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Racedeck Review - Initial Experience

Stee6043

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Jun 7, 2012
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143
Location
West Michigan
Yesterday I installed 830 +/- square feet of Rackdeck. I was too exhausted to take any proper pictures yesterday but have attached one pre-cleanup shot. Overall I'm extremely pleased with the results.

I installed the Racedeck FreeFlow over a six year old (young) epoxy floor. Looking back I wish I would have used a tile instead of the epoxy to begin with. I had a fair amount of staining and "loss of shine" on my epoxy in the heavy traffic areas. Durability wise the epoxy has survived very well. But it just isn't nearly as "amazing" looking as it was brand new. For the money and time I invested in the epoxy I had planned for it to maintain its greatness a lot longer.

So back to the new floor. Installation took me a solid 11 hours, single handed. As everyone can imagine the time consuming part is the cutting and trimming of the tiles as well as moving things around inside the garage. I had to laugh after I was done - the video on the Racedeck site had a floor done in four hours. I refuse to believe I'm that slow. Nor did I have that many beer breaks!

The quality of the tiles seemed very high to me. They certainly met my expectations for the money spent. I found only one "bad part" during my entire installation and it was a trim/ramp piece with just a little too much flash on the lug which prevented the next ramp piece from fully seating. To have only a single issue like this out of 1000+ pieces was pretty good, in my opinion. And that issue could have been quickly corrected with a razor. But the folks at Racedeck were kind enough to throw in plenty of extra trim so I did not have to worry about this one piece. Overall I was very pleased with the quality of the tile.

Installation went quite quickly once you got away from the walls and obstructions. It's great that Racedeck sends the tiles in 4x4 sections, especially for those of us who were planning on a 4x4 grid to begin with.

I feel the FreeFlow tile is the perfect choice for my garage here in Michigan. I also like how it "contains" debris when you're cutting items. I often use my table saw in my garage and a good breeze will send the saw dust all over the place. With the FreeFlow the saw dust falls through the tiles and patiently waits for you to vaccuum it up. This was an unexpected bonus.

And last, but certainly not least, this stuff has MADE IN THE USA molded into every single tile (fastening lugs, out of sight). I enjoyed seeing that every time I threw a tile up on the table saw. I've gone out of my way to find USA built parts, when possible, during my garage upgrade. This tile was a win-win all around. I hope to take some proper photos soon and I will share.

Again, great product, great site here at GJ and another good project under my belt. Next up - lighting....lighting...and more lighting.
 

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RaceDeck1

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Salt Lake City , Utah
Thank you for choosing RaceDeck and taking the time to post.

As for the Shirt, drop us a line and we will send you a new L at no charge...keep the XL for one of your 'bigger' friends.

Thanks
 

BobMc

Member
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Jun 10, 2012
Messages
13
Table Saw Question--
What type of saw blade did you use? (Number of teeth and so on.)

Thank you,
Bob
 

RaceDeck1

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Salt Lake City , Utah
Table Saw Question--
What type of saw blade did you use? (Number of teeth and so on.)

Thank you,
Bob

There are a couple of tricks for those using a table saw
  • use a finer tooth blade ( like for formica)
  • Try to place the RaceDeck tile upside down when cutting - this eliminates any burr on the top
  • measure twice and cut once :)
 

Journaler

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Apr 25, 2012
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572
Is there a clicking noise when walking on the tiles, from the tiles hitting the floor?
 
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Stee6043

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Jun 7, 2012
Messages
143
Location
West Michigan
There are a couple of tricks for those using a table saw
  • use a finer tooth blade ( like for formica)
  • Try to place the RaceDeck tile upside down when cutting - this eliminates any burr on the top
  • measure twice and cut once :)

Agreed. I actually used a blade intended for "finish wood" work. It's got more teeth than a rough-saw blade but I don't recall how many. It's nothing exotic.

I didn't invert the tiles and had good results, however. I can tell you I scrapped 7 or 8 tiles total due to not paying attention to the orientation of the lugs during more "complex" cuts. All part of the fun though.

Thank you for the offer on the shirt, Jorgen. You guys are too kind.
 
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Stee6043

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Jun 7, 2012
Messages
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West Michigan
Is there a clicking noise when walking on the tiles, from the tiles hitting the floor?

Zero noise with the FreeFlow. This was something I also was surprised by. I have two floor drains in my garage so I've got a pretty good slope in the floor. I wasn't sure if the tiles would settle completely to the floor and potentially cause a "noise" as a result of the space. Zero sound whatsoever. Silent...
 

marsh1

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Jul 14, 2012
Messages
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Location
Texas
A question for Stee6043 and Jorgen

Is any staining on the concrete visible through FreeFlow tiles. I am also going to be covering an epoxy floor. Mine has some rough spots where it has completely lifted. Should I touch it up before putting down FreeFlow tiles?
 
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Stee6043

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Messages
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Location
West Michigan
A question for Stee6043 and Jorgen

Is any staining on the concrete visible through FreeFlow tiles. I am also going to be covering an epoxy floor. Mine has some rough spots where it has completely lifted. Should I touch it up before putting down FreeFlow tiles?

You really can't see through the freeflow with the exception of the tile or two you're standing directly over. Even then it's hard to make out any staining or imperfections from what I can see. I personally would not be doing any repair work to your existing floor if you're planning to put this down. Not to mention the fact that if you do put the Racedeck down and find a few spots that are too noticible you can always pop up a tile later and do the repairs...
 
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kartracer23

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New Castle, IN
Just so I understand...

You cut along the walls & then just use the ramps on the door edge? So the edges are simply cut - no trim / finish pieces?
 

mdistel

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Feb 6, 2008
Messages
10
Looks great, thanks for the review. I'm considering this for the daily driver portion of my Ohio garage where I wash cars all year long and winter tracks in lots of small road stones.

Mark
 
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Stee6043

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West Michigan
Just so I understand...

You cut along the walls & then just use the ramps on the door edge? So the edges are simply cut - no trim / finish pieces?

Yes. sir. I also used trim pieces around the "curb" area where my entry to the house is located. Otherwise, along all of the walls there is no need for trim.
 

kartracer23

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Yes. sir. I also used trim pieces around the "curb" area where my entry to the house is located. Otherwise, along all of the walls there is no need for trim.

Gotcha.
Wonder why RD doesn't make smaller trim out pieces so you could go wall-to-wall without cutting? It would only take a few sizes (like 1", 3", 5") and that would get you within an inch of the wall on each side depending on your combination.
 

RaceDeck1

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Gotcha.
Wonder why RD doesn't make smaller trim out pieces so you could go wall-to-wall without cutting? It would only take a few sizes (like 1", 3", 5") and that would get you within an inch of the wall on each side depending on your combination.

That is a good idea and we had looked at that many years ago...Two big issues with that are, no two garage's are the exact same size and no wall is perfectly straight and the exact with from wall to wall for the entire length of the garage.
:)
 
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Stee6043

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West Michigan
Well I promised a couple proper photos once I had the chance to take them. I added a thread to the gallery today but also wanted to throw a few on this thread. Car washes are no longer treacherous...life is good.



 
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Stee6043

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West Michigan
Thank you, Jorgen. You're selling a quality product that's made in the USA. I make sure to tell everyone that stops in my garage where it came from and why that matters to me!
 
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Stee6043

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West Michigan
Jorgen, I removed my comment about the shirt from my initial post. I don't want you getting hassled because of a post I made. Sorry about that.
 
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