Drunkonunleaded
Well-known member
Since I moved in 6 years ago, I’ve agonized over which flooring to put in my garage. I wanted something that would hold up to doing real work and deal with all four seasons that we get here in Metro Detroit.
My first thought was epoxy or similar coatings. The DIY options were more than I wanted to take on. To be frank, the idea of having my garage torn apart for a week or two while I grind, lay the coating, etc. was not all that appealing.
I looked into a few local installers and spoke with some neighbors. A few had good experiences, but noted that even with traction agents the floor can be slippery in the winter. Others had issues with hot tires lifting up the coatings. Couple that with the horror stores on here where some installers mix a solvent in to aid in application and I really didn’t see this as a viable option.
RaceDeck has always looked great, but I was concerned about using it in a garage that sees real mechanical work. Most of RaceDeck’s advertising shows garages where it appears as though there’s a lot more parking than swinging wrenches.
Two things changed that perspective. The first was visiting a Powersports dealer who had RaceDeck throughout their shop. It held up well in the high traffic areas and had no issues with having sleds drug across it.
The other was a conversation with user @kngelv who has a similar setup to mine in a similar climate. He even shared my sentiments about RaceDeck being advertised towards what I’d call “leisure” garages despite holding up well to real work.
Still, I wasn’t 100% convinced. To get an idea of colors and patterns, I placed a small order of about a dozen tiles and put them in high traffic areas. Over the past two years, they held up extremely well. That’s when I decided to pull the trigger.
I have to give a shoutout here to Shauna at RaceDeck. She made the purchase process incredibly easy. In total, I will have placed three separate orders to get the floor how I wanted it. Shauna was extremely helpful (and patient) with me as I sorted this all out.
When I started, I wanted to ensure that I had roughly even rows of colors showing despite things like my refrigerator and shelving. I settled on 4 rows of black tiles along the back and sides, with two rows in the front.
Assembly was extremely easy. I did, however, find that the darker tiles were harder to snap together. Assembly was accomplished with a 24oz dead blow and my flip-flop shod foot. The only damage was to a blue tile as I tried to separate it from another. That was entirely operator error.
To get the pattern, I started with the female side in the back left corner and worked my way towards the right and the front of the garage. In the starting corner, I butter up directly against the door frame.
My pattern choice left me with a 1” air gap at the front and back (the former with a transition strip! Along the right side, I’ll have about 6” IF I decide not to cut and place half tiles there.
The only change I made was to drop down to a 1 tile row of bike vs. 2. Personally, I thought that two rows made the graphite portion in the center look too small. I’m glad that I ordered everything piecemeal as opposed to relying solely upon the designer and hoping things looked good in practice.
I’ll update this thread when the final order arrives and everything is in place. This last 30% will be the most difficult as I have pallet shelving to disassemble/move. When this happens, I’ll also be replacing the damaged pegboard and adding rockwool to the exterior walls.
The only real thing that I’m unsure about is how/what to set my drill press on. I plan to order some “solid” tiles to set the shelving units on. I don’t believe that’s needed but it certainly cannot hurt. I’m debating on doing that with the drill press or perhaps getting a 2’x2’ piece of plywood.
So far, I have nothing but positive things to say about both RaceDeck as a company and their product.
My first thought was epoxy or similar coatings. The DIY options were more than I wanted to take on. To be frank, the idea of having my garage torn apart for a week or two while I grind, lay the coating, etc. was not all that appealing.
I looked into a few local installers and spoke with some neighbors. A few had good experiences, but noted that even with traction agents the floor can be slippery in the winter. Others had issues with hot tires lifting up the coatings. Couple that with the horror stores on here where some installers mix a solvent in to aid in application and I really didn’t see this as a viable option.
RaceDeck has always looked great, but I was concerned about using it in a garage that sees real mechanical work. Most of RaceDeck’s advertising shows garages where it appears as though there’s a lot more parking than swinging wrenches.
Two things changed that perspective. The first was visiting a Powersports dealer who had RaceDeck throughout their shop. It held up well in the high traffic areas and had no issues with having sleds drug across it.
The other was a conversation with user @kngelv who has a similar setup to mine in a similar climate. He even shared my sentiments about RaceDeck being advertised towards what I’d call “leisure” garages despite holding up well to real work.
Still, I wasn’t 100% convinced. To get an idea of colors and patterns, I placed a small order of about a dozen tiles and put them in high traffic areas. Over the past two years, they held up extremely well. That’s when I decided to pull the trigger.
I have to give a shoutout here to Shauna at RaceDeck. She made the purchase process incredibly easy. In total, I will have placed three separate orders to get the floor how I wanted it. Shauna was extremely helpful (and patient) with me as I sorted this all out.
When I started, I wanted to ensure that I had roughly even rows of colors showing despite things like my refrigerator and shelving. I settled on 4 rows of black tiles along the back and sides, with two rows in the front.
Assembly was extremely easy. I did, however, find that the darker tiles were harder to snap together. Assembly was accomplished with a 24oz dead blow and my flip-flop shod foot. The only damage was to a blue tile as I tried to separate it from another. That was entirely operator error.
To get the pattern, I started with the female side in the back left corner and worked my way towards the right and the front of the garage. In the starting corner, I butter up directly against the door frame.
My pattern choice left me with a 1” air gap at the front and back (the former with a transition strip! Along the right side, I’ll have about 6” IF I decide not to cut and place half tiles there.
The only change I made was to drop down to a 1 tile row of bike vs. 2. Personally, I thought that two rows made the graphite portion in the center look too small. I’m glad that I ordered everything piecemeal as opposed to relying solely upon the designer and hoping things looked good in practice.
I’ll update this thread when the final order arrives and everything is in place. This last 30% will be the most difficult as I have pallet shelving to disassemble/move. When this happens, I’ll also be replacing the damaged pegboard and adding rockwool to the exterior walls.
The only real thing that I’m unsure about is how/what to set my drill press on. I plan to order some “solid” tiles to set the shelving units on. I don’t believe that’s needed but it certainly cannot hurt. I’m debating on doing that with the drill press or perhaps getting a 2’x2’ piece of plywood.
So far, I have nothing but positive things to say about both RaceDeck as a company and their product.
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