RaceDeck with a change in grade

[SkinnyG]

I'm looking into a RaceDeck floor for my roughly 20x20 garage. At 4ft from the back (house) side, there is a change in grade across the entire width of the garage. I'm not sure what the proper term for this is, but it's a "step" so to speak, that's about 4 inches higher than the rest of the garage. There's also a ~8x10 side-room (laundry room) with the same step. I think I'd like to cover these areas as well, but I'm unsure what to do on the leading edge. It doesn't seem like it would look very good with just the bare front edge of the tiles across there. I guess I could use edge pieces like at the garage door, but it seems like that might be out of place too (and I'm having trouble picturing that in my mind). Has anyone installed a RaceDeck or similar flooring in an area like this, and could you share some pictures of the edge? I looked through the gallery on the RaceDeck website but didn't see anything. @RaceDeck1 do you have anything filed away that you could share?

 

[mepstein]

I would cut a fill piece for the 4” step and mount it on the vertical.

 

[SkinnyG]

I'm not so much worried about the vertical side of the step. My concern is the unfinished edge of the RaceDeck tile on the top.

 

[mike93lx]

Why would edging be out of place? If this is a spot where people are walking, using a contrasting color edge would also highlight the trip risk

 

[SkinnyG]

Why would edging be out of place? If this is a spot where people are walking, using a contrasting color edge would also highlight the trip risk

I guess I really don't know that edging would be out of place, I'm just having a problem picturing what it would look like in my head. I'm hoping to see a picture where it has been done in a spot like that.

 

[Steve W.]

Why would edging be out of place? If this is a spot where people are walking, using a contrasting color edge would also highlight the trip risk

Not a user (or even a fan) of RaceDeck, but I seem to remember that the edging is tapered.

I would think that the taper at the edge of a step would add some instability where it's least needed.

.

 

[RaceDeck1]

I will look through our photo files to see If I can find an example... but if I understand correctly , you have a step up of 4" along the width of the garage. A lot of customers have painted the exposed step up a color to match or accent they garage and then put Racedeck on top or even something else if it carried into the home.

 

[mike93lx]

Not a user (or even a fan) of RaceDeck, but I seem to remember that the edging is tapered.

I would think that the taper at the edge of a step would add some instability where it's least needed.

.

I wouldn't expect a slight taper on the first two ish inches to be a problem, but maybe I'm wrong on tha5

 

[SkinnyG]

A picture is worth a thousand words. Here's a picture of the entryway to the house. This step runs the width of the garage.

 

[SkinnyG]

I will look through our photo files to see If I can find an example... but if I understand correctly , you have a step up of 4" along the width of the garage. A lot of customers have painted the exposed step up a color to match or accent they garage and then put Racedeck on top or even something else if it carried into the home.

Do customers generally put the tapered edging on the end or just **** the tile up to the edge of the step? That's basically what I'm trying to visualize.

I think I want to do the carpet tiles in front of the door, and black coin tiles across the rest of the step, in contrast to the checkerboard diamond tiles on the main floor. It's still a work in progress, though.

 

[kngelv]

Here is a picture with what you are looking for. I think it looks better with the edge. My attached garage is kind of small - 19’6” x 17’6”. I’m building a 22’ x 24’ detached this summer. I had to put some of the cabinets in storage so I could work on vehicles in my current one. BTW the standard edge is kind of flimsy IMHO. Get the beefier ones they have like I did. You can see the difference in one of the pics. The taper causes no issues. The 97 Ranger is my 17 year olds and we are turning it into a drift truck. We just redid all the brake lines because the originals were rusted out. Laying on the RaceDeck tile was much better than the cold concrete. Putting a lift in the new building.

James

 

[rharman]

Personally, I'd paint the vertical with safety yellow to help people avoid tripping on it. Incorporate it as an accent to your flooring color scheme.

 

[SkinnyG]

@kngelv - Thanks James, that's very helpful. It also doesn't entirely convince me to use the edging at all on the raised section. Hopefully I can find an example where it is not used to compare the two.

@rharman - I've been tossing ideas around for what to do with the vertical edge. I certainly don't want anybody tripping over it. With that said, I don't recall anybody ever tripping over it in the 20 years I've lived here. I think as long as the tiles on the upper section are a different color and/or style than those in the lower, it should be safe. The yellow edge in the example above certainly helps.

 

[quadrcr87]

If you decide not to use an edge piece, try running the tile through a table saw and cut off just the interlocking tabs. This would leave a more finished edge. I could see a potential trip hazard if you catch your foot on the tile and lift it while stepping up. Some strong 2-sided tape along the front edge to stick the tile down would help that.

 

[SkinnyG]

If you decide not to use an edge piece, try running the tile through a table saw and cut off just the interlocking tabs. This would leave a more finished edge. I could see a potential trip hazard if you catch your foot on the tile and lift it while stepping up. Some strong 2-sided tape along the front edge to stick the tile down would help that.

Good point. I didn't think about the tile lifting.

 

[kngelv]

There is no trip hazard with the edge pieces. Just cutting the tile flush will give you a trip hazard. One thing that should be noted is that you need some kind of weight on at least a portion of that curbed section. Otherwise it will slide forward. Mine is a little over 3' deep and 4" high. It about 14' in length. Trust me it looks miles better with the edge pieces. I laid a row there without an edge and it looked half finished.

James

 

[kngelv]

I did the yellow edge because I'm in industrial electrician at Ford and the yellow reminds me of the safety stripes at work.

James

 

[Shea]

A picture is worth a thousand words. Here's a picture of the entryway to the house. This step runs the width of the garage.

Since you are going with carpet tiles and back coin tiles, I would paint the front face of the step-up with matte or satin black concrete paint. Place the front of the ramp edge strip a 1/4" back from the front edge of the top step and run the tiles back to the wall from there. As long as you have that toolbox or some other heavy object on the top step, the tiles should stay put. Not having a ramp edge strip will look odd because you will have 1/2" of unfinished flooring to look at.

 

[kngelv]

I would not mix coin and diamond. Solid black ***** light and shows dirt way too easily.

James

 

[SkinnyG]

I did the yellow edge because I'm in industrial electrician at Ford and the yellow reminds me of the safety stripes at work.

James

Since you are going with carpet tiles and back coin tiles, I would paint the front face of the step-up with matte or satin black concrete paint. Place the front of the ramp edge strip a 1/4" back from the front edge of the top step and run the tiles back to the wall from there. As long as you have that toolbox or some other heavy object on the top step, the tiles should stay put. Not having a ramp edge strip will look odd because you will have 1/2" of unfinished flooring to look at.

Thanks Shea and James, this really helps. Based on this it seems like I need to just run the edge pieces across the front of the raised section. The tool box is 72" wide and completely full, and there's a 84" work table with a 1/4" steel top next to it. The tile isn't going anywhere. Painting the vertical edge flat black is what I had in mind.


Now let's talk about colors and patterns.

I would not mix coin and diamond. Solid black ***** light and shows dirt way too easily.

I was only considering the coin to contrast with the main floor. Carbon fiber and orange is one of my favorite combinations. RaceDeck makes a carbon fiber pattern tile, but only in the Tuffshield high gloss line. If it wasn't gloss I probably would have ordered already. I called RaceDeck on Friday morning and got samples of the carbon fiber and orange Tuffshield and standard Diamond black and orange. The main floor will be one of those two combinations. I'm pretty confident that I want the two raised sections to be something different. You're probably right that solid black isn't a good idea in the laundry room at least. Most of the raised section on the front is covered with the tool box and work bench anyway, so it might not matter much there.