Description
Let's get the pricing conversation out of the way. Our price is 20% Off MSRP and Free Shipping. I have better pricing than what you get direct from the manufacturer, so I'll save you the call. List price on Ribtrax is $4.95. Your price per square foot is $3.95.
- They are priced per square foot but each tile is 15.75" x 15.75" x 3/4" (1.7227 sq. ft.). I'm just doing the math to make ordering simpler. So each tile costs $6.80 after your 20% discount has been applied.
- You can use the Floor Designer Program to calculate exactly how many tiles you need.
Garage flooring is one of those things I've obsessed about for a long time. There are pros and cons to all of them. This is just my experience, but I think Swisstrax is the best solution.
Here is what I think our options are for garage flooring:
- Bare Concrete
- Polished Concrete
- Epoxy/Polyaspartic/Urethane
- Porcelain Tile
- Modular/Floating Plastic Tile
So here is the abbreviated story that started in mid-2014. I really wanted polished concrete floors in my garage. The issue with that option is that it doesn't remove stains completely and is susceptible to more stains in the future. I decided to do a metal look epoxy system topped with urethane and an anti-skid. I hated them. They turned brown, were slippery, scratched easily, and generally looked like crap. I've yet to see an epoxy floor that is acceptable to me. But remember, I'm obsessed. After that really expensive disaster, I set out to find a suitable cover up.
I wanted to do Porcelain tile, but there is no way thin set is going to stick to urethane. To remove it requires diamond grinding, tons of cash, and a giant mess. A really high quality porcelain tile is harder than concrete but wasn't an option for me.
I played volleyball in college on many plastic floors. I hate plastic floors. They click and clack and feel cheap. I didn't want anything to do with that. I thought about getting rubber mats like my gym and eventually stumbled on a video of Tanner Faust's garage and these recycled rubber tiles called Swisstrax Rubbertrax. I thought that could solve the plastic feel, so I got on phone on Black Friday in 2014 to Swisstrax.
This super nice girl name Sarah picked up the phone and started schooling me on why rubber doesn't work on rubber tires. I was distraught that my only solution to fix this mess wasn't going to work. She proceed to explain why I needed regular plastic Ribtrax. But...I had all of the observations/questions:
- These are plastic. I hate walking on plastic.
- They are 3/4" of an inch thick and are substantial enough that they don't make noise or feel like a normal plastic floor.
- But how the heck am I going to deal with all the dirt and water that falls through the tiles? That's going to look terrible.
- Again, they are substantial enough at 3/4" thick that dirt and dust fall beneath the tiles. Your floors look clean all the time. There are channels in the tiles that allow water to flow out or evaporate if necessary. Leaves never make it to the back of the garage. They get caught in the first few tiles. I love this. I shop vac the stuff right through the tiles once every 6 months.
- I spill oil and other stuff all the time. Isn't it going to be hard to clean underneath.
- The tiles pull up in seconds. I use a screw driver to pull up a corner. Wipe up the mess, and the tiles simply snap back into place.
- What about floor jacks and jack stands?
- The tiles are rated up to 70,000 lbs, so a floor jack is no issue. If you have sharp jack stands, you'll want to put a piece of wood underneath, but it's not an issue if you use ones that spread the pressure evenly.
- Can I install this myself?
- You simply cut using a table, miter, or circular saw. It took me about 4 hours to do my 600 sq. ft. garage.
If you have other questions, feel free to shoot me an email, and we can schedule a call. The colors I chose are Slate Gray and Black, but I can get you any color you want.