We get a lot of questions about garage floor tiles. These questions come from our customer service emails. Justin’s supports the industry through his efforts in providing information about garage floors on various industry blogs, live chats, and of course phone calls. Much of this information is similar to what is in our FAQ section. This information is updated.
Should I use open tiles or solid tiles?
The tile that you use is up to you. There are different advantages to different garage flooring products. Similarly, different garage floor tiles do different things. Open tiles are great for wet and snowy climates. When you pull your vehicle into the garage, any moisture falls through leaving a clean, safe and dry place to walk. The tiles are easily cleaned with a shop vac and generally, do not need to be lifted to clean under them. If you have cement at the base of the walls — so your drywall does not run to the floor– you can power wash the floor from time to time.
Hard plastic tiles (polypropylene) or soft flexible tiles?
Nine times out of ten a rigid, hard plastic tile is the best choice for an automotive garage because they do not stain from tires and are very resistant to chemicals. In instances where PVC tiles are required, we suggest ordering a few extra tiles and installing black tiles under the garage floor. Be cautious using PVC tiles in areas with known moisture issues.
Are garage tiles loud? Do I need to use an underlayment?
In some garages, rigid tiles will make noise. Open tiles such flow-through tiles generally will not. When using a closed tile, we suggest using an inexpensive synthetic landscape fabric under the tile. The landscape fabric will almost completely eliminate noise from the tiles while still allowing moisture to pass through.
Are garage floor tiles hard to cut? Hard to install?
Of all the garage flooring products we sell, I would prefer to install a garage floor tile over a mat or a coating any day — from an ease of installation perspective. The center of the floor goes very very quickly. Depending on the installation method chosen, you may only need to cut the right side and the back (opposite the garage door). Cuts are made using a laminate cutting blade or a plastics cutting blade on a table saw, circular saw or, for small cuts a jigsaw.
What edges do I need? What is a female edge?
Just stop and trust us for a minute. For wall to wall applications, standing outside the garage and looking in, you should install the tiles so you have a flat side (male) to to the left and facing you. You should order female edges for the entry to the garage. Rigid tiles have 1′ edges. If you have a 16′ door you would order at least 16 edges. I would get two extra. Typically you run them from track to track. If the garage door is flush with the wall, you may want to run them the entire length of the wall. The female edges have loops. The male edges have pegs. The pegs go in the loops. More on edges here.
What colors should I get?
What colors do you want? My favorites are graphite and alloy. There is enough contrast that they look amazing but alloy does not show everything like white and graphite does not show the dist like a black garage tile would.
Are they going to expand and contract…. buckle?
We sell high-quality American Made garage floor tiles. When properly installed, installation issues like expansion and contraction can be minimized. A link to our instructions was provided above. To summarize. 1/2″ gap all the way around, including at the garage door, walls, posts, and other immovable objects. Keep tiles out in the sun and load them right away. Keep in mind if you install your garage tiles in the middle of winter and you leave your garage door open in the middle of August, the tiles are going to expand. In some cases, when installation is done in cold weather, minor adjustments are needed in the summer — but typically this can be avoided.
What if water gets under them?
What happens now? Does it dry up? soak in? run out of the garage? The rigid tiles are designed not to interfere with airflow and moisture.
Can I replace a tile or two?
Absolutely. Just use a screwdriver or putty knife to disengage the lock. The first time is the hardest, but once you get the feel of it, it is very easy to do.
How do you clean tile tiles?
There are a lot of ways to clean garage tiles. We use a neutral cleaner, a string mop and a bucket of hot water. For quick cleans, we use one of those ready to go ‘wet mops.’
