Tile joints in the garage and salt

[Johan Gunverth]

Anyone with experience or suggestions on how to deal with the problem of salt standing on the garage floor and potentially corroding grout joints? I haven't laid the floor yet, but it's getting close. I saw this week how eroded an unprotected floor gets from melting, salt-soaked slush. After just one season, there were half-centimeter deep craters in the floor. I was planning to have tiles on the floor in the heated garage to protect the surface from wear, but then I thought about the grout itself. It should be just as exposed as a raw concrete floor. How do you protect against that? Different grout? Impregnation? The idea is to be able to wash the car and do other dirty work, but how deep can you expect the "salt brine" to penetrate between the tiles? Maybe it's not a real problem?

 

[Alfred Jonsson]

It doesn't help with the glass of water?

 

[SBH]

ceramic tiles and studded tires?

 

[Helioz]

You will get maximum protection if you use epoxy grout/fix and a good granite tile for garage use. I find it hard to see that water glass and silicone-based grout impregnation would withstand the salt in the long run. Biltema has both relatively cheap grout (the picture is wrong, see further down) and tiles:
http://www.biltema.se/sv/Bygg/Kakel...-och-fog/Vattentat-fast--och-fogmassa-360001/
http://www.biltema.se/sv/Bygg/Kakel-och-mura/Klinker/Garageklinker-18-st-162-m-87085/

 

[Johan Gunverth]

Thanks for the tip. Time to learn how to grout with epoxy, then. I have already bought granite tiles, but the grout will be "fylle".

 

[Johan Gunverth]

tiles and studded tires?

Nope. Non-studded, but they can handle quick starts with studded tires too.