RaceDeck Floor Tiles

[Bernica]

This is another option...

Concrete Diamond Polishing and Concrete Polished Concrete Flooring Systems Phoenix 1-855-376-9966 By Desert Coatings Arizona 602-272-0430

[patrickt]

I like a low lustre gray. The high lustre stuff always looks like there's a puddle of something on the floor. This is what I put on my floor, and my GoJaks roll over a plain painted concrete floor just great.

[DanEC]

Back to the RaceDeck - I've inquired about them and car dollies on 3 forums and received a fair amount of feedback. Trying to put it all together the following seems to best represent reality:

A car on dollies and left parked on RaceDeck will probably result in slight depreessions in the flooring over time. When the time comes to move the car, it will take a lot of effort to get those 16 wheels turned and up and out of the slight depressions. Once out and moving, it will probably roll pretty good, although I've had one or two responses that the diamond pattern can interfere with the dollies rolling over the top. Considering how difficult it can sometimes be to get all 16 casters pointed in roughly the same direction, that sounds plausible.

I have Harbor Freight crank up dollies with steel wheels. On concrete I have been pretty happy with them. Given plenty of room it will move and spin with out any great effort - getting it to move in the exact direction you want it to can sometimes take a little tugging and corrective effort.

I move the car over next to a wall in the garage to park it. It's a little tight trying to get between the car and the wall but it may be plausible to crank the dollies down when in position to put the weight on the tires instead of the dollies - thereby avoiding dimples. Then it's a simple matter to crank them up a couple notches to roll the car out. I just need to figure out whether I want to go through this effort, just to get a nice floor.

Epoxy or polished concrete would be my preference but the 3 or 4 days I would have to move everything else just won't work.

[Bernica]

Originally Posted by DanEC

Epoxy or polished concrete would be my preference but the 3 or 4 days I would have to move everything else just won't work.

Do you have access to an enclosed trailer that you could move the car and everything into for a few days? Just a thought.

Just so you are aware, there is another product out there called Ardex that goes down very thin, self-levels and polishes. Pretty strong stuff too.

ARDEX Americas | Polished Concrete Systems

I know you really prefer something smooth and I didn't see any smooth Race Deck product.

[patrickt]

Jeez, if the whole problem surrounding what you really want is where you park your Cobra for a few days, just ask one of your neighbors if you could borrow their garage for a week in exchange for a delicious dinner for two, all expense paid by you, at the restaurant of their choice. That seems like an easy solution.

[Bernica]

Originally Posted by patrickt

Jeez, if the whole problem surrounding what you really want is where you park your Cobra for a few days, just ask one of your neighbors if you could borrow their garage for a week in exchange for a delicious dinner for two, all expense paid by you, at the restaurant of their choice. That seems like an easy solution.

Yup, then just rent a little U-Haul trailer or similar for a few days, back it up to the garage and load it with everything else that is on the floor.

Hate to see you compromise and end up with something that you have to deal with every day and regret it!

[RodKnock]

I agree with Patrick amd Bernica. Rent a garage and a couple of those portable storage pods and get the garage floor finish you want. Don't settle.

Not too long ago, I bought and installed 4'x6'x3/4" horse stall mats, not for my garage though, which can obviously withstand a huge beating. And they're about $40-50 per mat. But I'm not sure how they would do with casters supporting heavy loads. And they're not very pretty. However, they're excellent, last forever and do the job that they were intended to do for me.

Rubber Mat, Black, 4 ft. x 6 ft. x 3/4 in. - For Life Out Here

[patrickt]

We did the exact same thing for one of my weight-lifting kids in the workout room. He drops some pretty heavy free weights on the down motion and we didn't want it damaging the flooring beneath it. I think it can withstand almost anything.

[Bernica]

Originally Posted by RodKnock

I agree with Patrick amd Bernica. Rent a garage and a couple of those portable storage pods and get the garage floor finish you want. Don't settle.
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See how easy it is for us to help you spend your money Dan?

[RodKnock]

Originally Posted by patrickt

We did the exact same thing for one of my weight-lifting kids in the workout room. He drops some pretty heavy free weights on the down motion and we didn't want it damaging the flooring beneath it. I think it can withstand almost anything.

Each mat is 100lbs of recycled tires. They're freakin' heavy. They're nearly indestructible. And they have to be for horse stalls. To cut them with a industrial exacto knife is a PITA.

Most CrossFit Boxes (aka gyms) have them and when your lifting and throwing down hundreds and hundreds of lbs., they definitely do their job. I know companies are out there that make them in various colors.

[patrickt]

He ordered ours off the internet. Each "square" has interlocking triangular fingers that mate up to the next square so it was reasonably easy to put down and they hold tight to one another. And ours are a nice pretty dark blue, that pretty much goes with nothing, but still looks nice.

[RodKnock]

Originally Posted by patrickt

He ordered ours off the internet. Each "square" has interlocking triangular fingers that mate up to the next square so it was reasonably easy to put down and they hold tight to one another. And ours are a nice pretty dark blue, that pretty much goes with nothing, but still looks nice.

Dark blue? Why did you choose a color instead of beige?

Wasn't delivery expensive? They weigh a ton. If you can find a nearby horse saddlery store, they'll have them there for cheap(er). Or a local tractor supply store.

[patrickt]

I just asked him -- he got the Amazon Prime free delivery on them. I can't remember what they cost, but the fact that I can't remember is an indication that it was not outrageous.

[Bernica]

My sister uses those mats in her horse stalls up in WA and says they are durable as hell. Never thought of them in a garage. Just wonder how dense it is and if the caster wheels will want to dig in. Maybe buy one piece and put it to the test?

I am waiting for permits to build my new 1,000 s.f. garage and looking at all floor options as well. I will be going with either polished concrete or terrazzo. With the terrazo, I can cove it up the walls about 6" and have a floor that I could literally steam clean if I ever needed to.

[DanEC]

It's a little more complicated than just what to do with the ERA. It's what to do with the ERA, the 66 Corvette, the 67 Plymouth GTX and the Lightning Pickup - all of which reside in a 25 x 25 garage along with 6 shelf units, 3 tool chests, 2 work benches, and assorted drill presses, hydraulic press, parts washers, jacks, jack stands, and oh yeah - the 4-post lift. Our other slightly small garage can catch some of the stuff like the benches, shelves and jacks but it's already got our daily drivers in it and my wife is like - do what you want but my car stays in the garage. And it doesn't have a high rise door so the 4-post lift doesn't work in it. With storms, hail, torrential rain (we have had at least 4 - 5inch plus monsoons this year already and questionable door and window gaskets on old cars, parking them outside just doesn't work.

[patrickt]

OK, then I'm back to that Behr paint I used. It dries in like two hours and you can do different parts of the floor at different times and it all blends in together. Just push everything over to one side of the garage, paint, let dry, move it back over, repeat, and then credit me for being the genius that I am.

[Bernica]

Originally Posted by DanEC

It's a little more complicated than just what to do with the ERA. It's what to do with the ERA, the 66 Corvette, the 67 Plymouth GTX and the Lightning Pickup - all of which reside in a 25 x 25 garage along with 6 shelf units, 3 tool chests, 2 work benches, and assorted drill presses, hydraulic press, parts washers, jacks, jack stands, and oh yeah - the 4-post lift. Our other slightly small garage can catch some of the stuff like the benches, shelves and jacks but it's already got our daily drivers in it and my wife is like - do what you want but my car stays in the garage. And it doesn't have a high rise door so the 4-post lift doesn't work in it. With storms, hail, torrential rain (we have had at least 4 - 5inch plus monsoons this year already and questionable door and window gaskets on old cars, parking them outside just doesn't work.

You could also look around for a local shop or warehouse with a lot of floor space and ask them how much to store the vehicles for a week indoors. A local larger car dealership might do it as well. Done that before too. Just check their insurance.

[RodKnock]

Originally Posted by DanEC

It's a little more complicated than just what to do with the ERA. It's what to do with the ERA, the 66 Corvette, the 67 Plymouth GTX and the Lightning Pickup - all of which reside in a 25 x 25 garage along with 6 shelf units, 3 tool chests, 2 work benches, and assorted drill presses, hydraulic press, parts washers, jacks, jack stands, and oh yeah - the 4-post lift. Our other slightly small garage can catch some of the stuff like the benches, shelves and jacks but it's already got our daily drivers in it and my wife is like - do what you want but my car stays in the garage. And it doesn't have a high rise door so the 4-post lift doesn't work in it. With storms, hail, torrential rain (we have had at least 4 - 5inch plus monsoons this year already and questionable door and window gaskets on old cars, parking them outside just doesn't work.

You're going to have move $hit around anyway, why not move it into one of these portable garages?

ShelterLogic Garage-in-a-Box Compact 12 ft. x 16 ft. 8 ft. Peak Style Garage, Gray - For Life Out Here

Bernica, granted it's not a caster with a 2,500 lbs of car to support, but you can leave 300, 400, 500 lbs of barbell and plates for days and no indentations are made to those horse stall mats.

[patrickt]

Each wheel on your Cobra has 700 lbs or less on it. The four casters for each wheel have one quarter of that 700 figure. That's nothing. Chances are you weigh more than that.

[DanEC]

Originally Posted by patrickt

OK, then I'm back to that Behr paint I used. It dries in like two hours and you can do different parts of the floor at different times and it all blends in together. Just push everything over to one side of the garage, paint, let dry, move it back over, repeat, and then credit me for being the genius that I am.

I have thought about painting it in 3 sections - might still consider it. I think my slab is dry - installed two layers of visqueen under it. Sure hear a lot of stories of peeling epoxy though - even from pro-jobs.