My Racedeck floor, done!

[The Lazy Destroyer]

Well actually it's been done for a little while but it took me some time to clean the garage enough for decent pics

My garage had a really awful concrete floor, broom finished and extremely dirty, really hard to sweep. It also created a lot of dust in the garage. I could go on. Did a TON of research and chose Racedeck, as it was right for me. The ability to start/stop working on it at any time was great too before I travel a lot for work, mostly with no warning. It took a year to be able to save up and pull the trigger on it, and I am really glad I did.

I don't have any really good "before" pictures as we kind of just dived straight into it, but here are a couple from last year shortly after I bought the house:

Here's the design, I wanted the checkered style with some extra color, and made the border thicker to keep it from being too plain:

It's about 900 sq/ft

Racedeck arrived!
Of course I was not home when it got delivered (work trip) but my wife stayed home from work that day to sign for it! She's a keeper!

I really owed her one too because the shipper delivered it with a semi which can't get down my driveway. So she had to help push the pallet jack which I'm sure she enjoyed!!

My dad came up to help with the installation. I think one person can definitely do this solo but having two people helped, and he noticed a couple errors in the layout before I "snapped" the tiles in which was nice. We had to keep referencing the layout page I printed, the design wasn't too complex but we got mixed up a couple times I think from rushing a little. The guys that post the intricate/complex Racedeck designs I really have to hand it to!

Cleaning out the garage, we couldn't really remove everything so we moved as much as we could to the side:

Got the beginning "L" done, took us a while but we picked up the pace quickly

Almost there:

Making some of the final cuts. I used a jigsaw and it worked great. I used some painters tape to see the cutting line since all my cuts were with black tiles.

 

[The Lazy Destroyer]

Here's the final product:

 

[CT2012]

looks awesome!

 

[winnipegk5]

Very nice.

 

[The Lazy Destroyer]

Overall I am really pleased with how it turned out. It wasn't cheap but with the GJ discount it put it within my budget. The customer service was great, I worked with Shauna who treated me really well.

The install was really straightforward and I didn't really run into any major issues. Even the packaging from Racedeck was nice, their boxes even have the install instructions printed on them. They are really easy to figure out but it is a nice touch.

I kept the gap a little larger than recommended at 3/4" or so, especially at the longer ends, since my space is 41' long so I figured I may see slightly more expansion than normal 2-car garages. I put the boxes of tiles outside in the sun and installed in the afternoon so they would be expanded as much as possible.

I did use an underlayment, mostly because of how my floor is somewhat uneven in spots and has a really rough finish which kept me from cleaning it perfectly. In the end I don't mind doing it (doesn't add any significant cost and was a quick step in the process) but I think it wasn't needed. In my opinion, if you have a really smooth and flat garage floor like most attached garages then you probably do not need it.

I used a jigsaw which worked fine for me. If you can find a fine tooth reverse direction blade that might keep the mess down, especially if you cut over a trash can like I did.
To be honest if you can find one of the cutters used in the Racedeck install videos, that would be the best bet. I think the final cutting was one of the longest steps. I saw some posts about Racedeck and other suppliers having loaner cutters, if I were to do this again I would for sure ask nicely if that offer is still available, would have been much quicker I think, and without the mess.

 

[CT2012]

that underlayment--looks like landscaping cloth? if so what does that do for you?

 

[JimVonBaden]

Looks great! I only wish my garage was that big!

By the way, I like how you fancied up your HF tire changer:

I changed over 250 sets of MC tires on mine before upgrading to a No-Mar unit.

Jim

 

[hardhat]

Looks great, well done

 

[RaceDeck1]

Your garage looks great and thank you for choosing RaceDeck
We posted one of your shots on our FaceBook page http://www.facebook.com/RaceDeck , we will also add to our website gallery on the next refresh.

Thanks again.

 

[albaran]

Looks great. I had a similar floor to yours and went through the same research about whether or not to put the underlayment down. I decided against it. It would be great if we could do a side by side Racedeck test of underlayment vs no underlayment. I don't think you need it. IMHO I would think that the underlayment would give you more movement when you walk on it instead of the solid feel you get without it. Perhaps Jorgen can comment on this.

 

[The Lazy Destroyer]

that underlayment--looks like landscaping cloth? if so what does that do for you?

It is to keep the floor a little more quiet when walking on it. Yes it is the synthetic landscaping felt, I think I got 1,000sq.ft for about $70 or so from Lowes/HD. Depending on the floor's condition it may not be needed. I did it mostly as a precaution since my floor is rough in some particular spots.

By the way, I like how you fancied up your HF tire changer:

I changed over 250 sets of MC tires on mine before upgrading to a No-Mar unit.

Hah! Good eye! I actually haven't used it much since getting it. Previous owner had it outside for a while so it's looking pretty rough in spots. So I have to clean it up and repaint it sometime, and get it mounted to a proper base.

It would be great if we could do a side by side Racedeck test of underlayment vs no underlayment. I don't think you need it.

I agree, if I did RD in my attached garage (which has a proper smooth/level floor) I probably wouldn't bother and just lay it straight down.

 

[CT2012]

will, or can, that stuff get moldy/musty if put on bare concrete and under plastic tile like that?

It is to keep the floor a little more quiet when walking on it. Yes it is the synthetic landscaping felt, I think I got 1,000sq.ft for about $70 or so from Lowes/HD. Depending on the floor's condition it may not be needed. I did it mostly as a precaution since my floor is rough in some particular spots.

 

[The Lazy Destroyer]

No, as long as you use a synthetic material and not a cloth/paper type it should be fine.

 

[RaceDeck1]

No, as long as you use a synthetic material and not a cloth/paper type it should be fine.

That is correct

 

[Chris05gto]

Nice job!

 

[dlc]

Looks great, I like the pattern you used. Is the SS real or a clone? I just bought a one owner 94 recently.

 

[The Lazy Destroyer]

Looks great, I like the pattern you used. Is the SS real or a clone? I just bought a one owner 94 recently.

It's a 95 Caprice 9C1. I don't consider it too much of a clone since I don't have any Impala badging on it, just the grill. The wheels are mostly just for street duty when doing tuning and taking it to the shop, and so it's not sitting on the track tires when in the garage. This is how it usually sits:

Have you hit up the Impala Forum yet?

 

[darkk]

Nice....

 

[Rentawrench]

I know this is the flooring section an the floor looks Great . But I must ask---What are the lights? It looks Bright in there.

 

[The Lazy Destroyer]

So the lights were originally there when it was built, so they are probably early-mid ninties 4x4' units. Four total, plus some smaller units in the back corner under the storage loft. Kinda generic flush mount ones. They were originally mounted flush against the walls but I mounted them to some custom triangle mounts to 1) aim the lights downward a bit better and 2) keep any heat off of the insulation that I added. Some are still on their original ballasts, but a couple have newer cheap solid state units to fix some humming issues.

I pre-wired the ceiling for extra lights for the future but as it is now the lighting is pretty good as is!

 

[NCAudi]

Floor turned out great.

 

[Bonefishmak]

Is yours RaceDeck diamondtrac? So not TuffShield right?