Racedeck design opinion

[matty d]

This is my Racedeck floor using the racedeck floor designer.

I have only 40 tiles of silver left to purchase. I found a good deal for some silver Free Flow and was wondering what you guys think of adding some of Free Flow to my garage. Any other practical advantages to doing this? Or should I just stay all solid...

I live in California, so its not as important to have free flow for snow/sludge run-off. Its just an aesthetic thing, and would cut about $100 of the price.

I have the rest of the tiles ready to go, so Im pretty set on the design.

Here are some pics of my original design on the left (all solid) and pretty much the same design on the right with 2 rows replaced with free flow....

I'll post pics when done...Im pretty psyched...so close to being done!

 

[Garage Flooring]

Do you have a drain in your garage?

 

[SteveCh]

In your case it does seem to be an aesthetic thing, and I put some free flows into my floor and am glad I did. They have a nice, geometric-design effect and I really like it.

 

[matty d]

No, my garage does not have a drain, and thanks Steve. Still playing with the idea. The free flow does look pretty cool and I can save a little money on the project....

 

[dubber]

Very cool design!

 

[EVLGNUS]

I mixed free flow and the regular diamond racedeck. If I had do overs I would go with ALL free flow.

https://scontent-b-dfw.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/1604770_763170983710627_1405129872_n.jpg

 

[John Harry]

If I had do overs I would go with ALL free flow.

Why? Appearance, functionality?

 

[EVLGNUS]

Both. The FF stays cleaner longer and is quieter. I also prefer the way it looks. I was worried about dropped screws etc. falling through so I went with the solid floor in the shop area. Turns out a magnet solves that issue and only the very smallest items fall through anyway.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RaceDeck1]

I mixed free flow and the regular diamond racedeck. If I had do overs I would go with ALL free flow.

https://scontent-b-dfw.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/1604770_763170983710627_1405129872_n.jpg

Looks great! thanks for choosing RaceDeck

 

[John Harry]

Both. The FF stays cleaner longer and is quieter. I also prefer the way it looks.

Thanks.

 

[matty d]

I mixed free flow and the regular diamond racedeck. If I had do overs I would go with ALL free flow.

Thanks! Helps me see the contrast between the two types of tiles. I'm also checking out pics from the RD site. Still trying to decide about those two rows...seems like people really like their free flow...

 

[dubber]

...seems like people really like their free flow...

This includes me!

 

[Mpbsr]

This includes me!

How's the "click clack" and any issues with hot tire?

 

[phins2rt]

This includes me!

[/IMG]

+1!!!

 

[matty d]

Hi again

I pulled the trigger on purchasing the last 40 free flow tiles for my garage. ABT.com is selling it for $10 for 4 silver drain (free flow) tiles. This is the only color/style on sale. With an extra 5% off for signing up for their news letter, it comes out to $2.37 a tile.

I was on the fence, but I mainly did it because Free Flow guys on GJ love their tiles. Heres my (near) final design, and I'll post pics once Im done.

I actually have Gladiator tile, which is totally compatible with Race Deck except for the tread plate design. I went with Gladiator because I was running to some great deals at auctions and Sears. I have some dark grey Racedeck where my workbench is placed (see pic). Love the stuff...

 

[dubber]

How's the "click clack" and any issues with hot tire?

"Click clack" is only ever when there is a small rock that has gotten caught under one of the support areas of a tile. As for hot tires no issues at all. I like to drive my GLI and even when its 40 celcius here in Ottawa i pull right in and there isn't ever an issue.

 

[Chris05gto]

Post up pics.......

 

[Mpbsr]

I know it's a personal preference, but in a 2 car garage (19x19) would the floor look better with 12x12 tiles, larger 20x20 or 24x24 and using two alternate solid colors?

 

[matty d]

Hey Mbpsr,

If you look at all the customers' submitted photos on the Racedeck site, you will see that it is definately a personal preference thing...

I originally had a 24x24 per square (using 4 tiles) checkerboard pattern with alternating silver and charcoal colors, but that turned out to be too much visual clutter for me, and I preferred larger areas of color; however it was nice to preserve the checkerboard racing theme.

If you are doing Free Flow, the louvered design makes the tiles appear as if you have 6 inch checkerboard squares which is a cool effect, although I have only seen pictures (see Chris5GTO's example). If you look at Chris5GTOs awesome floor, he has 12x12, 24x24 and free flow checkerboard in his floor.

 

[Mpbsr]

Hey Mbpsr,

If you look at all the customers' submitted photos on the Racedeck site, you will see that it is definately a personal preference thing...

I originally had a 24x24 per square (using 4 tiles) checkerboard pattern with alternating silver and charcoal colors, but that turned out to be too much visual clutter for me, and I preferred larger areas of color; however it was nice to preserve the checkerboard racing theme.

If you are doing Free Flow, the louvered design makes the tiles appear as if you have 6 inch checkerboard squares which is a cool effect, although I have only seen pictures (see Chris5GTO's example). If you look at Chris5GTOs awesome floor, he has 12x12, 24x24 and free flow checkerboard in his floor.

I'm looking to do black/grey checkboard and thought the larger patterns 24x24 would look nicer for my 2 car (400 sq ft) garage.

 

[RaceDeck1]

Black and Alloy looks great, another popular option with RaceDeck is alloy & the dark graphite .

 

[tpizzella]

Sorry to hijack but those wih freeflow... How well can you see original floor through the grating design. I have known I wanted racedeck for awhile and have been careless about my concrete floor so it's pretty well stained in areas. Will this be very noticeable with the freeflow?

 

[dubber]

Sorry to hijack but those wih freeflow... How well can you see original floor through the grating design. I have known I wanted racedeck for awhile and have been careless about my concrete floor so it's pretty well stained in areas. Will this be very noticeable with the freeflow?

Here's a shot i had looking straight down. From an angle you dont really see the concrete.

 

[tpizzella]

Thanks

 

[RaceDeck1]

You can check out a lot of garages with all styles of our flooring on our website gallery http://www.racedeck.com/gallery/ and on our FaceBook page that is very active with over 16,000 fans and tons of customer garage photos https://www.facebook.com/RaceDeck

 

[spazman87]

Has anybody had any problems with small items getting lodged or stuck in the freeflow tiles?

 

[phins2rt]

Has anybody had any problems with small items getting lodged or stuck in the freeflow tiles?

Not yet! I have done a couple of brake jobs, oil changes, etc. and nothing yet. The part would have to be pretty tiny to fall through the cracks.

 

[RaceDeck1]

Remember with RaceDeck, should you ever have the need to pop a single module out...it's very easy see this short Video demo

 

[cramar]

People love their FF, especially if vehicles bring in winter slush and dripping water in other seasons. This is not really an issue with me since I try not to drive the garaged vehicles in bad weather. But I have a couple of questions for FF advocates.

1) What I'd like to know about FF is cleaning dust and dirt. With the solid tiles you can easy sweep or vacuum the floor. What is your experience with FF? You cannot sweep it or the dirt just falls through and over time you end up with all the dirt and dust under the floor.

2) Also the "clickety-clack" issue. Does this mostly disappear when hundreds of tiles lock together? I have one RD sample of diamond and one of FF. Both clack when I put them on a smooth concrete floor and walk on them. Putting on an underlay is not an option since it increases the flooring cost.

 

[buckeyedaddy]

Anyone used RaceDeck on a floor with drain slope under each car? I have a 3 car garage with a drain in the center of each car. The concrete is sloped to run to each of the individual drains.
Anyone have problems with tiles making noise popping up and down or leaving edges where the tiles meet together or tripping on raised edges caused by the angle the tiles meet at? I was planning on using freeflow in the center of each stall. Any reccomendations? How flexible are the Racedeck tiles? TIA

 

[phins2rt]

Anyone used RaceDeck on a floor with drain slope under each car? I have a 3 car garage with a drain in the center of each car. The concrete is sloped to run to each of the individual drains.
Anyone have problems with tiles making noise popping up and down or leaving edges where the tiles meet together or tripping on raised edges caused by the angle the tiles meet at? I was planning on using freeflow in the center of each stall. Any reccomendations? How flexible are the Racedeck tiles? TIA

I have one drain in my 3 stall garage and a lot would depend on the slope to your drains. I do not have any issues with the FF tiles except since they don't touch the floor around the drain because of the slope of the cement, they will sink when you step on them until they hit cement. Not a big deal and I walk on this spot all of the time since it is in between the two cars. I have not had any issues with the floor jack or jack stands around this area at all.

 

[buckeyedaddy]

I have one drain in my 3 stall garage and a lot would depend on the slope to your drains. I do not have any issues with the FF tiles except since they don't touch the floor around the drain because of the slope of the cement, they will sink when you step on them until they hit cement. Not a big deal and I walk on this spot all of the time since it is in between the two cars. I have not had any issues with the floor jack or jack stands around this area at all.

My drains are under the cars so not often will I walk on them. I put a 10 foot piece of 3/4" galvanized pipe across the slope and it falls about 1 5/8" over 5 feet. i do not think it is an excessive amount of slope, but it is not insignificant. Sure drains well and keeps the water out fro between the cars in the winter when all the slop runs off the cars (Akron ohio).
I am a little worried about the fine gravel that is in the slush that falls off the 2 cars that go out in the snow washing down in the FF tiles and accumulating over time. I was planing on using 4 tiles over each of the 4" drains in the floor because the one foot squares wouldn't line up exactly over the 3 drains which are 9' apart and out 6' from the side walls. do you think that one tile if it was close to each tile would be better?
Did you use the 3" slope trim on all sides ? If you did does it attach to a cut edge of the tiles? I was considering just using full tiles and leaving 1 1/2" of concrete at all edges because my garage is 9" over even foot increments in both directions. (9" minus two 3" trim pieces leaves 1 1/2" each side). what is your opinion? TIA

 

[nolimits76]

My drains are under the cars so not often will I walk on them. I put a 10 foot piece of 3/4" galvanized pipe across the slope and it falls about 1 5/8" over 5 feet. i do not think it is an excessive amount of slope, but it is not insignificant.

Are you looking to use the 12" or 18" tiles? To put things in a different perspective....


* 1-5/8" = 1.625"
* 1.625" / 5' = .325" (approx 5/16") of slope every 12" tile
* 1.625" / 5' = .325" x 1.5 = .4875" (approx 31/64") of slope every 18" tile

Now keep in mind, if you start flat the distance will gradually increase from 0 to 5/16" on the 12" tile, so it's pretty minor overall. When you lay a new tile, you start at 0 again and so on and so forth.

I like the 18" tiles less, because almost 1/2" seems like a lot of flex even when considering what I just said above about 0 to 1/2".

All that being said, in reality, the drains are under your car so you probably won't be driving on them much. So that also needs to be considered.

I think the prudent questions for RaceDeck is how much their tiles will flex without breaking? And how much flex can they take without deformation? Also, will prolonged flexing cause brittleness over time? And will the tiles be prone to "popping" out of place? For you, can you deal with extra click-clacking in those areas when movement occurs?

In the end, it might be worthwhile to order 4 or 5 sample tiles (in the size you want) and test it out.

 

[phins2rt]

Did you use the 3" slope trim on all sides ? If you did does it attach to a cut edge of the tiles? I was considering just using full tiles and leaving 1 1/2" of concrete at all edges because my garage is 9" over even foot increments in both directions. (9" minus two 3" trim pieces leaves 1 1/2" each side). what is your opinion? TIA

I used the trim pieces for the garage door area. The areas near the wall are just cut tiles. The trim will not work with cut tiles as you need the ring or pins to clip them together.

 

[matty d]

I used the trim pieces for the garage door area. The areas near the wall are just cut tiles. The trim will not work with cut tiles as you need the ring or pins to clip them together.

Im thinking of just leaving the sides (up to few inches) alone. One of the main selling points of this floor system is the portability.

If I ever have to move the floor to a different garage, I feel that it would be a waste because most likely I wont need edge tiles in that width.

More slope edging sounds like a nice idea, but thats more $$. I have edging for the front and rear tiles already...

The good thing about this dilemma is...i can always add custom cut tiles for the edges later if I change my mind. Having a few inches of exposed garage floor at the edges is something that I am able to live with for now....

 

[buckeyedaddy]

Are you looking to use the 12" or 18" tiles? To put things in a different perspective....


* 1-5/8" = 1.625"
* 1.625" / 5' = .325" (approx 5/16") of slope every 12" tile
* 1.625" / 5' = .325" x 1.5 = .4875" (approx 31/64") of slope every 18" tile

Now keep in mind, if you start flat the distance will gradually increase from 0 to 5/16" on the 12" tile, so it's pretty minor overall. When you lay a new tile, you start at 0 again and so on and so forth.

I like the 18" tiles less, because almost 1/2" seems like a lot of flex even when considering what I just said above about 0 to 1/2".

All that being said, in reality, the drains are under your car so you probably won't be driving on them much. So that also needs to be considered.

I think the prudent questions for RaceDeck is how much their tiles will flex without breaking? And how much flex can they take without deformation? Also, will prolonged flexing cause brittleness over time? And will the tiles be prone to "popping" out of place? For you, can you deal with extra click-clacking in those areas when movement occurs?

In the end, it might be worthwhile to order 4 or 5 sample tiles (in the size you want) and test it out.

I just got my sample diamond RD tile and am really concerned about having a 3 trampolines in my garage where the concrete slopes to the drains. Their tile does not bend much at all. I saw a swisstrax video on youtube and there tile bends almost in half. RD only about 1/2". only problem is that there version of FF is a different height than there solid tile which means you can not mix the two.
What to do?????

 

[nolimits76]

I just got my sample diamond RD tile and am really concerned about having a 3 trampolines in my garage where the concrete slopes to the drains. Their tile does not bend much at all. I saw a swisstrax video on youtube and there tile bends almost in half. RD only about 1/2". only problem is that there version of FF is a different height than there solid tile which means you can not mix the two.
What to do?????

I'd PM Jorgen @ RD and request the technical data.

Just because it's stiff doesn't mean it will break when put in a compromising situation. In my previous work life, I used to install high density and low density polyethylene liners in landfills, oil refineries, etc around the country. The liners were about 1/4" thick but when they did the elasticity test they used a punch that basically made it look like a witches hat (w/ a flat top instead of pointed one). The "hat" was about 6" tall because it had a high elasticity rate. Low density material had better elasticity than high density.

Personally, I would take your samples and put in the worst case scenario in your garage and then park your car in a manner so the wheel is resting on top of them so they are forced to flex. Leave the car on it a few days. Then simulate by driving the car to work during the day and parking on it at night.

This should give you a real world test of how the tiles will respond to your situation. Also, I'd keep in mind that you said the drains are in the middle of each car bay where you park. That tells me that while this may drive you nuts, the reality is that the tiles probably wouldn't be put in much stress under real conditions (unless you frequently move/reposition cars when doing projects that puts their weight on the drain areas).

 

[matty d]

Well...I did it...I installed a little bit of Free-Flow tile in my solid tile garage. Provides some interesting contrast with the other solid checkerboard stripe. Functional too...if there ever happens to be any sludge/water in the garage, its going to be sweeped into the Free Flow. I live in California so this is no big deal like you guys in the MidWest or up North. Im glad I did it....a great experience with this floor overall.

Check out the pics...

 

[RaceDeck1]

Well...I did it...I installed a little bit of Free-Flow tile in my solid tile garage. Provides some interesting contrast with the other solid checkerboard stripe. Functional too...if there ever happens to be any sludge/water in the garage, its going to be sweeped into the Free Flow. I live in California so this is no big deal like you guys in the MidWest or up North. Im glad I did it....a great experience with this floor overall.

Check out the pics...

Your garage looks great! Thanks for choosing RaceDeck

 

[phins2rt]

Looks great!