Thanks for sharing your own perspective. If you have a drain in the middle of your garage could be a good alternative. Dust , leaves and high humidity could be an issue for me. If you lose a screw , you are screwed. Hard surface like concrete gives you the fastest way to clean your garage, sweep or you can use a leaf blower and done!
Yep. Everybody has their own reasons for selecting the type of garage flooring they think suits them best. That is what's most important. However, If a screw or anything else falls between the ribs, it is very easy to pop a tile up. So that's not a problem, other than the fact that you have to go through that exercise to rescue the screw :)
That's a great question, Randy. Neither get very slippery, but we have found that the smooth style is slightly less slippery under most circumstances. Here is why. The ribs on the Ribtrax Pro have rounded tops and do not hold water at all. It immediately sheds off onto the concrete below. The tops of the ribs will just be damp with moisture until they dry. The Ribtrax Smooth Pro will hold a little bit of water on the surface since the ribs are flat. However, that water is immediately displaced by the sole of your shoe into the voids and the concrete below when you step on it. Because the smooth style has more surface area to provide grip, it generally will be slightly less slippery. Keep in mind though that the standard Ribtrax also dries quicker. So if the water is immediate, the smooth style is slightly less slippery. If it's had little bit of time to dry, then it provides more grip than the smooth style. I hope that helps.
I liked the video. I have a capped garage (over a basement room) and got about four or five years out of a professionally installed epoxy. Now, they want to redo it because of blisters. My question is, since my garage floor is somewhat bumpy, would that present a problem with getting the tiles to lock evenly? Can I add something to the concrete to even it? If so, what? Or, can I heat the tiles to mold them a little?
Hi Frank. If you are referring to the blistering of the coating making the floor bumpy, then you will not have any issues with the tiles locking together. There is not enough elevation change to cause problems. If you have something else going on like an uneven floor, step ups, or something else, then it may be an issue. Something to keep in mind is that interlocking tile floors are free floating and can slide fairly easily on coated floors. Therefore, it's important that you do a wall to wall coverage with the tiles like our floor in the video. Otherwise, the floor may shift when a vehicle is on it.
What do you recommend for a woodworking shop. My concerns are rolling machines around and sawdust issues with Swisstrax smooth for example, and the cost factor. I do think the open air construction is a plus, but the closed circles might be better to deal with sawdust.
Hi Bruce. Rolling machines, toolboxes, and other equipment, is a breeze on the Swisstrax Smooth Pro. Sawdust that falls through the open tiles is easily picked up off the concrete through the tiles when using a good shop vac as well. However, it's not as easy as sweeping sawdust on a solid top tile and giving it quick vac. The solid top tiles have a similar substructure that allows for drainage and air circulation, so that typically is not a determining factor when choosing a style of tile.
My garage floor has an epoxy coating and is a cream color. How much of the floor do you see looking through the tiles. Do the smooth tiles hide more of the concrete. I really don’t want to see the epoxy coating.
Hi Mark. If the garage is well lit, it's fairly easy to see the floor below when looking straight down. How much you see is diminished quite a bit as you look across the floor since the viewing angle changes. Smooth Pro tiles make it more difficult to see exactly what is below. The rib gaps are narrower and not as much light gets through to reflect back what you see. It's much more dark looking between the ribs. There is no way to completely block out the floor below with a self-draining style of tile though. You would need to choose a solid top for that.
Hi Ethan. Floor jacks, rolling toolboxes, and anything with wheels in general roll very well on the floor. When using a floor jack, you should place it on a piece of 5/16" plywood or something similar to help distribute the load. Because steel wheels don't have a flat footprint like a pneumatic tire does, all that weight on the small wheels when lifting a car or truck can cause indentations in the tile. This is true of any polypropylene interlocking floor tile system.
Sorry to hear you didn't get a response. That is unusual. Yes, premium garage tiles have gotten more expensive as has other products these days. Swisstrax is not the only manufacturer to experience this. It's the same thing with quality garage floor coatings. The cost of raw materials keeps going up.
SupraTile by ArmorPoxy are one of the best flexible, PVC coin tiles. You can price them here: armorpoxy.com/4-5-mm-t-joint-supratile-coin-textured-interlocking-floor-tile
Hi Chris. Yes, we would seriously consider going with the Ribtrax Smooth Pro for the entire floor next time. The only thing that would hold us back from doing that is the fact that the Ribtrax Pro (non-smooth) stays clean looking for so long. We've had solid top tile floors before and I know from experience that those require more maintenance to keep clean just like any other garage flooring option. We went 6 months without any cleaning and couldn't believe how nice it still looked.
If you’re not OCD, I’m not an air breather!! 😂 Great Video Review. I’m sold!!
Lol... Glad you liked it!
Thanks for sharing your own perspective. If you have a drain in the middle of your garage could be a good alternative. Dust , leaves and high humidity could be an issue for me. If you lose a screw , you are screwed. Hard surface like concrete gives you the fastest way to clean your garage, sweep or you can use a leaf blower and done!
Yep. Everybody has their own reasons for selecting the type of garage flooring they think suits them best. That is what's most important. However, If a screw or anything else falls between the ribs, it is very easy to pop a tile up. So that's not a problem, other than the fact that you have to go through that exercise to rescue the screw :)
Which of these floors or the least slippery when wet. The ribtrax or the smoothtrax
That's a great question, Randy. Neither get very slippery, but we have found that the smooth style is slightly less slippery under most circumstances. Here is why.
The ribs on the Ribtrax Pro have rounded tops and do not hold water at all. It immediately sheds off onto the concrete below. The tops of the ribs will just be damp with moisture until they dry. The Ribtrax Smooth Pro will hold a little bit of water on the surface since the ribs are flat. However, that water is immediately displaced by the sole of your shoe into the voids and the concrete below when you step on it. Because the smooth style has more surface area to provide grip, it generally will be slightly less slippery. Keep in mind though that the standard Ribtrax also dries quicker. So if the water is immediate, the smooth style is slightly less slippery. If it's had little bit of time to dry, then it provides more grip than the smooth style. I hope that helps.
I liked the video. I have a capped garage (over a basement room) and got about four or five years out of a professionally installed epoxy. Now, they want to redo it because of blisters. My question is, since my garage floor is somewhat bumpy, would that present a problem with getting the tiles to lock evenly? Can I add something to the concrete to even it? If so, what? Or, can I heat the tiles to mold them a little?
Hi Frank. If you are referring to the blistering of the coating making the floor bumpy, then you will not have any issues with the tiles locking together. There is not enough elevation change to cause problems. If you have something else going on like an uneven floor, step ups, or something else, then it may be an issue. Something to keep in mind is that interlocking tile floors are free floating and can slide fairly easily on coated floors. Therefore, it's important that you do a wall to wall coverage with the tiles like our floor in the video. Otherwise, the floor may shift when a vehicle is on it.
What do you recommend for a woodworking shop. My concerns are rolling machines around and sawdust issues with Swisstrax smooth for example, and the cost factor. I do think the open air construction is a plus, but the closed circles might be better to deal with sawdust.
Hi Bruce. Rolling machines, toolboxes, and other equipment, is a breeze on the Swisstrax Smooth Pro. Sawdust that falls through the open tiles is easily picked up off the concrete through the tiles when using a good shop vac as well. However, it's not as easy as sweeping sawdust on a solid top tile and giving it quick vac. The solid top tiles have a similar substructure that allows for drainage and air circulation, so that typically is not a determining factor when choosing a style of tile.
My garage floor has an epoxy coating and is a cream color. How much of the floor do you see looking through the tiles. Do the smooth tiles hide more of the concrete. I really don’t want to see the epoxy coating.
Hi Mark. If the garage is well lit, it's fairly easy to see the floor below when looking straight down. How much you see is diminished quite a bit as you look across the floor since the viewing angle changes. Smooth Pro tiles make it more difficult to see exactly what is below. The rib gaps are narrower and not as much light gets through to reflect back what you see. It's much more dark looking between the ribs. There is no way to completely block out the floor below with a self-draining style of tile though. You would need to choose a solid top for that.
Hello
What happens when u turn ur car or truck wheels while stationary?? Does the tiles get loose? Or slipp?
The tiles stay put when you turn the wheel in place. This is true for most U.S. made interlocking garage floor tiles.
How does the ribbed style floor work with hydronic ( in floor heat) heating?
It works great. The heat in the concrete radiates up through the flooring and warms the space nicely.
How well do floor jacks (and casters in general) roll across the ribtrax pro floor tiles?
Hi Ethan. Floor jacks, rolling toolboxes, and anything with wheels in general roll very well on the floor. When using a floor jack, you should place it on a piece of 5/16" plywood or something similar to help distribute the load. Because steel wheels don't have a flat footprint like a pneumatic tire does, all that weight on the small wheels when lifting a car or truck can cause indentations in the tile. This is true of any polypropylene interlocking floor tile system.
At almost 5 dollars a square foot it should have gold flakes in it!! Also in trying to reach the company got zero response.
Sorry to hear you didn't get a response. That is unusual. Yes, premium garage tiles have gotten more expensive as has other products these days. Swisstrax is not the only manufacturer to experience this. It's the same thing with quality garage floor coatings. The cost of raw materials keeps going up.
Which pvc coin tiles are the best?
SupraTile by ArmorPoxy are one of the best flexible, PVC coin tiles. You can price them here: armorpoxy.com/4-5-mm-t-joint-supratile-coin-textured-interlocking-floor-tile
If you had to do it again, would you get Swisstrax smooth only throughout the garage? Thanks for the in-depth review!
Hi Chris. Yes, we would seriously consider going with the Ribtrax Smooth Pro for the entire floor next time. The only thing that would hold us back from doing that is the fact that the Ribtrax Pro (non-smooth) stays clean looking for so long. We've had solid top tile floors before and I know from experience that those require more maintenance to keep clean just like any other garage flooring option. We went 6 months without any cleaning and couldn't believe how nice it still looked.
Which is less slippery? Smoothtrax or ribtrax. I am handicapped and getting this flooring to prevent slipping and falling when floor wet