Flooring for areas with snow/salt/sand?

[mikeb33]

In SE Wisconsin they spread a mix of salt and sand when it snows. It gets under the car and then melts off onto the garage floor. Every few weeks I sweep up the sandy powder. Trying to decide on a new floor, of course it's epoxy or tiles. I am liking tiles for the DIY aspect and epoxy I hear can be hit or miss, mostly I guess depending on the installer. I don't do a lot of work in there, maybe oil change or floor jack to rotate tires. I also have my table and miter saws in there.
If I do something like Racedeck, where does the water slush go?

 

[CSRPenFab]

I have 1,000 sq ft of RaceDeck FreeFlow tiles down in my Idaho garage. They don't use salt up here, but a mix of sand and Mag Chloride. During snows, I get a muddy slush draining from the cars. The FreeFlow tiles handle it perfectly. The mess melts and drains below the tiles and then flows outside with the slope of my garage floor. You're left with some minimil dried mud/muck on the tiles where the car was parked.

I pretty much leave it alone until Spring and then a quick shop-vac and pressure wash of the floor to make it look new again.

 

[mikeb33]

My garage floor must not much slope because water tends to drain to the driveway, but there is piles of sand and silt that I sweep up. Where would that go on this type of floor? Wouldn't it clog up over time?

 

[CSRPenFab]

My garage floor must not much slope because water tends to drain to the driveway, but there is piles of sand and silt that I sweep up. Where would that go on this type of floor? Wouldn't it clog up over time?

Shop vac cleans it up.

 

[Denwood]

RaceDeck FreeFlow parking/drain pad

RaceDeck FreeFlow parking and drain pad Here's a roll up of the journey to address drainage and snow melt managment in a shop that: 1. Slopes 1" to the side wall. 2. Is only heated when in use. 3. Where outside temps can drop below -35C. The problem became obvious the first time my wife...

www.garagejournal.com

8 years and counting with no issues. We see -30 C temps all the time in winter, so draining to the door would be a disaster.

I used racedeck free flow, vinyl curbing (forms a low lip) and an EPDM roofing layer underneath to catch snow melt. The curbing is sealed to the EPDM and the racedeck "pad" floats inside it. I just slide out the racedeck pad every spring to sweep up sand/gravel.

Although I did install a garage drain, in operation, there are a few low spots where water accumulates. I have a shop vac with nozzle sitting at the edge of the drain pad's low area which runs via automation for 1 minute every hour. I just dump the water out every few days. The drain is in use rarely because of this setup. We park the EV in there so there is no risk of oil/gas contamination.

 

[CJDave]

I love my Free Flow. Snow and salt here along with the normal grit. Mostly flows with the slope of the floor under the tiles. In the spring I'll use my leftover car wash soap and a long handled brush to clean off the tile. Hose to rinse and done. No regrets. CJDave.

 

[Swisstrax_Official]

This video demonstrates how to clean dirty interlocking tiles after months of brutal winter weather:

A shop vac and a mop should help clear any clogged snow/debris in the tiles.

 

[Armorpoxy]

Hi, our www.supratile.com heavy duty solid interlocking tiles don't allow water to pass through the joints so sand/salt, etc just sits on it and is easily swept or rinsed out.

 

[RaceDeck1]

RaceDeck is engineered for exactly this type of garage enviroment.. in fact, we are based in Utah and right now at my house we have 6' snow on the ground.. We have plenty of testing over the years - Our Multi-Patented FreeFlow and FreeFlowXLC ( the beefiest tile on the. market) offer superior drainage

Here is a customer photo

 

[Sumboodie]

2 coats of floor paint or epoxy and call it done.

 

[CSRPenFab]

I'll second the vote for RaceDeck FreeFlow for a painless floor during snow/salt season. I'm in Idaho and we don't get as much as Utah, but enough to cause a mess. You ought to see my neighbors with full flake epoxy floors. Theirs looks like a hot mess while my muck drains through and flows out. A quick cleaning come spring and it'll look new again.

 

[FryZ]

What do guys with Freeflow tiles have for a coating on the concrete underneath? Where I live they salt like no other. It’s literally called the salt city lol. I’d be worried aboutthe salt water draining through and sitting on the concrete all winter and eating away at it. Maybe a sealer of some sort then the Freeflow over it?

 

[RaceDeck1]

What do guys with Freeflow tiles have for a coating on the concrete underneath? Where I live they salt like no other. It’s literally called the salt city lol. I’d be worried aboutthe salt water draining through and sitting on the concrete all winter and eating away at it. Maybe a sealer of some sort then the Freeflow over it?

FreeFlow has a patented under structure that allows liquids, road slop and debris to flow freely to drains or out the door - I even wash my cars all winter in the garage and there is nothing better than coming out in the morning and all that snowy road slop has melted away through the floor. - Most concrete floors have some sort of sealer already on the floor and many customers are covering up failed paint or epoxy coatings.

 

[donsladek]

FreeFlow has a patented under structure that allows liquids, road slop and debris to flow freely to drains or out the door - I even wash my cars all winter in the garage and there is nothing better than coming out in the morning and all that snowy road slop has melted away through the floor. - Most concrete floors have some sort of sealer already on the floor and many customers are covering up failed paint or epoxy coatings.

My 25+ concrete garage floor has pitting from salt damage. Do I need to apply a coating to fill the pits before using Racedeck FreeFlow tiles? If not will the floor continue to deteriorate due to wet salt residue settling in the pits?

Thanks!

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

(2) coats of Nohr-S® Polyurea and done.

 

[Toomanytools?]

You are either cleaning up slop and muck on an epoxy floor or in the spring you are cleaning the dried muck under a racedeck floor. Most garage floors are not perfectly flat and water will pool in spots, even if you have good slope to the floor the sand and road dirt will clog the flow, the water may make it out but the muck stays. With a Racedeck floor you won't be walking on the snow and slush as it will eventually melt through.