RaceDeck or DIY epoxy

[P_chinnici]

Hey guys. I recently found out about GJ searching for garage flooring. Im about to redo my garage and im looking to put a floor in. It’s a 2 car garage. I was thinking about DIY epoxy but seen some people say it will peel up in time. I probably won’t pay to have a professional do it. I was looking at the RaceDeck. What do you guys think? I mostly work on motorcycles in the garage. But probably will Jack up a car in there also. How do they hold up with oil spills sealing through the seams?

 

[CJDave]

I put in 500 sf of RaceDeck Free Flow 7 years ago. The one oil spill that I had of course went right through the slots in the tiles to the concrete floor. I used warm soapy water poured onto the spill and flushed the mess out. The solid tiles that Race Deck sells are reported to have joints that are tight enough to prevent or greatly reduce seepage through the joints. I have no complaints and would do it all over again if I ever have to move from this house.
Prior to purchasing RaceDeck I looked at this forum for some ideas not related to flooring. I had no intention to put down any type of flooring. Until the flooring section here caught my eye. One of my neighbors painted their garage many years ago. Looked great. Until they parked the Corvette on the paint. Tires pulled up the paint and the floor looked awful almost immediately. I never considered any of the liquid coatings as I didn't like the idea of all of the toxic ingredients. Read the flooring posts here and many seem to be complaints from guys that applied them or had them applied. Peeling. Discoloring. Chipping. Smell that won't go away after weeks of ventilation. Another neighbor put down some gray coating and sprinkled flakes on it. Done it twice over the years. I guess nothing lasts forever.
Match the flooring to the intended use of the garage is the best advice I can offer. Good luck. CJDave.

 

[Walkers]

Just epoxy it. Don’t use the cheap chit, and prep it well.

 

[Mallen]

Just epoxy it. Don’t use the cheap chit, and prep it well.

Yea. Sure improperly done epoxy will not adhere. But what sort of magic does a pro have that you can't do yourself. But you need to do it right.

I read a post once by a guy who used a vinyl and plastic paint. He was complianing it was "junk" and just scraped right off. Someone asked him if he had used the adhesion promoter that the instructions said to use. He responded "that's too much work. I skipped that BS?" So he didn't follow the instructions. Why would anyone EXPECT it to work. Just follow the instructions exactly as written.

 

[RaceDeck1]

You know what I say,.. You coat it and eventually, we cover it! ... But in all seriousness, no one garage floor system is the answer or style to everyone's liking or needs. We invented modular garage flooring out of the need for something that was easy to install by the homeowner, very durable, installs fast, looked great for years and easy to fix should something happen to an area of the floor.

 

[P_chinnici]

Hey guys,
Yeah I’m probably going to go with you guys. I plan on probably use jacks, and Jack stands in the winter on the floor to change oil. But I do have some heavy machinery that would be on it. Is tuffguard worth it? It’s a work garage not to much of a show room.
Thanks

 

[bucolic]

I'm on board with the Race Deck. Designs are endless. It's easily repairable if need be, and you can have a floor in a weekend. I looked into both and the prep on my floor for epoxy was going to come in at about $8-$9 a sq foot due to years of wear where the cars park and lots of grinding and filling. And that was if they could do it all. Said they needed to do a moisture test to make sure the flooor was a candidate for epoxy. The plastic tiles were a third of that cost.

Full disclosure I didn't use Race Deck and used another brand but would go Race Deck if I had to do it again.

I love the floor, can blow it out with the leaf blower, mops up like a breeze, and the endless dirt and dust I had is just a memory now! Epoxy is great also but the ease of putting this floor down has me sold on it. If you move you can take it with you also! Try that with Epoxy!

 

[FJ4FUN]

A properly applied epoxy floor will NOT peel up. Ever.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Epoxy is through the roof $$$$. Think Polyurea!
Good luck!

 

[Rorin67]

I prefer for my garage to be a (1) working garage first, and (2) showroom second. So, yeah, I want to have my cake and eat it too, which I can do with the Racedeck or Racedeck-like tiles (check out Garage Flooring LLC for their TrueLock HD Coin tiles, which are so similar to Racedeck tiles). I've now done two garages with tiles (one with Racedeck, one with TrueLock HD Coin tiles), and I use rolling jacks and jack stands all of the time. You do have to be a little careful with those, but it's easy to figure out.

I wouldn't hesitate to use tiles for a third garage in the near future.

Here's the current garage (before, during and after photos), in which I wrench on the '67 and the motorcycles all of the time.

 

[Armorpoxy]

A properly applied epoxy or polyaspartic coating system should not ever peel. We offer a lifetime hot tire lifting warranty.

 

[RaceDeck1]

I prefer for my garage to be a (1) working garage first, and (2) showroom second. So, yeah, I want to have my cake and eat it too, which I can do with the Racedeck or Racedeck-like tiles (check out Garage Flooring LLC for their TrueLock HD Coin tiles, which are so similar to Racedeck tiles). I've now done two garages with tiles (one with Racedeck, one with TrueLock HD Coin tiles), and I use rolling jacks and jack stands all of the time. You do have to be a little careful with those, but it's easy to figure out.

I wouldn't hesitate to use tiles for a third garage in the near future.

Here's the current garage (before, during and after photos), in which I wrench on the '67 and the motorcycles all of the time.

NOW That is a COOL GARAGE!!!

 

[PoorUB]

I would use epoxy. I did my garage 25 years ago and it is in need of a recaot. I never had any spots peel up from hot tires. General wear and tear, welding, painting and so on has pretty well trashed the finish.

I have concerns with Racedeck in a working garage. Welding, oil and water spills, mud and moisture from cars coming in and out. I just can not imagine the disgust I would have under Racedeck after the winter.

 

[CJDave]

I would use epoxy. I did my garage 25 years ago and it is in need of a recaot. I never had any spots peel up from hot tires. General wear and tear, welding, painting and so on has pretty well trashed the finish.

I have concerns with Racedeck in a working garage. Welding, oil and water spills, mud and moisture from cars coming in and out. I just can not imagine the disgust I would have under Racedeck after the winter.

PoorUB, I suspect that no tile product would stand up well to welding. To elaborate on my post above, here in southwest Ohio her daily driver drags in plenty of ice, snow, slush, rain, grit and whatever else. A scrub with my leftover car wash solution and a hose rinse seems to be all that is required. Maybe a couple of times a year. My battery leaf blower will blow a lot of the dried stuff that goes through the slots of the Free Flow. Matching the floor covering to the intended use of the garage is important. And my Free Flow tiles are no where near as slick when wet to walk on as my neighbors flake covered coating. Whatever that coating is. Dave R.

 

[PoorUB]

To elaborate on my post above, here in southwest Ohio her daily driver drags in plenty of ice, snow, slush, rain, grit and whatever else. A scrub with my leftover car wash solution and a hose rinse seems to be all that is required. Maybe a couple of times a year

A couple times a year? I scrub my shop floor at least six times a year. In the winter is is every month. I get a lot of drag in dirt. It gets so bad in a month I can not see the gray floor, just dirt! I start with a shovel and scrape out the worst, then go to the hose and a floor buffer with a nylon grit brush.

If I scrubbed my floor twice a year it would need an excavator to remove the drag in dirt!

 

[CJDave]

A couple times a year? I scrub my shop floor at least six times a year. In the winter is is every month. I get a lot of drag in dirt. It gets so bad in a month I can not see the gray floor, just dirt! I start with a shovel and scrape out the worst, then go to the hose and a floor buffer with a nylon grit brush.

If I scrubbed my floor twice a year it would need an excavator to remove the drag in dirt!

PoorUB, obviously we have different uses for our respective garages. The rain drip off from her car as well as the winter **** that comes in on her daily driver seems to melt off onto the Free Flow tiles. The slush and ice and snow melts on the floor and flows through the slots in the tiles. The melt then follows the floor slope to the overhead door and oozes under the door seal and onto the driveway. Kind of self-cleaning. The tiles do show some dirt come spring. Then is when I use the leftover wash solution after giving the Mach 1 it's "wake up it's spring" bath. Right now the floor shows little if any dirt. The other half of the garage is occupied by my occasional driver so it never comes in wet or snowed upon. Like I said "match the flooring to the usage". You seem to have followed that advice. Good luck. Dave R.

 

[PoorUB]

PoorUB, obviously we have different uses for our respective garages.

My garage got filthy from our daily drivers too. Perhaps our area uses more sand in the winter. All I know it is a constant battle. I worked out of town a lot so it got cleaned when I could fit it in. I am retired now, so I should be able to keep ahead of it.

 

[bucolic]

I went with the solid tiles due to my floor being so dusty. Going on 3 months in I love it. I know the winter is going to be messy but I am going to buy some mats to put under the car to catch the junk. I am going to go with the Underarmour mats as they are like a rug and will absorb. I can then pull them out of the garage and clean them off. It should keep the floor pretty clean. Also, since my garage stays about 45-50 degrees even when below zero outside the water should evaporate off. So a mat to protect the tiles . Oh well! That's what we do when we love our garage!

 

[CJDave]

My garage got filthy from our daily drivers too. Perhaps our area uses more sand in the winter. All I know it is a constant battle. I worked out of town a lot so it got cleaned when I could fit it in. I am retired now, so I should be able to keep ahead of it.

I understand. We use salt on the roads for ice and snow control down here. Sand in a large enough amount may be a clog problem in the Free Flow tiles. You guys no doubt get more snow than we do so I'm guessing lots of sand is used. And tracked into your garage. Dave R.

 

[James-W]

I have the RaceDeck diamond tiles. Mostly I do woodworking in my garage, but on occasion I will pull in one of the cars and change the oil and/or rotate the tires. I really like the RaceDeck tiles, they look good and they are quite durable. I had considered epoxy, but the prep is quite intensive and needs to be done correctly. I am getting older and I didn't want to do all the prep work involved with having an epoxy floor. I opted for the RaceDeck tiles and I am glad I did. I have had them for a few years now and they still look really good. I do have a few extra tiles in the event I need to replace one, but so far I have not had to do that.

 

[Keep]

I did the DIY Epoxy about 10 years ago. 3 years later it looked like ****. I covered it with RaceDeck this year....should have done that in the first place.

And the bonus is I can take the floor with me when we move

 

[Chuckster in NJ]

RACE DECK…….. Do it and you will thank me later!

 

[kamlung]

racedeck!!!

i just finished my garage a few weeks ago. will get some pictures up

 

[RaceDeck1]

Looking forward to seeing your garage transformation

 

[Toyo72]

It all depends on budget, current condition of the concrete and the amount of prep necessary. I did a DIY job on our 1000 sq ft garage 15 years ago, concrete was new so I etched it and then used a single-stage epoxy and clearcoat. 15 years later, no peeling whatsoever. The only wear was in the main bay that got the heaviest floor jack and jack stand use, and that was just in a small area with a few wear spots. The bigger issue was settling and some cracks that developed over time, and for that reason I might choose a racedeck-type product with solid surface.

 

[PoorUB]

I did the DIY Epoxy about 10 years ago. 3 years later it looked like ****. I covered it with RaceDeck this year....should have done that in the first place.

And the bonus is I can take the floor with me when we move

I did DIY epoxy 25 years ago. It still looks pretty good in most of the shop. The real high traffic, welding, painting, vehicle traffic needs a recoat and I will go with epoxy again.

 

[lesismore]

is there a cheaper version of racedeck?

 

[bucolic]

There is and it is what I used in my Garage:

Nitro Garage Floor Tiles | Durable Interlocking Garage Flooring

Upgrade your garage flooring with Nitro Garage Floor Tiles—durable, stain & chemical-resistant, easy-install garage tiles. Lifetime warranty, FREE SHIPPING!

www.garageflooringinc.com

These are imported and a bit thinner. I also had a fair amount that the fastening tabs snapped off. Racedeck was over $4.00 sq ft on their website but I had emailed them my layout for a quote and they came back less than $4 a sq ft. Depending on the amount you need their price may be better than what is advertised on the site so email them what you need. If I had to do it over I would have spent the extra on Racedeck tiles. Don't get me wrong these Nitro Tiles are nice and I absolutely love them and a darn nice floor for the money but from what I have read on here the Racedeck are well worth the extra money.

 

[CJDave]

In my 500 sf of RaceDeck Free Flow I had not one lock tab break nor any other malfunction. I am unfamiliar with other flooring as I selected RaceDeck after reading various posts here. And RaceDeck does offer a discount to Garage Journal members. Dave R.

 

[CSRPenFab]

In my 500 sf of RaceDeck Free Flow I had not one lock tab break nor any other malfunction. I am unfamiliar with other flooring as I selected RaceDeck after reading various posts here. And RaceDeck does offer a discount to Garage Journal members. Dave R.

Totally agreed. Just laid down 1000 sq ft last weekend, and the only FUBAR tile was the one I mis-cut. Doh! Quality is outstanding on the RaceDeck product.

 

[Rorin67]

Another option is from GarageFlooringLLC - their HD Trulock tile 12" x 12":

TrueLock HD Coin Garage Tile

The TrueLock HD Coin garage floor tile is by far the best value if you are looking for a high end, circle top tile that is Made in the USA. Sale Price $2.99

www.garageflooringllc.com

I used Racedeck (great product!) on my first garage and HD Trulock (also a great product!) on my second garage and could barely tell the difference between the two products. Shouldn't the patent lawyers be fighting over this issue? ;-)

Here's the first garage with RaceDeck (black and grey checkerboard):



Here's the second (current) garage with HD TruLock (light grey and dark grey checkerboard):

 

[Spacep0d]

RaceDeck all day long. Personally, I would worry about the hot mess I might make with DIY epoxy, and my sense of smell is so crazy good that I'd worry about outgassing and my own sensitivity to either the chemistry of epoxy/polyurea or the odor itself...that's if things go perfectly. Plus with RaceDeck you can change it up later, replace a single tile, change the color (maybe have a swap-in color if the mood strikes), etc.

I love the look of Epoxy/Polyurea flooring but man, I wouldn't trust myself or someone else to actually do this in my own garage....especially because I wouldn't know if the installers were cutting corners until I was suffering from migraines for weeks, and I'm already prone to those.

So yeah, RaceDeck!

 

[RaceDeck1]

I might be a little bias, but RaceDeck is what I would choose

 

[lamywaby]

I put in 500 sf of RaceDeck Free Flow 7 years ago. The one oil spill that I had of course went right through the slots in the tiles to the concrete floor. I used warm soapy water poured onto the spill and flushed the mess out. The solid tiles that Race Deck sells are reported to have joints that are tight enough to prevent or greatly reduce seepage through the joints. I have no complaints and would do it all over again if I ever have to move from this house.
Prior to purchasing RaceDeck I looked at this forum for some ideas not related to flooring. I had no intention to put down any type of flooring. Until the flooring section here caught my eye. One of my neighbors painted their garage many years ago. Looked great. Until they parked the Corvette on the paint. Tires pulled up the paint and the floor looked awful almost immediately. I never considered any of the liquid coatings as I didn't like the idea of all of the toxic ingredients. Read the flooring posts here and many seem to be complaints from guys that applied them or had them applied garage flooring avondale. Peeling. Discoloring. Chipping. Smell that won't go away after weeks of ventilation. Another neighbor put down some gray coating and sprinkled flakes on it. Done it twice over the years. I guess nothing lasts forever.
Match the flooring to the intended use of the garage is the best advice I can offer. Good luck. CJDave.

I recently did a Race Deck garage floor for a customer of mine whose home I extensively remodeled a couple of years ago. It was a large three car garage (approximately 700 sf), and including taking all of the stuff out of the garage (all the stuff in the picture as well as over 50 large concrete paver chunks), laying the floor, and replacing everything exactly as it was prior to starting, it took two guys about 6-7 hours. This picture was taken just after we finished but before I had a chance to mop it clean. No surface preparation needed, just good planning so that you know how much to order of each color and so that you have a "road map" to follow. It came out better than I expected, and they were thrilled. Several different tile patterns and colors but they all are 12"X12" tiles that snap together. At the entrance to each garage are transition tiles that reduce the 1/2" height of the tiles to almost flat. Easy system to use. We used three colors, charcoal, silver, and red in the diamond pattern.

 

[DirtyV]

Either get epoxy flooring professionally installed (or, if DIY then grind the floor yourself and use good quality product) or get a tile system. I tried multiple DIY store bought epoxies and none of them held up. Short of paying over $10,000 for a professional epoxy installation, tiles were the best flooring solution. Absolutely nothing wrong with epoxy floors, just very expensive to do correctly. If you can afford properly installed epoxy, then you have to decide what suits your needs better between epoxy and tile flooring.

 

[shade]

We bought a new house with epoxy already done which was great. If I were to do it from scratch I would do tile.