It doesn’t matter if you own or rent. Chances are if you’re reading this magazine, a workshop area is something that is very near and dear to your heart. Speaking from experience, we’ve chosen house purchases based heavily on the amount garage space included. We recently gained access to a bare two-car garage and couldn’t wait to start outfitting it with everything we’d need to work on project trucks. We decided to start from the bottom up (literally) with a new modular garage floor from RaceDeck. We decided to go with the modular floor (a floating floor made of tiles that snap into place) rather than an epoxy floor coating for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, we’re not the most talented guys when it comes to coating large surfaces with thick, potentially messy chemicals. Without question, an attempt to coat the garage floor with an epoxy (or other chemical) coating would result in lots of splatter, ruined clothing, and some permanent footprints in the finished floor. Plus, a modular floor basically goes together like a bunch of big, flat Lego toys, so theoretically we could disassemble it and take it with us if we ever get booted from this particular garage. Yes, the possibility of a forced eviction is always part of our long-term contingency plans. We’ve seen RaceDeck flooring (produced by SnapLock Industries) before and it always looks great. It can be ordered in 14 different colors, and any number of patterns can be created by combining different colored tiles. Each tile is patterned with a diamond-plate pattern that provides good grip, and the high-impact polymer tiles can support more than 50,000 pounds. We ended up with a great-looking checkerboard floor in our garage, and we’re now ready to outfit our workspace with toolboxes and other equipment. Check out the photos for a rundown of the installation. 1. We chose a black and red checkerboard pattern for our garage, but RaceDeck has a wide variety of colors that can be arranged in any pattern.1. We chose a black and red checkerboard pattern for our garage, but RaceDeck has a wide v 2. We received the RaceDeck tiles in relatively lightweight boxes that contained 48 square feet of flooring. There’s really not much else needed. We swept up the empty garage and prepared to lay down the tiles.2. We received the RaceDeck tiles in relatively lightweight boxes that contained 48 square 3. We started in one corner and kept the tiles about a quarter of an inch from the garage walls. This helps to compensate for tile expansion due to temperature fluctuations.3. We started in one corner and kept the tiles about a quarter of an inch from the garage 4. No hammers or tools of any kind are needed for the install. Just line up the tiles and stomp on ‘em with a heavy foot. They secure into place with a satisfying snap.4. No hammers or tools of any kind are needed for the install. Just line up the tiles and 5. The instructions told us to start at one corner, and then snap tiles along the walls reaching out from the corner. We filled in the rest of the floor from there with no problems. We ended up cutting some tile to make them fit at the opposite edge.5. The instructions told us to start at one corner, and then snap tiles along the walls re 6. After we had snapped in this cool logo tile, we realized we wanted it to face the other way. No worries, we just plied up the tile with a putty knife, turned it around, and stomped it back into place. We also got cool little ramped tiles that fit underneath the lip of the garage door for a good seal.6. After we had snapped in this cool logo tile, we realized we wanted it to face the other Sources SnapLock Industries 2330 W. California Ave. Salt Lake City UT 84104 800-457-0174 www.racedeck.com By Dexter Roberts Jr. Enjoyed this Post? Subscribe to our RSS Feed, or use your favorite social media to recommend us to friends and colleagues!
