Help! Tile or Racedeck??? Looking for long-term solution

[Kevin Deal]

Greetings

I'm moving into my "last house" and decking out my garage with can lights and high end cabinets.

I wanted to do tile, but I'm concerned about problems. The REI 5 rated tile is 12x24, and we would use a membrane. One of my cars is a Tesla weighing over 6,000 lbs. And I have motorcycles.

I'm concerned with tiles cracking and maintenance. It's over $10k for tile/install.

Racedeck looks good. Or even Swisstrax. Racedeck has a tile with a protective glossy coat, but still I think it may look like plastic tiles in 5 years. I've spent $7k on cabinets and $3k on lighting. I want it nice.

Also I should add the floor has epoxy paint on it now. Any input on using a stripper vs a grinder before tiling would be appreciated.

 

[michael Mccoy]

I would not want to hear myself walking across plastic tiles. There are some videos of people who have installed racedeck, check it out.

 

[AaronTTRS]

I'm on my 2nd Racedeck Free Flow floor - 2 houses. Used my first for years, then sold it and it's now making the 2nd owner happy.

I'm in Indiana with snow, sleet, salt, etc. Never got dull, never had an issue with noise walking or driving, loved every second of it. Here's house 1 (black with red/white) after years of use and my new house (black/white).

Get the RaceDeck, YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!

AARON

 

[specj]

If you want tile, put down tile. Installed properly that tile will be a strong as the concrete underneath it. It's more expensive but is also a premium floor for a garage.

 

[rjacobs]

how large is this garage that tile is going to cost you 10k installed?

Im looking at doing ~750 sq. ft. in a new house next year and have priced out tile(12x24 PEI4), mortar and epoxy grout at ~1800 from Lowes/home depot. If I dont install it myself I have talked to a tile guy who will lay it for $2 a sq. ft. Thats just under $5 a sq. ft. Your 10k dollars would mean ~2000 sq. ft. Thats a big *** space. Thats a big *** space for race deck also. Racedeck, last I checked, was almost $4 a sq. ft.

What Tesla do you own that weighs 6k lbs? The Model X is ~5500 and the Model S is under 5k. Porcelain would have no issues at that weight. Ive seen 1 ton dually's on porcelain and they weigh a tad more than 6k lbs...

 

[Dakota00]

One of the tile jobs I did was a driveway and the landscaping crew was running a back hoe loader all over it to access the backyard. Not a single tile cracked or popped. A back hoe weighs 15,000+ lbs, so the weight of your Tesla is nothing. The key is in the installation!

 

[James-W]

I have a 24X36 garage and when I built it the wife and I had talked about the having a ceramic or porcelain tile floor put down. But I have never laid tile so I would not want to tackle a job that large. If it were a small bathroom then I would try doing it myself, but the garage was way too big a project for me.

Anyway, I did some checking around and just the labor to have it done was $6,000 so we decided to go another route. We didn't do anything for awhile and then I ordered Racedeck tiles. I really like the Racedeck floor tiles, we have the diamond tiles and yes they do have a slight clicking sound when you walk on them. But if you put down a layer of landscape material you wouldn't have that issue. The slight clicking does not bother me in the least, but I can see how it might bother others.

If you should decide you may want to go with Racedeck, give them a call and see what kind of a deal they will make. They give discounts to Garage Journal members and they also have special deals from time to time. It never hurts to check out all options before going forward.

 

[regguy1]

I used Tru Lock tiles, my concrete was cracked and uneven, the tiles hid the defects quite well. tru lock is a lower priced product $1.95 SF see it in the video

 

[pbon]

I think the ultimate is tile, but not 12x24 since big tiles are more easily cracked. Cracking wound be less of an issue in a show garage as opposed to a working garage. Look at a high end working garage and you see smaller tiles. My local
BMW dealer has a tiled service area and shop — small tiles maybe the shoe of a brick, with drains. I am using pvc (flexible rubber) rather than hard plastic. They cost more than plastic tiles, but I have a wood floor underneath and don’t want water dripping through plastic tiles. My cars get driven year round, including in rain and snow.

 

[flippin]

Just built a new attached garage (12x40) I used 2 types of swistrax. The front 2/3rds (28') is ribtrax (perforated) which allows any water from my bassboat "disappear" underneath the tiles and eventually out the garage door. The back 12' is solid diamondtrax. There is no doubt that the clicking sound was annoying (only solid diamondtrax). Thankfully the tile took 15 minutes to remove allowing me to install wasterproof rubber underpad. Problem averted. I love the look of the ribtrax and how quickly it is to install.

In the orginal garage (20' x20') which will serve as the main shop I installed 8"x8" full bodied porcelain. The tiles look awesome and should last forever. The smaller tile, full bodied color and ditra mat base should be durable enough for welding, grinding and anything else that my heart desires. I installed a stainless transition strip at the garage door to handle the salt from our Canadian winters.

Ultimately my recommendation would be based on your usage. Swisstrax (or Racedeck) is less expensive and way easier to install. Selecting between a perforated (ribtrax) tile or a solid tile again is usage dependent. Dropping small parts (screws etc) on a perforated tile will be problematic and will require a solid tile. If you need use a welder, then porcelain is the best solution. In the interests of durability, select smaller tiles and choose a full bodied instead of a glazed tile.

Hope this helps,

-Paul

 

[rburke65]

Ok....educate me. What are plastic tiles? Ya talking race deck stuff or ?

 

[rburke65]

Ok....educate me. What are plastic tiles? Ya talking race deck stuff or ?

 

[marsh1]

I had Swisstrax free flow in my last house and 9 years after install it looks new. In my new house I went with Race Deck's new free flow XLC. I actually did epoxy first but hated how quickly it showed dirt and spots from a wet car. I would expect tile to have the same issues. I kept the epoxy on the raised areas and think the combination is a great look. If you don't mind the cleanup there are numerous posts where members have done porcelain tile and it looks great and all report it holds up well if properly installed

 

[marsh1]

Have you already installed the can lights? If not there is a great thread about light fixture layout and another about fixtures. I followed the recommended layout and light recommendation for my ceiling height and it is daylight bright with no shadows.

 

[DL7265]

Personally , dont see the point of plastic . Any leaks or what not you have is just going to seep down onto your concrete anyways and stain it. And I wouldn’t want to be jacking up cars on it / installing a lift either( something I would be doing ) . I think the only way I’d even consider is If you had a bad epoxy floor job and were just trying to hide it .


Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[marsh1]

Personally , dont see the point of plastic . Any leaks or what not you have is just going to seep down onto your concrete anyways and stain it. And I wouldn’t want to be jacking up cars on it / installing a lift either( something I would be doing ) . I think the only way I’d even consider is If you had a bad epoxy floor job and were just trying to hide it .


Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app

I have jacked up cars and had a lift on flow through (plastic) tiles for years. Neither has any effect on the tiles. The are easy to pop up to clean a spill but I rarely did it. The condition of floor underneath is barely noticeable.

 

[Angelfire]

I did porcelain and couldn't be happier. It was a lot of work for a Non Tile Pro such as myself but the floor has held up to everything I've thrown at it without a single scratch. My tiles are 12x24 and while they do have a slight bow given their large format, proper backbuttering eliminates the cracking concern. As Dakota mentioned above, the key to tile is the install. Properly installed, porcelain will be your last floor covering needed.
Cheers

 

[CombatNinja]

If you spent $7,000 on cabinets and $3,000 on lighting, what difference does $10,000 on the floor make? Porcelain properly installed is the ultimate. Anything else is pretty much a compromise in terms of cost, appearance, upkeep, ease of install, etc. But, yeah--how big is this garage anyway?

 

[AaronTTRS]

I’ve never had an issue using a jack or jack stands on either of my RaceDeck floors.


Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[jkuro]

3K on Lighting? I hope they were gold plated fixtures!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[pbon]

He probably paid for installation. I installed a total of 30 4’ LED wrap lights on the 1st and 2nd floors of my garage and spent about $1500 on parts (lights, wiring, switches). I did the install myself and it took enough time that I think a professional would have charged $1500 in labor.

I spent about $5k on cabinets—29’ of New Age Pro cabinets and lockers. Again, I supplied the labor.

I installed a pvc tile floor as well. That was expensive. Plastic tiles would have been cheaper but I wanted a waterproof surface because the floor underneath is wood.

 

[CombatNinja]

Agreed, I'm sure he paid for labor at those prices. My point is that a guy who can spend $10,000 on cabinets and lighting probably isn't going to sweat another $10,000 on the floor. Since it sounds distinctly like he is not going to DIY the floor, I would personally sooner spend $10K doing it once with porcelain than $5K on questionable epoxy or $3K on plastic tiles.

 

[Cairo94507]

I have a large 3-car garage and I did it the way I wanted, top to bottom. Listening to Dakota00 on this site and he posted into this thread, I went with PEI 5 12x12 porcelain tile. I absolutely love it and drive my cars on it, roll jacks on it and have a mid-rise scissor lift sunk into the floor. I use my garage but do not abuse it. Tile been down over a year and it looks perfect still. Sure the cost is more up front, but no peeling, bubbling, or issues with the click together floors. Seen all of those and have never been impressed buy them. Do it right, do it once and never have to touch it again. Good luck.

 

[Kevin Deal]

how large is this garage that tile is going to cost you 10k installed?

Im looking at doing ~750 sq. ft. in a new house next year and have priced out tile(12x24 PEI4), mortar and epoxy grout at ~1800 from Lowes/home depot. If I dont install it myself I have talked to a tile guy who will lay it for $2 a sq. ft. Thats just under $5 a sq. ft. Your 10k dollars would mean ~2000 sq. ft. Thats a big *** space. Thats a big *** space for race deck also. Racedeck, last I checked, was almost $4 a sq. ft.

What Tesla do you own that weighs 6k lbs? The Model X is ~5500 and the Model S is under 5k. Porcelain would have no issues at that weight. Ive seen 1 ton dually's on porcelain and they weigh a tad more than 6k lbs...

I have an X. I thought it was over 6k. I've decided to pull the trigger on tile.

 

[Mighunter]

The thing I hate most about my racedeck floor is after I walk on it for 15 seconds and I touch something metal, I get a static electricity shock. It’s f#!%& constant! I have no idea why.

 

[Angelfire]

I've decided to pull the trigger on tile.

Whether you do it yourself or hire it out, do yourself a favor and read Dakota’s thread:
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=212509

Know how it’s done right and you’ll end up with a bulletproof installation

Cheers

 

[CJDave]

I'm on my 2nd Racedeck Free Flow floor - 2 houses. Used my first for years, then sold it and it's now making the 2nd owner happy.

I'm in Indiana with snow, sleet, salt, etc. Never got dull, never had an issue with noise walking or driving, loved every second of it. Here's house 1 (black with red/white) after years of use and my new house (black/white).

Get the RaceDeck, YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!

AARON

+1 0n this. Love mine. CJDave.

 

[White Shadow]

The thing I hate most about my racedeck floor is after I walk on it for 15 seconds and I touch something metal, I get a static electricity shock. It’s f#!%& constant! I have no idea why.

That's bizzare. I've had my RaceDeck floor in my garage for almost three years now and I've never experienced that. I'm always walking across the floor to get to my workbench and tool cabinets. Never got a static shock...