picture of your garage
#4531
I had Racedeck in my old garage and PEI 5 in my new garage. Racedeck is an incredible product in that you can create a really cool looking garage with a durable floor in an afternoon. I'd say it's a long-term garage floor for most "normal" home garages. I did lots of heavy mechanical work on mine -- pulling engines and transmissions with cherry pickers, etc. and -- while it physically held up just fine -- the lighter tiles will show the grease and wear over time and no amount of cleaning really brings them back to new. Greasy heavy parts will gouge the plastic and drive grease/dirt into the abrasions, making them virtually impossible to make look new again. (A friend of mine experimented with power washing/heat/sealants and such and made his look pretty darn good, but the labor to get there was more than it was worth at $4 per new tile or whatever.) When mine got really bad, I just replaced the bad ones in an afternoon for a couple hundred bucks, and the garage looked new again. I'm a little over a year into the PEI 5 tiles, and so far they are holding up flawlessly. I read that the PEI 5 rating is really about how well the surface appearance holds up, rather than the strength of the porcelain itself. I once stabbed at a spare tire with a screwdriver and couldn't make a mark -- even though I was hitting it hard enough to make sparks! Properly installed, porcelain tiles are super strong and impact resistant. I've dropped plenty of tools on mine so far, and at least one transmission skid plate, and they didn't make a mark. And, while not as easy to replace as Racedeck, you can replace individual tiles if something should damage them -- which is not true with a concrete floor. Just my two cents having tried both....
PEI 5 porcelain....
Racedeck....
PEI 5 porcelain....
Racedeck....
#4532
I had Racedeck in my old garage and PEI 5 in my new garage. Racedeck is an incredible product in that you can create a really cool looking garage with a durable floor in an afternoon. I'd say it's a long-term garage floor for most "normal" home garages. I did lots of heavy mechanical work on mine -- pulling engines and transmissions with cherry pickers, etc. and -- while it physically held up just fine -- the lighter tiles will show the grease and wear over time and no amount of cleaning really brings them back to new. Greasy heavy parts will gouge the plastic and drive grease/dirt into the abrasions, making them virtually impossible to make look new again. (A friend of mine experimented with power washing/heat/sealants and such and made his look pretty darn good, but the labor to get there was more than it was worth at $4 per new tile or whatever.) When mine got really bad, I just replaced the bad ones in an afternoon for a couple hundred bucks, and the garage looked new again. I'm a little over a year into the PEI 5 tiles, and so far they are holding up flawlessly. I read that the PEI 5 rating is really about how well the surface appearance holds up, rather than the strength of the porcelain itself. I once stabbed at a spare tire with a screwdriver and couldn't make a mark -- even though I was hitting it hard enough to make sparks! Properly installed, porcelain tiles are super strong and impact resistant. I've dropped plenty of tools on mine so far, and at least one transmission skid plate, and they didn't make a mark. And, while not as easy to replace as Racedeck, you can replace individual tiles if something should damage them -- which is not true with a concrete floor. Just my two cents having tried both....
PEI 5 porcelain....
Racedeck....
PEI 5 porcelain....
Racedeck....
it certainly will look the fanciest the longest...in my 2 garages i know that the main use one will get the perforated race deck tiles...wife has complained so much and rightly so about slipperyness
in my "display" garage i'm torn...will be lifts, work area etc...dont have to worry about slipperiness...also wanna try )hah) to stay a little price conscious
#4533
You can get porcelain tiles cheaper than Racedeck, but when you add grout, float material, slip-mats, installation, etc., the plastic tiles are probably a lot cheaper overall -- since you can put them in yourself without needing anything else. That said, I put vapr barrier under mine (like you'd use with Pergo) and would recommend it for the solid Racedeck tiles. They make the floor sound 'normal' when you walk on them (and keep oil from soaking into the concrete), without the plastic clicky sound they make when directly on the slab. With swisstrack open tiles, I supposed a vapor barrier would kind of defeat the purpose though...
#4534
i second the thanks...still working on what i will do in one of the garages...main use garage will be perforated race deck/swisstrax
to those that used perforated race deck/swisstrax did anyone seal their concrete ahead of time?
#4535
No and get Swisstrax not Racedeck. It is way better. I have had them both. I actually ripped out my last RD floor and sold it and replaced with Swisstrax. Way better. Doesn’t have that clank sound the guy above talked about and doesn’t expand and contrast with temp swings like Racedeck does. IMO Racedeck is sh$t.
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CPTAmericaMV (01-03-2021)
#4536
No and get Swisstrax not Racedeck. It is way better. I have had them both. I actually ripped out my last RD floor and sold it and replaced with Swisstrax. Way better. Doesn’t have that clank sound the guy above talked about and doesn’t expand and contrast with temp swings like Racedeck does. IMO Racedeck is sh$t.
#4537
In fairness to Racedeck, you are supposed to leave space around the edges for it to expand and contract, but I hear you.
It's quick and easy, and can add lots of 'pop' to a space, and you can avoid the clicking sound with something under it, but it will never be porcelain...
It's quick and easy, and can add lots of 'pop' to a space, and you can avoid the clicking sound with something under it, but it will never be porcelain...
#4538
In fairness to Racedeck, you are supposed to leave space around the edges for it to expand and contract, but I hear you.
It's quick and easy, and can add lots of 'pop' to a space, and you can avoid the clicking sound with something under it, but it will never be porcelain...
It's quick and easy, and can add lots of 'pop' to a space, and you can avoid the clicking sound with something under it, but it will never be porcelain...
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#4541
In fairness to Racedeck, you are supposed to leave space around the edges for it to expand and contract, but I hear you.
It's quick and easy, and can add lots of 'pop' to a space, and you can avoid the clicking sound with something under it, but it will never be porcelain...
It's quick and easy, and can add lots of 'pop' to a space, and you can avoid the clicking sound with something under it, but it will never be porcelain...
#4542
No and get Swisstrax not Racedeck. It is way better. I have had them both. I actually ripped out my last RD floor and sold it and replaced with Swisstrax. Way better. Doesn’t have that clank sound the guy above talked about and doesn’t expand and contrast with temp swings like Racedeck does. IMO Racedeck is sh$t.
#4543
In fairness to racedeck?! I doubled the gap I left on the outside from their recommendations and it still wasn't near enough! They are used to 20x20 garages where a 1/2" gap is enough. on a 60x60 hangar floor, I needed 1 1/2-2" around the outside which then looks horrible. I would rather leave bare cement than use it again. I would give the product a 1 star maybe.
Last edited by Archimedes; 01-04-2021 at 05:43 PM.
#4544
Very true on Racedeck. I had it in my airplane hangar and it would expand and contract over an inch on the edges and buckle. I even left a 1" gap around the outside and still wasn't enough. It looked terrible. So bad that I sold the hangar and the next guy ripped it out about 3 months after moving in (I told him about the problem first). My garages now have porcelain and it has been great. Porcelain is cheaper here in AZ because tile labor is really cheap compared to most of the country.
I agree that the above tiles suck. I had them prior to Free Flow and did not care for them at all.
Last edited by Archimedes; 01-04-2021 at 05:39 PM.
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joejenie (01-05-2021)
#4545
In fairness to racedeck?! I doubled the gap I left on the outside from their recommendations and it still wasn't near enough! They are used to 20x20 garages where a 1/2" gap is enough. on a 60x60 hangar floor, I needed 1 1/2-2" around the outside which then looks horrible. I would rather leave bare cement than use it again. I would give the product a 1 star maybe.
The following users liked this post:
joejenie (01-05-2021)