Well, this *****

[stanleyoutdoors]

It's early March, we get a nice day, the sun is out, so I open the garage door. Less than five minutes later, this happens! It was about 55 degrees out. What is this **** going to do in July when it's 100 degrees?

And yes, I left a gap all the way around, but that is meaningless when you put anything heavier than a large cat on the tiles keeping it from sliding around. I gotta believe this is only going to get worse over the years as dust falls into the cracks that open up when they are cold. I installed in October 2012, about 70 degrees, BTW.

 

[darkk]

Hmmmm...interesting. I know it's because of the expansion of the tile from the heat and the tiles to the sides aren't moving. I'll wait until Race Deck answers for some type of fix. I will most likely have the same issues. I have a lift on mine right near the door and heavy equipment everywhere...

 

[Tarheelgarage]

nice trip hazard.
remove that **** before you wind up in the hospital

 

[RaceDeck1]

Hi
Sorry you are having an issue with your floor. If you call us, we can walk you through on how to adjust your floor so you have no issue. Also, if any of your tiles got damaged, let us know and we will replace asap...

In the meantime I will explain what is happening and how to address it ( there is a very detailed instruction here from years ago, but can not find it.

What is happening is that your floor was installed when it was cooler out and most likely heavy items where put on the floor which "captures" the floor prior to max expansion in a heat cycle. Now when you have the hot direct sun hitting the floor, it can't move anywhere but up, as it can not move very heavy items and can not move walls. The remedy- You need to "capture" the floor at maxinum expansion....let me try to explain this. remove the stationary heavy objects in the morning and at the hottest part of the day,when the floor is exposed to heat and direct sunlight walk through the garage and make sure nothing is holding back the floor ( walls, objects, door tracks, et) and then put everything back on the floor. Our floors will absorb most heat cycle expansion within our locking system, but for huge swings, capturing is essential for a trouble free floor. My personal floor has been installed for 10 years in Utah where temps go from -0 to 110 and I face west for the afternoon sun, never an expansion issue.

Here is another example of what I am trying to explain. -
Lets say you have a 20'x30 floor in the middle of a parking lot in AZ and install it in the morning if you leave it there for 24 hrs through the hottest part of the day, it will expand but will not buckle up. . Now with this same floor you park two cars on the floor, one on each end in the early morning, then at the hottest part of the day you will have a large buckle in the floor, as it will not be able to push out the cars to expand...the floor takes the path of least resistance. Now here is the "Capture" example. On this same floor you wait until 3 pm when the sun is blaring and very hot,( the floor is hot but no buckling), park the same cars on each end of the floor to capture it at max expansion and watch it for another 24 hrs....the floor will not buckle.

Again, call us to better explain and get your floor set. ask for me and if I am in the office, I will walk you through step-by-step

 

[77thor]

So, generally you should try to install when it's warm(preferably hot) outside.

 

[RaceDeck1]

So, generally you should try to install when it's warm(preferably hot) outside.

In extreme climates* it is advised , but not required as a minor adjustment to the initial floor install is all that is needed. - Typically once you make the installation adjustment in these types of enviroments, you will not need to do anything again. We sell well over a million feet a month of modular flooring and its very rare to have an issue that we can not make right in these types extreme climate. Typically its fixed by finding something hitting the garage floor and not allowing it to move ( garage door rail, posts, walls, old stud bolts, cabinet legs, etc...)
* in areas where there are 30-70 degree temp swings from day to night and Direct sunlight at the high-point of the afternoon -

 

[bdamico]

so it looks like Racedeck's well-reasoned response and guidance does not ****

 

[Infiltrator]

Not to hijack, but what happens if you have cabinets sitting on the flooring on both ends? If you install during hottest part of day and then set cabinets, will floor buckle at some point?

 

[stanleyoutdoors]

so it looks like Racedeck's well-reasoned response and guidance does not ****

Well,
if you mean that it doesn't **** that to fix it, I have to do the following:

1-Wait till the hottest day of the year
2- Rent a machine hoist (again)
3- Pull my mill, lathe, saw, grinder, etc out into the street (on the hottest day of the year)
4- take down all the shelves and cabinets I built over the winter and put all that **** out in the street.(on the hottest day of the year)
5- let it get REALLY hot inside
6- get all that **** stuffed back inside before the temp drops or the sun moves (on the hottest day of the year)

then no it doesn't ****. But to me, that defeats the one really good thing about plastic tile- ease of installation. By the time I do all that (again) I could have installed something that was cheaper, more durable, and easier to keep clean. I didn't see this in the fine print....

 

[stanleyoutdoors]

So, generally you should try to install when it's warm(preferably hot) outside.

I did install when it was 15 degrees warmer than when the picture was taken

 

[GPM]

I have the same issue with my, Weathertec, but not so much like that. My issue is that I have a trailer and when the temperature changes, it does not allow the plates to expand. Give it a few minutes and it will go away. My advise to you is for you to remove everything, let your flooring it sit in warmer weather, and then put everything back in. Weight is the enemy and it can be your friend when you first put the plates down. I wouldn't let it get to you.

Edit: I forgot to add that if you make the sides tight against the wall, it has nowhere to expand in the warmer weather. These are pretty much like doing wood flooring.

 

[silver2k2gt]

Well,
if you mean that it doesn't **** that to fix it, I have to do the following:

1-Wait till the hottest day of the year
2- Rent a machine hoist (again)
3- Pull my mill, lathe, saw, grinder, etc out into the street (on the hottest day of the year)
4- take down all the shelves and cabinets I built over the winter and put all that **** out in the street.(on the hottest day of the year)
5- let it get REALLY hot inside
6- get all that **** stuffed back inside before the temp drops or the sun moves (on the hottest day of the year)

then no it doesn't ****. But to me, that defeats the one really good thing about plastic tile- ease of installation. By the time I do all that (again) I could have installed something that was cheaper, more durable, and easier to keep clean. I didn't see this in the fine print....

I couldn't agree more that this really *****. I hope I don't have the same problem seeing I install in 30 degree weather and with summer coming will really **** if everything needs to get pulled out. I have the free flow though so I wonder if that will have less expansion?????

 

[east_tn_emc]

I have a question....

I understand what the Racedeck people are trying to explain and have Stanleyoutdoors accomplish by putting the heavy items down onto the floor when it is at its' hottest and most expanded.

My question is:
When the temps cool back down and the tiles shrink back down, how much of a gap is going to grow between the tiles? Will it be noticeable or will it just spread itself out across all the tiles in the free-running distance between heavy items?

What I am getting at is this...it looks to me like that floor has "grown" roughly 1/2 inch due to the thermal expansion. If the OP flattens the floor down at maximum expansion and locks the edges down with heavy items...once the tiles cool back down then there will end up being 1/2 inch of "gap" somewhere in the floor...either in one seam or spread out across multiple seams.

I am NOT slamming the product...I think it looks GREAT...and I am very happy to see Racedeck quickly responding to the question.

 

[stanleyoutdoors]

My question is:
When the temps cool back down and the tiles shrink back down, how much of a gap is going to grow between the tiles? Will it be noticeable or will it just spread itself out across all the tiles in the free-running distance between heavy items?

I can already see fairly large gaps all winter (it was about 70 degrees when I installed). So if I lock it down when it's really hot, the gaps will surely be bigger. This doesn't bother me. What bothers me is I know the gaps will fill with dust and dirt so that the problem will happen all over again, requiring complete disassembly and cleaning to (temporarily) fix.

 

[GPM]

Have they gone back down or are they still popped up?

 

[stanleyoutdoors]

Have they gone back down or are they still popped up?

It pops up every time I let the sun hit it for more than 5 minutes. Not in the picture, but when it was warmer, it got 3 or 4 "waves" vs just one in the pic.

It flattens out as soon as I close the door and the sun doesn't hit it. Remember- it's still colder than when I laid it. I expect it to be permanent in the summer with temps higher than when I laid it.

 

[GPM]

Are they able to breath on each side of your garage walls? Damn it, we must figure out a way for them to flatten and stay flatten.

 

[scoobers]

Stanley-

What kind of layout does your garage have?

What machines/equipment/etc. are stored where?

Im just curious so I don't run into your same problem.

 

[stanleyoutdoors]

Are they able to breath on each side of your garage walls? Damn it, we must figure out a way for them to flatten and stay flatten.

Yes- I left about 3/4" all around.
problem is simply that plastic has a much much higher coefficient of thermal expansion than concrete

 

[stanleyoutdoors]

Stanley-

What kind of layout does your garage have?

What machines/equipment/etc. are stored where?

Im just curious so I don't run into your same problem.

It's a rectangular 3 car, 27' wide by 21' deep.
I have most machine tools on the left and other misc stuff throughout, including motorcycles. The bikes can be easily moved, of course, but the tools are HEAVY