RaceDeck Charred Oak XL + Freeflow XLC

[PhotoNerd]

Long time first time! Thanks for all the great info on this board I've gotten my garage into good shape. I haven't seen pics of these before so wanted to contribute.

First the Charred Oak, which I've had for 2 months.




Had a friend joke that he needed to take his shoes off before walking in my garage, lol. It looks great!

You might be thinking, "this is going to look dirty fast." You're right, except I put a Roomba J7 in the garage and it runs automatically every night, picking up dirt and stray leaves. It has kept the garage perfect, even when it gets wet.

It does get wet, and water does not drain anymore. Surface tension stops it at the edge of the tile. However, the Roomba's nightly pass breaks it up enough to evaporate by morning.



One tile peeled up, but I wrote Racedeck and they sent a replacement for free:



I painted the concrete foundation a dark grey. I'm considering gluing quarter-round trim to hide the gap. Has anyone added trim to concrete like this?



The third garage bay is connected by a door. I keep the truck in that bay and drive that when it snows so I used the Freeflow in that bay. Here's the rubber transition strip, glued only to the Charred Oak so they can shrknk and expand:



The Roomba works well in that bay, too.

Suggestions or questions?

 

[slimpickins]

That's a helluva first post! It looks great! What are your plans for the future? This might fit better in the Garage Gallery forum.
Thanks for sharing!

 

[mogandave]

Nice!

 

[Organized_Garage]

Oh yeah that is ****! Great looking floors.

 

[gatorfast]

Looks great!

 

[Blackbyrd]

okay im glad im not the only one who thought about putting a roomba in the garage! glad to know it would work out if I decided to give it a shot.

ive always wondered about some of the higher end materials they offer in a garage, good to know they stand up to the abuse of daily driving and the contaminant tires bring in!

It looks really nice, gives the space a luxury showroom look for sure!

 

[RaceDeck1]

great looking garage! Thanks for choosing Racedeck

 

[PhotoNerd]

That's a helluva first post! It looks great! What are your plans for the future?

Thanks! I'm definitely going to try painting flexible quarter-round trim to match the wood-ish tiles, and then using double-sided 3M tape to stick it to the concrete. I was hoping someone here would have a better idea. I see lots of people adding trim to hide the floating floor gap (which will certainly be worse in winter) but I don't see anyone with 9" concrete borders like I have. I'm also thinking of adding a strip of LED lighting under the quarter-round to bring the eyes down to the floor where they should be .

I'm also planning to add some large car prints to the empty front wall in the double bay, gallery style, with some spotlights. I'm going to replace the 4 bulbs with nicer strip lighting in the ceilings, probably in rectangular shapes, but I'm debating whether I need to paint the ceiling a dark color to really benefit from the improved reflections.

 

[PhotoNerd]

I found some before pictures, when my life was clearly in shambles:



And here's progress pictures. Painting the ugly concrete border. I used an angle grinder to smooth ugly bumps from the framing, and even filled in some of the big holes:



I installed landscaping fabric under all the flooring (based on recommendations from this forum) to quiet steps. It also makes the FreeFlow look nicer by hiding the ugly concrete underneath.



And finally the mighty Roomba doing almost 100% of the necessary cleaning. Note that it's an i3 (i said it was a J7 and I was wrong). It was only $260 from Amazon and that's money well-spent. Once a week or so I get a notice that it's bin is full and I go and empty out the leaves and dirt. I feel like if I didn't have that, the dirt & gravel would eventually damage the tile flooring as I drove over it.

 

[SteveL]

I met with a local RaceDeck dealer a couple of days ago and he strongly suggested to NOT use the Chared Oak for a garage. He said that the surface is simply a printed sticker that’s applied to a smooth tile and will peal under hot tires. Also said it would likely buckle in any areas exposed to a lot of sun. His only positive remarks were that it makes a great dance floor or a showroom garage that’s only used to show off your toys.

I love the look of it but now have major reservations of using it. Other issue was that there wasn’t a ramp edge piece that remotely came close to matching the oak color.

Your garage looks awesome and I hope it holds up well for you!

 

[PhotoNerd]

Thanks! 4 months and they're still as good as new. I had that one tile peel, as discussed earlier, but they replaced it for free. I put the flooring in during the hottest month in Connecticut and no problems. Temperatures were just into the 90s, so I can't vouch for how they'd handle triple digits.

I regularly left the garage door open and in direct sun and didn't experience any problems, but they did warn me not do to an outside installation where they would be exposed to sun constantly.

I wouldn't call it a "showroom". We use it like a typical suburban home garage. We drive at least one of the cars once or twice a day. I usually ramp or jack the cars in the driveway but now that winter is here I'll work in the garage and use a pad below jacks and stands, which you need to do with any flooring.

The ramp edging is black and looks completely natural.

Would LOVE for other owners to share their experiences so we could uncover any long-term or harsh environment problems. Am I really the only one using these in the real world?? But so far I'm thrilled with them and if I have a problem I know I can just replace that individual tile.

 

[larry4406]

Very nice space!

Not floor related, but can you post some details of the extension ladder hanging system from the ceiling of your truck garage?

 

[PhotoNerd]

Very nice space!

Not floor related, but can you post some details of the extension ladder hanging system from the ceiling of your truck garage?

Yes: https://www.storeyourboard.com/ladd...l-garage-storage-pulley/?source=category_page

I'm happy with it. Took a couple of hours to install but I did it alone. Its a 30' ladder (when extended) and I'm glad to have it off the floor.

 

[RaceDeck1]

I met with a local RaceDeck dealer a couple of days ago and he strongly suggested to NOT use the Chared Oak for a garage. He said that the surface is simply a printed sticker that’s applied to a smooth tile and will peal under hot tires. Also said it would likely buckle in any areas exposed to a lot of sun. His only positive remarks were that it makes a great dance floor or a showroom garage that’s only used to show off your toys.

I love the look of it but now have major reservations of using it. Other issue was that there wasn’t a ramp edge piece that remotely came close to matching the oak color.

Your garage looks awesome and I hope it holds up well for you!

Hi
I'm not sure who your 'local RaceDeck dealer' is,, but he is mistaken on what RD Smoked Oak flooring is. It IS NOT at printed sticker. The Smoked Oak top surface is a heavy-duty Commercial Grade Laminate ( typically what you would see in a commercial building). With that said, this is not a floor you would use in a commercial repair garage but is used by many commercial detail and car care shops .. see this case study of a very busy shop that has many cars being worked on and coming in and out every dayRD Garage Floor Case Study - Luxe Detail

 

[Jayman17]

Love your choice of flooring....and leaving the clean up to the Roomba, brilliant idea.
I think that would force you to keep stuff off the floor.

 

[RaceDeck1]

love the Roomba, someone needs to make an industrial version

 

[mogandave]

love the Roomba, someone needs to make an industrial version

Yeah, all they need to do is change the color to grey, give it an special model number, double the price and make it special order with a three-week lead-time and we'll be lining up...

 

[rscottyd]

My only problem with the roomba is it doesn't fit under my car. But start it running when I leave the garage.

 

[PhotoNerd]

love the Roomba, someone needs to make an industrial version

Yeah it's not perfectly designed for the task. It handles regular day-to-day dirt perfectly.

In the fall, dead leaves that blow in do disappear, but it sometimes takes two passes as the first pass smashes them up into smaller pieces and the second pass removes them.

Rain is a bigger issue. No robot vacuum is designed to remove water. I have a Braava mop that I run occasionally in the garage but it can't soak up a puddle.

Instead my Roomba will disperse the water enough so it evaporates overnight. The bin gets pretty muddy. It works fine but it's not ideal.

Ideally the vacuum would start automatically when my car leaves the garage and return to it's dock when I'm close to home. It would be designed to remove water and big leaves.

 

[SteveL]

How is it holding up to the snow?

 

[Chance]

Really love what you've done there.

 

[PhotoNerd]

How is it holding up to the snow?

I usually drive the truck in the snow, so I'd be pulling into the bay with the FreeFlow XL. That works great; the snow melts and flows through the flooring, which never becomes wet or slippery.

But I got stuck in a snowstorm so I got to try the Charred Oak...



The snow melted and left lots of water, naturally. It evaporated and left salt & grime residue behind. Of course that happens with any flooring, but it's particularly visible with the dark floor.

I ran the Braava robot mop a couple of times and it cleaned the tiles up as good as new. So, in conclusion, no big deal. However I do try to park in the FreeFlow spot just to save myself the trouble of refilling the mop robot.

 

[SLAYER6669]

love the Roomba, someone needs to make an industrial version

Makita has a line of Robot vacuums meant for large spaces. They're bulkier and pretty costly ($1500 / $2500+ with the batteries). I'm personally not too informed on them and whether or not they can handle cleaning up larger debris than a regular robot vacs or not.

Makita USA

Makita USA: The Leader In Cordless with 18V LXT Lithium-Ion. The best in class for cordless power tool technology. A leader in power tool technology for the professional.

www.makitatools.com

 

[SuburbanDad]

Would you recommend the landscape fabric now that you've had some time with your Freeflow? I just put down some FF (12" tiles) and it definitely flexes and makes some noise. Not sure how I feel about that...

I'd hesitate to put the landscape fabric down in an area I regularly got wet and dirty, but my floor will likely stay mostly clean and dry, and it would be a pretty easy job to add it if it significantly dampens the noise/deflection.

 

[duneslider]

Gotta be honest, that charred oak racedeck looks pretty nice! I am more and more leaning towards racedeck in my garage but due to the amount of snow that comes in I would have to do it all free flow.

 

[tig]

Would you recommend the landscape fabric now that you've had some time with your Freeflow? I just put down some FF (12" tiles) and it definitely flexes and makes some noise. Not sure how I feel about that...

I'd hesitate to put the landscape fabric down in an area I regularly got wet and dirty, but my floor will likely stay mostly clean and dry, and it would be a pretty easy job to add it if it significantly dampens the noise/deflection.

I haz same question.

 

[chipbiii]

Long time first time! Thanks for all the great info on this board I've gotten my garage into good shape. I haven't seen pics of these before so wanted to contribute.

First the Charred Oak, which I've had for 2 months.




Had a friend joke that he needed to take his shoes off before walking in my garage, lol. It looks great!

You might be thinking, "this is going to look dirty fast." You're right, except I put a Roomba J7 in the garage and it runs automatically every night, picking up dirt and stray leaves. It has kept the garage perfect, even when it gets wet.

It does get wet, and water does not drain anymore. Surface tension stops it at the edge of the tile. However, the Roomba's nightly pass breaks it up enough to evaporate by morning.



One tile peeled up, but I wrote Racedeck and they sent a replacement for free:



I painted the concrete foundation a dark grey. I'm considering gluing quarter-round trim to hide the gap. Has anyone added trim to concrete like this?



The third garage bay is connected by a door. I keep the truck in that bay and drive that when it snows so I used the Freeflow in that bay. Here's the rubber transition strip, glued only to the Charred Oak so they can shrknk and expand:



The Roomba works well in that bay, too.

Suggestions or questions?

I recently replaced my old RACEDECK blue and gray checkerboard 12” tiles in my three car garage with the RACEDECK smoked oak 18” tiles. After installation several of them buckled and separated adjacent to ALL of the the tires on my three cars. Needless to say, I wasn’t pleased as they are not nearly as easy to remove as advertised. I contacted RACEDECK and they sent me several replacement tiles along with a can of adhesive. The re-installed tiles resulted in the SAME result a few days later. I ended up replacing the smoked oak tiles under my cars with their black 18” slotted weave tiles and that has solved the problem, but at cost of many hours of pain in the rear on my knees drudgery.
I still cannot believe they are promoting these tiles as being ideal for the weight of cars and trucks. At best, these smoked oak tiles are suitable for pedestrian or motorcycle traffic. The DO NOT hold up to the heavier vehicles as my original 12” diamond plate tiles did. Please be aware of this before you invest time, toil and money for these tiles.
However, on a positive note, the RACEDECK representatives were absolutely accommodating and positive to deal with. No complaints there.