RaceDeck decisions

[danieldolin]

I will be installing RaceDeck diamond floor tiles as part of my garage makeover this summer. Looking at the customer gallary on thier website has left me underwhelmed from a design standpoint. Seems like everyone is either simple checkerboard or boxes with a boarder around it. I wanted to try something a little different.

I want to keep the tan / blue boarder as my garage currently has tan rustoleum exopy on the floor that continues onto a 3 foot wide ledge a few inches off the parking surface that is the full width of the garage and a foot high foundation wall around the base of the garage. This tan expoxy will remain exposed. It has black / white / grey flakes in the exopy as well. The blue is becuase I will also be putting in a Bendpak HD-9ST as part of the project as well so I wanted some blue on the floor to tie that in.

So here is what I came up with using RaceDeck design tool. Some are a little busy, some are more plain. I am just trying to do something a little different on my floor...

Chime in with your favorite number(s)

 

[RaceDeck1]

Number 1 and #8 are pretty cool designs

 

[chickenhauler]

I'll toss my vote in on #1 and #13

 

[admranger]

Very creative designs!

However, if you are planning on doing any work in your garage, I hate them all. I can't imagine trying to find parts/pieces with such busy patterns. I'd want larger areas of one color if you plan on working in your garage.

If it's a showplace, then #7. It reminds me of the old black and white test pattern that would show up when TV stations went off the air (back in the day). Very cool.

 

[BertnErnie]

This is my first post and your query got me to get off of the sidelines after lurking for a couple of months. I am going through a similar decision process and I am very glad that I am not the only one who has a double-digit number of entries saved in the RaceDeck Design Tool. In order of preference, I vote for #1, #13 and #6. Good Luck with your decision!

 

[TigerGA]

Asking us which pattern we like is akin to buying a new car and asking what color you should pick. It's your garage, pick the one you like. I chose a classic checkerboard pattern with an interior border because it's a timeless design...I won't look back in 5 yrs and say "what was I thinking."

No matter what you choose, you're going to love the RD. Post pics when you're done.

 

[danieldolin]

I will not be doing much work in the garage, just used for parking and detailing my cars. Twice a year I swap out for winter tires on the wifes car, that is about the extent of "work" in my garage. Once I have the lift, I may do my own oil changes but really thats about it. The lift is more for storage. My first vote is #1, wife likes #2. They are really the same thing just one is bigger squares. The rest of them were just things I was trying but some of them are really growing on me

 

[Root]

I just finished my floor this morning (I plan on posting pics later) and I went with the first initial of our last name. Then I "squished" it what appears to be a hydraulic press, very cool looking. I used black, alloy and graphite colored tiles. Not real busy and very subdued.
Just remember the busier the floor the trickier it'll be to lay it down. It''s very easy to get caught up with putting tiles down, 4 at a time, and forget the pattern.

 

[djm999]

#13

 

[danieldolin]

Question for those that already have RaceDeck flooring. I realize the color of the tile is all the way through, so scratches / gauges that may occur do not really show unless you are really looking for it. What about dirt? How easily does normal dirt / salt / road grime or anything else wash off the tiles and can they get stained?

Lots of votes for #1 and #13 and I really like #1, but the wife likes the idea of smaller sections of color to hide imperfections down the line. She is concerned if you have a 2x2 or 3x3 section of white or light grey tile that gets stained by road grime / dirt / salt then it would be more noticable than if that light color section was smaller.

So, can they be stained? Or will occasional mopping with clean water and once in a while scrubbing with a large scrub brush and some car wash soap (or similar mild detergent) keep them looking like new forever?

 

[Gottspd]

How easily the dirt shows on my rd floor is my biggest disappointment with the floor. It looked awesome when it was new, but I haven't found anything to make it look new again. It's somewhat duller in color. That said I still think it looks great just not new. I used our big solid surface wet vac and even that didn't make it like new.

 

[danieldolin]

How easily the dirt shows on my rd floor is my biggest disappointment with the floor. It looked awesome when it was new, but I haven't found anything to make it look new again. It's somewhat duller in color. That said I still think it looks great just not new. I used our big solid surface wet vac and even that didn't make it like new.

I am not using any real vibrant colors in my pattern so dull does not bother me so much. But, is it evenly duller everywhere, or just where your tires make contact? Just curious if there is something to be said for not using large areas of light color tiles under where cars will be parked. How old is your RD floor?

 

[Gottspd]

I didn't use any light colors either (black, dark grey and red). It's not that it's faded just duller (if that makes sense) and it's throughout. It still looks good it's just not as a vibrant as it was when it was new. It's 1.5 years old.

 

[Carnut12]

Just my 2 cents for a garage I do not like any of them, to me when you put them down and start putting things back in the garage it is going to look like you just put random tiles together with no care, like you got a bunch of different tiles on clearance and just slapped them together.

That said # 13 looks the best to me because it has a pattern you can at least see.

Just my 2 cents

 

[danieldolin]

I was able to find the photo below (though this is a competitors tile) and I am thinking this is what #2 might look like once installed. Think #2 could be my front runner... as the prior poster mentioned, you need to be able to see the pattern once things are back in the garage, so maybe smaller is better from a pattern standpoint.

 

[Root]

danieldolin,
My pics are in the garage gallery section at this link


http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123283&page=4

 

[danieldolin]

danieldolin,
My pics are in the garage gallery section at this link


http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123283&page=4

looks good with the diamond plate on the walls

 

[mikeyr]

Just curious if there is something to be said for not using large areas of light color tiles under where cars will be parked. How old is your RD floor?

My RD is about 10 years old now, I had all white under my lift for 9 years. I wanted the light reflection under the car on the lift, it worked well but all white under a lift is not a good idea if you are changing out gearboxes/clutches/etc. It got pretty greasy/dirty and then I would grind the grease/dirt and look like hell for a couple of years until I cleaned them again. Each time I cleaned them, a friend would blow out his clutch or something equally dirty and the tiles would again get messy.

I went with Charcoal or Graphite about a month ago under the lift, hides the dirt much better but also darker under the lift now.

 

[mpraddict]

To be honest, I'd vote for none of the patterns. To me, the busy patterns just take away from what I'm displaying in the garage....the cars. I went with a very simple design, a main field in Alloy with a single line in gray. I won't have any finished photos till spring when I can get all the cars out, but here's an in progress photo.

 

[danieldolin]

My RD is about 10 years old now, I had all white under my lift for 9 years. I wanted the light reflection under the car on the lift, it worked well but all white under a lift is not a good idea if you are changing out gearboxes/clutches/etc. It got pretty greasy/dirty and then I would grind the grease/dirt and look like hell for a couple of years until I cleaned them again. Each time I cleaned them, a friend would blow out his clutch or something equally dirty and the tiles would again get messy.

I went with Charcoal or Graphite about a month ago under the lift, hides the dirt much better but also darker under the lift now.

Mikeyr - do you have casters for your 4 post lift? how does it roll across the racedeck tiles? Any damage?

 

[mikeyr]

yes I do have casters and yes it has damaged the tiles a little. It all depends on how I am moving the lift and how the caster sits on the tile, if I am moving it in a straight line its fine and no damage to the tiles, if the casters turns it has sometimes left a cut from the outer edge of the caster.

In my new garage, I expect I will never move the lift again so no longer worried about it, but in my old garage, I would move the 4post from the garage to the driveway if I was working on my truck so the lift moved in/out a lot, I had to be careful to just move it straight and not let it turn on the RD.

To be fair, my lift has metal casters and the damage is what I consider minor but its there.

 

[danieldolin]

yes I do have casters and yes it has damaged the tiles a little. It all depends on how I am moving the lift and how the caster sits on the tile, if I am moving it in a straight line its fine and no damage to the tiles, if the casters turns it has sometimes left a cut from the outer edge of the caster.

In my new garage, I expect I will never move the lift again so no longer worried about it, but in my old garage, I would move the 4post from the garage to the driveway if I was working on my truck so the lift moved in/out a lot, I had to be careful to just move it straight and not let it turn on the RD.

To be fair, my lift has metal casters and the damage is what I consider minor but its there.

Thanks for the tip, just line the wheels up and roll strait, then if you need to turn, just put the legs down and re-position the wheels again I guess. Not a big deal, I do not plan on moving the lift very much, maybe just push it back and out of the way a little when the car is stored for the season etc...

 

[Even Steven]

The only thing I hate more than checkerboard designs are multi-colored designs using more than two different colors/shades.

Keep it simple and just go with a solid color all around. Sometimes a border looks cool, but only if it's a really big floor.

 

[danieldolin]

Assuming I go with design #2, which boarder?

 

[bams50]

I vote #1, with the color pushed out to the edge.

Can't wait to see it installed!

 

[admranger]

The only thing I hate more than checkerboard designs are multi-colored designs using more than two different colors/shades.

Keep it simple and just go with a solid color all around. Sometimes a border looks cool, but only if it's a really big floor.

My floor will surely disappoint then. Just ordered the Race Deck today. I have 4 different colors, but one is a yellow border to delineate the step down from the landing area out of the house to the garage floor.

The majority of the floor is the alloy color. Then I have the three colors that mimic the BMW ///M colors (blue, purple, red) for a nice ///M stripe in the garage.

 

[Root]

admranger
and you'll have pics for us, right?

 

[admranger]

admranger
and you'll have pics for us, right?

But of course. Just not yet...

I have taken the before pics, just need to put them up on a hosting site and get my garage remodel thread started.

 

[danieldolin]

My floor will surely disappoint then. Just ordered the Race Deck today. I have 4 different colors, but one is a yellow border to delineate the step down from the landing area out of the house to the garage floor.

The majority of the floor is the alloy color. Then I have the three colors that mimic the BMW ///M colors (blue, purple, red) for a nice ///M stripe in the garage.

I was thinking of doing something like this related to my garage queen (Porsche)... Mimic the crest, or get the actual logo done etc... but I was affraid that the floor may outlast the car, and who knows what the next one will be

I will have pics as well once complete, but not for another few months.

 

[danieldolin]

okay, 1 last time... I promise. I am trying to use the same 64 blue tiles to do differnt things with the boarder... what do you think?

 

[djm999]

I have been accused of being too boring but I am a fan of the solid borders so I would vote for #5 or #6. Can't wait to see it finished.

 

[RaceDeck1]

We like them all, keep them coming

 

[JimVonBaden]

okay, 1 last time... I promise. I am trying to use the same 64 blue tiles to do differnt things with the boarder... what do you think?

IMHO they are all very busy!

I simplified.

Jim

 

[danieldolin]

okay, to my eye (need to confirm with the wife) I like #4 boarder the best. Here is what it will look like once I add the edge tile for the front of the garage, put a drain in the center (well it is actually a foot off center) and cut out a 3" wide notch down the first half of the right side to go around a foundation wall. Think this could be the final look!

 

[RaceDeck1]

Looks good

 

[admranger]

15 boxes from Race Deck arrived at the front door today. Won't get anything started for a week or so, but good to have it all here!

OP: I do like your last pattern. Still too busy for me, but I can see that it will look real good.

 

[danieldolin]

15 boxes from Race Deck arrived at the front door today. Won't get anything started for a week or so, but good to have it all here!

OP: I do like your last pattern. Still too busy for me, but I can see that it will look real good.

Thanks, please post pics when you are done. Do you have a design from their website you can share?

 

[admranger]

Thanks, please post pics when you are done. Do you have a design from their website you can share?

My garage is a weird shape which didn't lend itself to their design software. I put in the first set of tiles on my section by the house entry (it's a step up from the garage floor). Tons of cuts, which were no fun to measure out...

I haven't had a chance to take pics or load them up to a photo hosting site. I can't get the pics small enough to upload directly.

I found out the yellow edging that I put at the edge of the step down shows footprints a lot easier than I had hoped. Overall, I really like the look, but it appears I'll be spending more time on maintenance than I had planned.

The main part of the garage is rather simple with mostly alloy colored tiles. I will have one design detail, three stripes (1 tile width each) in the BMW ///M colors.

 

[danieldolin]

I haven't had a chance to take pics or load them up to a photo hosting site. I can't get the pics small enough to upload directly.

.

If you are using a windows PC, just open the picture from the paint program found in accessories. Then push the re-size button near the top left and re-size your picture to 25% both vertical and horizontal. Then do a save as and save it as a JPEG file. You should be able to upload it directly to GJ at that point.

 

[admranger]

If you are using a windows PC, just open the picture from the paint program found in accessories. Then push the re-size button near the top left and re-size your picture to 25% both vertical and horizontal. Then do a save as and save it as a JPEG file. You should be able to upload it directly to GJ at that point.

Mac user, and an unskilled one at that.