Guys with RaceDeck Floors got a question

[hoblick]

my order should be here Wed. I saw on here somewhere a guy put underlayment under his before he layed it, made it a bit quieter.

im wondering you guys with the RaceDeck flooring could tell me if the racedeck flooring does insulate the garage at all?

or is your concrete slab and the racedeck about the same temp.

and also would the underlayment make much of a difference of making the floor less cold.

my slab is uninsulated, and anything i can do to make the floor a bit warmer would help.

 

[TigerGA]

Not sure where you live, but I'm on the Georgia coast and just finished my RaceDeck install this week. My tiles are about the same temp. as the concrete, but keep in mind our outside air temp. usually ranges 60-80 degrees this time of year. I don't think under-layment is going to help with insulation...I used landscape felt and I could see thru it, so its insulation proprieties wound be slight.

 

[hoblick]

our low temps right now are in the 20s - 30s

 

[Charlieu]

Mid 30's this morning in north FL and walking around on the RaceDeck in socks did seem a bit better than walking on the concrete. However, we have these temps for a few hours. I imagine that having days and days of these temps would get both concrete and Racedeck equally cold. An underlay might help depending on the material. I don't think landscaping material would do much though.

 

[vectorw8015]

Its cold here in Michigan. I have owned racedeck for many years. It is is directly on my concrete in my garage and it is loud when you walk on it. It tends to buckel in the heat and my low rise lift had to be bolted through the racedeck directly in to the concrete because even with rubber strips on the bottom of the lift it still slid all over the garage when you tried to put a car on the lift. Also it does not provide any insulation its as cold as the concrete below it.

 

[hot4rd]

I think the Racedeck is warmer than the bare concrete. My feet don't get cold like they did before the Racedeck.

 

[gesoffen]

I don't have a racedeck (my floor is still concrete) but am familiar with the product and design having researched it for my garage floor. The floor system itself won't insulate from the cold nor will an underlayment. In fact, no amount of insulation will keep an unconditioned garage from eventually reaching the outside air/ground temp, it will just slow the change in temperature.

However, it may feel a bit warmer because it does provide a bit of a thermal break from the concrete floor. For example, if you stand on a cold concrete floor in bare feet, your feet will feel colder because the heat is transferring from your body to the large heat sink that is your concrete slab. On a Racedeck style floor, your body heat is transferred to a the local area around your feet, so the heat transfer is less (since the racedeck tiles have air space under them and due to the material properties, they aren't as thermally conductive) and the "feel" warmer.

 

[hoblick]

I don't have a racedeck (my floor is still concrete) but am familiar with the product and design having researched it for my garage floor. The floor system itself won't insulate from the cold nor will an underlayment. In fact, no amount of insulation will keep an unconditioned garage from eventually reaching the outside air/ground temp, it will just slow the change in temperature.

However, it may feel a bit warmer because it does provide a bit of a thermal break from the concrete floor. For example, if you stand on a cold concrete floor in bare feet, your feet will feel colder because the heat is transferring from your body to the large heat sink that is your concrete slab. On a Racedeck style floor, your body heat is transferred to a the local area around your feet, so the heat transfer is less (since the racedeck tiles have air space under them and due to the material properties, they aren't as thermally conductive) and the "feel" warmer.

everything else in the garage is insulated.. the floor is an uninsulated slab though.. and when its cold out, while 99% of my body is warm and garage temps are in the upper 60s low 70s my feet still get really cold.

im hoping the flooring will put a little barrier between my feet and the concrete so as my feet wont be as cold.

still thinking of putting some sort of underlayment down, to reduce noise if anything

 

[mikeyr]

It will be warmer and comfy. I have 10+ years with my Racedeck and it has made a difference in the garage. Its not any warmer, its not magic but it does insulate from the concrete.

 

[dringb]

My racedeck has only been down a couple of weeks, but it is much more comfortable to work on than the concrete underneath it. I didn't insulate since I live in the deep south.

 

[les_garten]

I think it does slow transfer of heat.

Does it insulate, maybe a little, but not sure it is measurable. There is an air layer trapped there.

It doesn't feel as cold as concrete.

It's kinda like if you were outside during winter. You could stick your tongue on tree bark and it wouldn't freeze to it, but we all know what happens if we stick our tongue on a Flagpole. Both are the same temp. Has to do with thermal conduction. That's what makes the racedeck feel warmer IMHO.

 

[jeffj78]

My garage is heated/insulated (kept ~ 60 degrees) so I couldn't tell you the exact difference between the slab and RD tiles but my feet don't get nearly as cold when I didn't have it, especially near the doors! I don't think the underlayment will help much with noise or temps. I don't hear the clatter that everyone on here talks about and my RD floor is right on the slab.