Question about Racedeck Freeflow tiles and their use.

[Inzane]

Hi Folks,

I'm new to this forum and have tonnes of questions on flooring, but I'll try to restrain myself.

I do have a question pretaining to the use of the freeflow style racedeck tile. I live in Northern Alberta (Canada) which is of course winter-land ~5-6 months out of the year. I am considering doing my floor in racedeck tile and like the suggestion a few members have made about incorporating some freeflow tiles around the tire and/or drip-off zones of the cars. Which in theory would allow the snow and slush to melt and drop off the car and flow out towards the driveway (garage pad is sloped out, away from house).

However my question is will that concept still work when using the racedeck edging? There only appears to be one kind of edging (ie. no "freeflow" style edging is available as far as I can tell). Will the water still be able to flow under the standard edging and out of the garage? (assuming I line the front of the garage by the doors with edging, vs. no edging)

Thanks!

 

[Phatsub]

That is a good question. I would say that there would be very little, if any, method for water to flow out from solid edging. And as a side note let me say that I discovered the hard way that water on top of the solid style tiles is VERY slippery. If Racedeck does not offer freeflow edging, than I would go without edging alltogether. It may look bad but your chances of slipping would be greatly reduced.

 

[jamtek]

I live in New Hampshire and have lived with RaceDeck flooring for almost three years now. The real issue with this flooring in the winter is that it is a floating type floor with non-watertight seams. When snow, salt, and sand drips/falls from the bottom of your car onto the floor it tends to pool right where it falls. There is a seam between each interlocking tile that is not watertight so there is some "leakage" between tiles to the concrete floor below. If such an accumulation would pose a problem in your situation this is not the floor for you. I must say the floor is ugly when it is dirty--but stunning when it is clean. At the end of winter I typically sweep the dry salt and sand residue off the tiles then wet mop with dilute Simple Green cleaner being careful not to overly soak the tiles. I change the water frequently so as little as possible salt residue is left behind. Typically though, a few days after mopping, a salty white residue weeps up between the tile seams leaving a white powdery haze around each tile. I simply wet mop again with a well-wrung, damp mop to remove. This has been the routine I find works best. Again, frequent changes of clean water in the mop bucket works best.

Would I do RaceTrack again in my northern climate? I don't think so because of the "seeping" phenomenon. There are watertight tile systems available now that I think are a better choice. Also, a professionally applied durable epoxy would probably be cheaper and easier to maintain. But, if you don't mind the multistep periodic cleanup, the RaceTrack floor does look nice when clean and has a certain "wow" factor. My neighbors love it!

Hope this helps.

--J

 

[rlk]

Has anyone used the racedeck flooring in a garage where a tractor is stored? I'm concerned about the ribs on ag type tires on a tractor, and what impact they may have on racedeck flooring.

Thanks, Bob.