My Racedeck install

[ceta4zng]

Just a quick thread of my 1-yr garage transformation. As you all know - no project is ever really finished but other than a highlift door on my daily driver side and an upgrade from a kwiklift to a four-post, there's not much left to do.

So this is what I started with last year. The garage is messy because these are shots of when we moved in and the garage served as storage as we unpacked. The loft system built by previous owner is real however and I apologize in advance for any retina damage or nausea these early photos may cause

 

[ceta4zng]

My wife thought the loft might be a good idea for storage - so I went up there to get the stuff left behind and check it out. Crawling on hands and knees (there was enough room I could stand but was too scared), I put a knee through, almost had a heart attack and decided to rip it all down. So for most of the year, it was tidy, but the walls and floor badly needed help

 

[ceta4zng]

Late summer I sold my older GTA and bought a newer Trans Am - so I had no car projects (except for a good detailing) for the winter - I decide it was time to do something about the garage.

 

[ceta4zng]

And the last step was the floor

 

[ceta4zng]

Figured - for me - racedeck was the best choice. Called up - great service, great GJ discount - arrived on time with the order exactly correct. UPS man even tucked them in the garage for me while I was at work.

 

[ceta4zng]

Install was simple - you pick up a few techniques that work best and tools that come in handy for separating the tiles. My 11-year old son helped connect the pieces while I separated the 4x4 squares. I would say the most difficult parts of the racedeck experience was 1) figuring out a pattern. You can obsess for hours over that and 2) the minor pain of designing a checkerboard pattern and having to take apart the 4x4s and connect one color at a time. The red sections of my pattern were 4x4 so those were cake. The checkerboard looks great, but works a lot faster with two people - a "taker-aparter" and an installer. Oh, and the rubber mallet was a little loud - I'm fairly distanced from the neighbors and the doors were closed, but I will probably still get the "what the heck were you doing last night?" Both my cars were on the driveway (never happens), so they probably figured I was up to no good in the garage.

After making the cuts for the end pieces I finished at about 1am - so I didn't get to really clean up and snap finished photos. I have to pull the kwiklift in and get the Trans Am back in the air. The Mustang (daily driver) slept outside - but she's tough.

And Jorgen - if you are out there - should I put some pieces of plywood under the kwiklift (you can Eugooglize it if you are unfamiliar - didn't want to link to a non-sponsor) - or will the racedeck be alright under there alone. I feel like covering racedeck with pieces of plywood sort of defeats the purpose of having a nice looking floor. Thanks.

 

[FLAdam]

Great transformation.

 

[Dan Metzler]

Nicely done! More pics please and what are the dimensions of your garage?

 

[ViperJon]

Did you give any thought to putting some "underlayment" material down first? I am concerned about the clickity clack effect when I do mine.. Do you notice any rebound sound when walking on it? I know that Jorgen has recommended some landscaping felt if it's an issue.

Love the checkerboard design, I know some have said it's a played out look but I think it's a classic.

 

[formek]

wow looks good

 

[RaceDeck1]

I know Kwiklift, they offer several lift options. If you are using the drive on system or the 4 post lift,you should be fine with just the RaceDeck... Remember fill your garage will all your other items on the floor prior to placing the lift on the floor.

Send some pics

 

[lcrabtree]

My Kwik Lift with the caster option left mashed in places where the 16 casters were after two weeks of sitting with a 2400 lb car on it. Not too pleased about that, but like you I think it looks bad to have plywood squares on such a nice looking floor. I haven't decided what to do yet.
Mine is Garage Deck, maybe that's why it dented in?
Lester

 

[ceta4zng]

It's the drive on kwiklift - seems as if the weight is fairly well distributed - summertime I lay it flat and park on it - so I'm hoping it'll be fine.

The lift was the last thing (it spent the night outside too). I very happy with the way it turned out. I just feel like there should be a red Ferrari in there though.

The garage is 20x24 - but I did a 19x19 square as there are stairs leading up into the house that I want to leave carpeted for cleaning/drying of shoes.

I did not use any underlay - and probably won't ever have the wherewithal to take it up and put some down. The floor certainly makes a fair amount of noise relative to the bare concrete - but I don't really see it being a problem (and I go to the gym at 4:30am during the week) anywhere in the house. I think it has been posted before, but like a little noise so I get a clue of where I drop stuff.

More picts

 

[Wingnut65]

Congrats! That is a wold of difference from the 'before' shots. Love the colors and pattern.

lcrabtree, one suggestion would be to use plywood, but round over the top side edges and paint them to complement the floor, or black works well. That way it wouldn't look just like standard old plywood. I use plywood squares under my floor jack and jack stands when on top of my RaceDeck.

 

[lcrabtree]

Thanks Wingnut65. Sounds like a good idea to dress up the plywood.

Lester

 

[ceta4zng]

Good point. I was thinking about painting some plywood the "cherry pickin" red of the walls - for under the lift if I have it raised. And doing some 2x4s for when I have the lift in the park-on mode. I have some paint left and was also going to do that ugly white center post to match the walls.

 

[Dan Metzler]

Thanks for the updates and extra pics.

 

[holland_patrick]

Veru very nice... I'm sure you like trading up for the vert but your GTA was bad ***...

 

[D.J.]

Very nice look except for the center post need some quarter-round around it!

 

[ceta4zng]

thanks - yeah, I'd like to figure out a way to get that column out of there altogether. I'm going to paint it match the walls to start.

The GTA was great, but the 14 years of automotive technology between the cars is an eternity. Being I built the GTA myself, I was always nervous about driving it - especially long distances. Even though it never gave me any problems and was a great car - and getting cooler and more rare by the day - I never could relax and enjoy it. This is what it looked like when I got it:

 

[holland_patrick]

Wow that is a labor of love and I would have kept that beast... i'm sure you didn't get what you put in to it..

But your right the difference in the years it like stone age to now.

and the Vert.... man you can't go wrong going top-less.

BTW did you see the New 5th gen vert.....OMG

 

[ViperJon]

I love the checkerboard look but am obsessing over whether I want to use black/white checkerboards or alloy/white checkerboards. I will have a red line in it as well. Have samples of all. Then, whether to go with the Tuffshield or regular. I have 700 sq feet so it's not a small difference price wise ($700.00). The Tuffshield looks amazing but pricey...Sigh.

 

[ceta4zng]

and the funniest thing is now that the floor is down, I don't want to park the daily driver on it if it is wet. So now you won't just obsess about the cars, now you can obsess about the floor in the garage as well.

IMHO, I like the contrast of the black, white, red with the checkboard and border. It just seems "sharper" for lack of a better word. Personally, I have found that if I opt for subtle, I wind up wishing I had opted for obnoxious more than the reverse.

 

[cowboyjosh]

and the funniest thing is now that the floor is down, I don't want to park the daily driver on it if it is wet. So now you won't just obsess about the cars, now you can obsess about the floor in the garage as well.

IMHO, I like the contrast of the black, white, red with the checkboard and border. It just seems "sharper" for lack of a better word. Personally, I have found that if I opt for subtle, I wind up wishing I had opted for obnoxious more than the reverse.

My floor is epoxied and i wont park dirty, snow covered cars on my floor. I have a heated gararge but wont park the truck insid cause i dont want to dirty the floor, my friends, family, and neighbors think im nuts.

 

[ViperJon]

Subtle isn't me...LOL

 

[ceta4zng]

Then do it "Loud N Proud" baby - subtle ain't going to cut it in that snakepit

I was thinking of splitting my garage in half and doing a color scheme to match the two cars (red and silver one one side and yellow and black on the other). And I don't mean just the racedeck - I mean like "two-face" from Batman. Split right down the middle. the whole thing. Then I figured 1) my wife would kill me for dinging some of the resale value of the house and 2) if I ever sell one of the cars and don't buy one in the same color scheme, I look like a tool.

BTW - love the Vipers - I have a need for backseats since my sons still like me. Once they can't be bothered with me, I'm going Viper.

 

[foilingfool2]

I know Kwiklift, they offer several lift options. If you are using the drive on system or the 4 post lift,you should be fine with just the RaceDeck... Remember fill your garage will all your other items on the floor prior to placing the lift on the floor.

Send some pics

Jorgen,

I am about to place an order for racedeck tuffshield for my garage. I have a mid-rise scissor lift that will placed on top of the tiles.

I noticed your comment above about "filling your garage will all your other items on the floor prior to placing the lift on the floor". I assume this is related to expansion/contraction of the tiles, but I guess I don't understand the issue/reasoning?

Tom

 

[RaceDeck1]

Jorgen,

I am about to place an order for racedeck tuffshield for my garage. I have a mid-rise scissor lift that will placed on top of the tiles.

I noticed your comment above about "filling your garage will all your other items on the floor prior to placing the lift on the floor". I assume this is related to expansion/contraction of the tiles, but I guess I don't understand the issue/reasoning?

Tom

Hi
yes you are right, the idea is you want to 'capture' the max expansion of your floor with the heavy items ( in the summer or warmest part of the day). Once your floor reaches the max point of expansion and you capture it, it will never go beyond that point in the future during climate temp swings. It is not required, but guarantees you will have no issues during unusual temp swings ( like AZ where it can be 110 in the day and 50 at night)...If I am not making sense here, just give us a call.