Racedeck and working on it...yes you can.

[mikeyr]

I have had Racedeck for near 15 years now and worked on many cars. I see people here asking if you can work on Racedeck, yes you can.
For years, I posted this first picture showing my old garage, then I moved and took my Racedeck with me and now I am working on yet another project. The last picture is another project patiently waiting for the Mini to be done.

The only issue with Racedeck...opps as you can see I missed my welding blanket and burned yet another hole, I will move that tile around to a corner and no one will ever know. When done with the car, I will hose out the garage and it will be good as new.

Yes, you do have to be more careful, but I am a homeowner/hobbyist, I am not a professional with a bunch of employees and in between cars, I move my lifts around, get out the table saw/router/band saw and play with wood. Or I reload and clean my guns, I want my garage to look good "most" of the time.

 

[mike93lx]

I'd be all over Racedeck, but the snow, salt and water we have here has kept be away from it.

 

[REdRex]

Good to see that it can take some abuse

 

[RaceDeck1]

Thanks for the update post Mikeyr thumbup: -

Mike931X - RaceDeck is great in the climate you are in. We are based in Utah and get rain, snow, roadslop, etc ( today we got 18" in the canyon where we live) . RaceDeck is a full suspension flooring that allows air, moisture and liquids to flow freely. The channel structure also prevents mold and mildew issues found with mats and other type floor coverings.

 

[CJDave]

RaceDeck1, I am with you 100%. I don't understand where the misgivings from so many people come from. They should do their homework.

Mikeyr, you may not be a professional but that is certainly a working garage. Great place. CJDave.

 

[mikeyr]

A little update...my poor Racedeck floor, is really taking a beating but in a few months I will hose it down and it will look brand new again. Except for the few tiles with holes, up to 3 tiles now that I welded holes into. Body lead does no harm at all to the tiles, it just falls on the tile and cools so quick that its not a issue. I did as you can see, put a piece of cardboard to catch most of the drips from the body butter when i was tinning the tail section of the car, then the water to neutralize really made a mess. This is not the first time my floor has looked like this, no worries when the car is done, it will clean up and I will post here.

 

[CJDave]

"Taking a beating" is an understatement. I am a huge fan of the Race Deck product and am looking forward to the "After" pictures. CJDave.

 

[RaceDeck1]

Mikeyr - for years we love seeing what you do in your garage and on RaceDeck floors, thanks for sharing!

 

[Jack_Toepfer]

Looking forward to seeing it cleaned up (just to get it dirty again!)

 

[JOE.G]

How is this floor if I was going to try and slide Snowmobiles on casters around and move jacks around?

 

[mikeyr]

don't have a snowmobile, so don't know. My Table saw is on casters, the small original casters left small dimples in the tiles tht went away next warm day, after a while I replaced the casters with larger diameter ones that were also a little wider, no issues since. My TIG front casters are 2 1/2 and its a awfully heavy toy, never any issues but just like the table saw, if the casters were too small it might have left some dimples. My lathe/mill is way too heavy, its visible in one of the pics in post 1, that thing is ridiculously heavy and sits on legs with a 1 1/2 levelling foot, I admit I was worried it would damage the tiles but it has not after 10 years of sitting on them. The 4-post and the scissor never harmed the tiles, that is a lie, the scissor had a sharp edge on one of the rollers that left a slight cut mark on a tile, I rounded off the edge and no issues since. I have lifted my GMC Sierra on that scissor and it did not leave a mark on the tiles.

Jacks may leave marks if you leave the vehicle on the jacks and the casters are small but I never leave my vehicle on jacks, I use the jacks stands to hold up the car.

Basically, what I have found is small diameter casters can cause a dimple in the tile if you leave the weight on overnight or a few days, a few hours does not seem to be a problem. If you use larger OR better yet wider casters to spread the weight, these tiles hold up really well.

 

[JOE.G]

So Jackets and what not roll nicely? Clean up is fairly easy I take it? Where each tile meets is there a crevice for dirt and stuff to build up? I'll have to contact race deck one of these day's and price it out.

 

[James-W]

The crack between the tiles where they join together is very small. If I spill something on the floor, like oil or some other fluid, I just wipe it up right away. I suppose if you spill something and you let it sit on the tiles long enough, a little of it might work its way thru the crack where the tiles join. But if you just wipe it up with paper towels it isn't an issue. Besides, why would you want to leave it on the floor anyway? Clean it up so you don't step in it and track it all over the garage.

 

[JOE.G]

I wouldn't leave, I was more thinking along the lines of sweeping the garage and dirt building up.

 

[mikeyr]

my first floor was down for 7 years and when I moved to this new garage, I took my Racedeck with me. The concrete under the tiles after 7 years looked like the day I laid the tiles down. There was no build up under the tiles.

 

[Jack_Toepfer]

Hey Mikey... did you wash the floor yet? Would definitely drive home your point if we had pictures of the white/black cleaned up nice.

 

[mikeyr]

no, I just finished fabricating and welding in patch panels this past weekend. I have a little more body lead to do and then final prep for paint. It will be a while before I take the the hose to the garage. I actually don't expect the car to be finished for 5 or 6 more months, so you have to wait, my original post was a year ago and this is a hobby, not a business so I can't get the car done in weeks Its not the first car I have done on this floor, it cleaned up fine each time and will again, I am confident of that. But you have to wait to see it yourself

Once its painted it will go quick, the engine/gearbox are already done and waiting to go in. Most of the suspension parts are already powder coated and son-in-law is doing the rest while I do the body, so it will go quick. I just had a lot of rusty metal to replace and that slowed things down.

 

[climb.on]

The only issue with Racedeck...opps as you can see I missed my welding blanket and burned yet another hole, I will move that tile around to a corner and no one will ever know.

What kind of welding blanket do you use? Do you use it for torch/plasma cutting too? Ever burn through the blanket?

 

[mikeyr]

I don't know if the blanket has a label on it, bought it MANY years ago at a welding supply store. If it has a label, I will let you know. Yes, I have burned through the blanket, but only when doing torch cutting in the old days. I don't remember ever burning through the blanket since I have gotten the Plasma cutter. I basically only use the blanket when MIG or Plasma, I don't use it anymore when using TIG. Grinding, I only use the blanket if am grinding on something within a foot or so to the floor and 99% of the time, I can move it up to a workbench or more than a foot or so from the floor and don't need a blanket.

 

[rburke65]

Yes it would be nice if we could see the before and after ... the cleaning.....to get a real good inside of how well your floor cleans up. Thanks.

 

[Dusty Floor]

I've also been very happy; installed my floor in 2011 in the 2-bay attached garage. Cars are in and out daily, toolbox on casters, lots of winter grit, melting snow, etc. I put some dimples in it with a floor jack with small casters, but they disappeared after a while. Got another small dimple (just one!) when a paving crew drove one of their rollers into the garage before I had a chance to put a piece of plywood down for them. I'm not sure I could find that spot anymore.
I wash it down with a mop and a bucket of water with 409 in the Spring; sometimes takes a little scrubbing, but it comes up looking pretty good. The floor underneath was in pretty bad shape when I laid the floor. I get a little bit of efflorescence right at the edge by the garage doors, but if I lift it and look underneath, it looks fine.

I'm thinking seriously about doing my detached garage this summer, if I can plan a few days to get all of the stored stuff out of it for the project.