Before Tillie the TR6 came into my life, my garage was used to keep our daily driver car, motorcycle, lawn mower, snow-blower, etc, out of the weather. Over the years the concrete floor has taken a real beating with salt slush off the car in the winter, oil drops, and just plain wear and tear.
Well, now that the messy part of the TR6 restoration is done, and I've turned the garage into a man cave/shop, I began thinking about doing something with the floor. I needed to keep the cost under control, so having the floor removed and new concrete poured was not an option, plus the thought of moving everything into a storage unit for a month didn't sound like fun. Several years ago I looked at various floor coatings / coverings and ended up buying an inexpensive, rubber mat material that was interlocking for the worse half of the floor... Ok, but not what I really wanted for the long haul.
An internet search turned up SnapLock Industries in Utah that makes interlocking modules out of polypropylene and markets them under the RaceDeck name. RaceDeck flooring is not affected by common automotive chemicals, like oil, brake fluid, grease, etc, and can support thousands of pounds of weight...just don't weld over it ! All this and it is 100% made in the USA and comes in 10 colors! Several times a year, RaceDeck puts their flooring on sale and includes free shipping, so when their March sale notice arrived, I called them and pulled the trigger on enough flooring to cover my 16' X 16' floor....graphite in color with a black border and black edging. Four business days later, 7 boxes weighing about 250 lbs total arrived....glad I didn't have to pay the UPS cost for shipping !
The worst part of this project was getting all my "stuff"out the of Man Cave! I cleared one side at a time then thoroughly cleaned the concrete with a broom and compressed air.
A close look at the tile underside shows the "male" peg and the "female" loop that snap together.
The underside of the tile is designed to hold over 5K lbs of rolling weight, yet allows air to circulate... keeping mold and mildew from forming.
The tiles are 1/2" thick.
Since the flooring snaps together, the only tool you need is a rubber mallet to tap the tiles into place.
The directions tell you to start in a corner.
The boxes came with four tiles already snapped together, twelve deep.
The "female" loops are to be pointed in the direction you are moving.
Covering up those nasty cracks!
Even the edges are made to support a lot of weight !
The finished product ! My wife thinks that the new floor gives a real boost to the whole property ! :-)
Now we're ready for Tillie's body tub when it returns from the body shop later this spring !
