can take spills from oils and other chemicals and it looks nice. a floor of 360 sq. ft. would cost around $1500.
 
Looking into something similar now. Garage floor isn’t all that even but no cracks anywhere and just trying to level it out so could possibly put in a scissor lift and also put the gym in there....plus it looks ****.

following thread closely!
 
I haven't followed them for a while, but Racedeck used to have a Garage Journal discount, as well as an annual Black Friday sale for the general public. I got a quote years ago for my 20x20 in Freeflow for $1440 USD all in, including shipping to Canada and HST, also apparently no brokerage fees (better check with them, I don't remember how they arranged that). If I had it shipped within the US, it would have only been $1075 USD. That also included 20' of the beveled edging.
 
mimico_polak said:
Looking into something similar now. Garage floor isn’t all that even but no cracks anywhere and just trying to level it out so could possibly put in a scissor lift and also put the gym in there....plus it looks ****.

following thread closely!
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I would drill a small hole or two to see how thick the slab really is and then use a laser or level to determine how deep the valleys are. Builders aren't generous with garage slab thickness. If the slab had enough thickness consider grinding. All I know is from this video.

 
Doing our Garage too, and the racedeck stuff looked good, i found this which I like better. Anyone know a local supplier? I'm getting a quote now, if anyone want in, maybe will work out cheaper if we bundle

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