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Back to the main feature of the GarageDominium, the garage.  I’ve spent a lot of time on laying out the garage and shop to make sure everything would work and fit.  The garage needs to be deep enough to fit the cars, truck, and boat.  The garage doors need to be large enough to easily these vehicles get in and out.  I want a ceiling high enough and a floor strong enough to accommodate a car lift.  The final floor plan covers all of this.  I also included a utility sink in the garage and assigned space for the water heater and water softener.  I plan to buy some large new toolboxes and build some of my own cabinets and shelves.  Near the boat parking I plan to build cabinets and racks for fishing and boating gear storage.  Live Home 3D Pro software was great for laying everything out.

I want a nice floor for the garage that looks good, doesn’t soak up spills, and is easy to clean.  I would like to go with Racedeck tiles.  They seem to be the best compromise between price and performance when considering alternatives such as floor coatings, other tile materials, or rubber mats.

One thing to consider with plastic tiles is that they expand and contract with changes in temperature.  Owners have reported buckling, particularly near doorways, on hot days when the sun is shining on the floor.  To combat this, it is necessary to leave clearance around the perimeter of the floor, usually about 1/2”.  Racedeck also recommends installing the floor when the outside temperature is high so that the tiles are in the expanded state.

I wanted to know how much these Racedeck tiles really expand and how much color influences expansion.   Racedeck is made from polypropylene copolymer.  On the internet I found a wide range of expansion coefficients for polypropylene, so I decided to do my own experiment.  Several samples in different colors laid out on my patio in August 2021 would be a good test.  I measured the temperature of the tiles compared to the concrete patio temperature and compared to ambient temperature.  To determine the thermal expansion, I connected all the samples together in one long line and measure the difference in length from cool to hot.  I measured tile temperatures measured with an IR gun, but the values seemed too high.  A contact temperature probe indicated much lower temperatures.   With 7 tiles assembled in a line, I measured 15/32” growth from ambient temperature to hot direct sun.  However, the temperature readings are suspect, so I don’t know a true expansion vs temperature change value.  I need to try this again when it gets hot.

I have tile samples in orange, black, beige, alloy, graphite, brown, and red.  Using the IR temperature gun, I found that black and brown tiles get a lot hotter than the orange or red tiles.  While the absolute temperatures may not be correct, the relative difference may be ok.  Black and brown tiles being the hottest is not surprising, but they were almost 35 degrees hotter for some measurements.  The alloy, beige, and graphite were mid-range in temperature compared to the others with alloy being the coolest of these three.  Below is the temperature comparison, just keep in mind that the temperature gun may have been reading high.

Is expansion really a problem?  Maybe, maybe not.  Tiles exposed to direct sun will definitely get hot.  There is potential for different tile temperatures and therefore different amounts of expansion if some tiles are in the sun such as near a window or open garage door, while others are shaded.  Another problem is that some tiles will have a lot of weight on them from parked cars, toolboxes, etc. while other tiles won’t have any weight on them.  If there are large temperature swings, this combination of weighted and unweighted tile can cause buckling.  The folks at Garage Flooring LLC have a good article on this subject.

I’m also trying to figure out what type of door to use between the garage and the shop.  I want the opening to be at least 54” wide to easily get material in and out.  A set of double doors creates takes up a lot of room to open them in either in the garage or the shop.  A sliding barn style door would work well but can be expensive.  I’ve looked at a roll up door like those used on storage buildings.  This may be a good option, but you must open the entire door for access unlike a sliding door that can be opened just enough to walk through.  More geeky stuff in the next post.  Eventually we’ll start building something.