Flooring Choice: Freeflow or Diamond

[dmk118]

I'm sure this has been beat to death, but wanted to ask for my specific situation.

- 600sq ft garage
- No cars park in there
- Dirtbikes to come (kid is about to turn 3)
- Garage is used as the main entrance to my house (side garage style) so it gets a lot of traffic. Wifey wears heels to work, but that might end up being her problem to deal with
- garage gets dirty. I live in a wooded area; I'm always blowing out leaves, dirt, etc
- I'll also be putting in tool cabinets, storage, etc. I'll be doing plenty of work out there.
- Toy car to come someday. Had to trade that for the aforementioned little human.

I love the look of the pics I see using free flow, but want to know if that's the right choice for my application vs the solid diamond pattern. I plan on doing this project in March. Thanks!

 

[kram71]

It is individual choice but I would say circle not diamond or freeflow may be based on the following.

1. Entrance to house.
2. Wife and guests high heels.
3. Blowing out leaves and dirt.
4. I believe tool cabinets roll better on coin.

 

[dmk118]

Thank you! I'm really leaning towards Free Flow for aesthetics so I'm trying to talk myself into it. I really don't like the coin at all unfortunately. I just don't know if the leaves and debris that will blow in would be worse with free flow or a solid surface? As for the heels, there is a front door for her to use!

Also, once my tool cabinets are in place, they'll never move. I'm just trying to build a little workshop/man cave that will one day be a house for boy toys.

 

[kram71]

Thank you! I'm really leaning towards Free Flow for aesthetics so I'm trying to talk myself into it. I really don't like the coin at all unfortunately. I just don't know if the leaves and debris that will blow in would be worse with free flow or a solid surface? As for the heels, there is a front door for her to use!

Also, once my tool cabinets are in place, they'll never move. I'm just trying to build a little workshop/man cave that will one day be a house for boy toys.

I do not think you can make a wrong choice but based on what you said regarding blowing dirt and leaves I would consider solid. The leaves should just sit on top of the solid making them easy to blow out.

I think the Free Flow look amazing in pictures and the solid do not photograph as well but in person I actually thought the appearance was much closer. I would suggest getting samples of the solid in both coin and diamond as well as the Free Flow. Then once you see them in person your decision will be easier. Some of it is just personal taste. In photos I liked the diamond but in person I liked the coin appearance more than the diamond.

 

[kngelv]

If using a blower I vote for solid. I think dirt and stuff that gets under freeflow would not blow out very easily. The under structure that allows water to flow out would catch blown dirt and shoot it straight up through the grates.

James

 

[CJDave]

I have no issues using a blower on my Free Flow tiles. My overhead door faces south and a lot of leaves blow into the garage during the fall. They blow right out with my battery blower. Lots of opinions here from people who don't have the tile that they are opining about. 5 1/2 years of Free Flow and no complaints. Blow 'em, hose 'em or vac 'em. Function is fine and looks are great. I've had dozens of compliments including the UPS driver that delivered them. He wouldn't leave until I opened a couple of boxes and showed him. He came back a few days later to see the finished install. CJDave.

 

[kram71]

That is good to hear Dave since thge OP leans towards Freeflow. I think everyone should get samples so they can test for themelves.

 

[dmk118]

I have no issues using a blower on my Free Flow tiles. My overhead door faces south and a lot of leaves blow into the garage during the fall. They blow right out with my battery blower. Lots of opinions here from people who don't have the tile that they are opining about. 5 1/2 years of Free Flow and no complaints. Blow 'em, hose 'em or vac 'em. Function is fine and looks are great. I've had dozens of compliments including the UPS driver that delivered them. He wouldn't leave until I opened a couple of boxes and showed him. He came back a few days later to see the finished install. CJDave.

Great to hear, thanks for the feedback! I was hoping not to make a rash decision based on aesthetics alone. My overhead door faces South also so I'll just keep the leaf blower handy

 

[Blue XJ]

Try finding a pattern that includes both types of tiles that you like the look/pattern of. I have free flow tiles where my wife parks her car so all the rain/snow/dirt drips through the floor. The area between her car and the wall is solid tiles for storage cabinets to sit on and to walk on. The area in the middle where we store stuff, my workbench is located and gets most foot traffic is solid tiles, and then the hotrod storage/working portion of the garage is also solid. I found it much more comfortable to lay on the solid tiles than the free flow, and I don't have to worry about jackstands damaging the solid floor. I do have a couple spots in the free flow tiles that have jack stand indentations in them from having to lift a car there a few times.

Edit:

My leaves blow out of the free flow just fine, however, so does most of the dirt that falls beneath them, usually making a mess in the other portion of the garage. I usually put the large vacuum attachment on my shop vacuum and spend 3 minutes a month vacuuming out the dirt below the free flow. (We have a lot of dirt roads by us)

 

[RaceDeck1]

Hi
Thanks for your interest RaceDeck.... I would say you could go with any option or a combination of them ( ex: freeflow/solid) and I would not worry about heals on FreeFlow surfacing, the rib openenings are small.

 

[Garage Flooring]

I'm sure this has been beat to death, but wanted to ask for my specific situation.

- 600sq ft garage
- No cars park in there
- Dirtbikes to come (kid is about to turn 3)
- Garage is used as the main entrance to my house (side garage style) so it gets a lot of traffic. Wifey wears heels to work, but that might end up being her problem to deal with
- garage gets dirty. I live in a wooded area; I'm always blowing out leaves, dirt, etc
- I'll also be putting in tool cabinets, storage, etc. I'll be doing plenty of work out there.
- Toy car to come someday. Had to trade that for the aforementioned little human.

I love the look of the pics I see using free flow, but want to know if that's the right choice for my application vs the solid diamond pattern. I plan on doing this project in March. Thanks!

I agree with Jorgen. Free Flow always looks cleaner. That is for certain.

 

[Mouaster]

I like free flow also. I will look cleaner since the dirt falls to the bottom and you can just clean it up later.