Perforated Deck Tile Testimonial - Doug VanWormer

After 36 years of managing an automobile collision shop, Doug Vanwormer knows all about hard work. But now that he’s retired, he’s taking steps to ensure he doesn’t have to work that hard anymore - at least at maintaining his deck.

Doug was fed up with scraping and staining his deck every other year, so he began researching products to cover his deck, which was made of 2x6 boards and was still structurally sound. A common theme he found in his research was the need for drainage and ventilation to avoid rotting out the existing wooden deck.

The Perfect Deck Tile

After comparing numerous samples of different products, he landed on Greatmats Patio Outdoor Tiles.

“Others were beefier, but I didn’t see how they would work,” he said.

As for his Patio Outdoor Tiles, he said, “This product is phenomenal!”

It took him two days to install more than 680 tiles over his deck and the attached stairs.

“I’ve had more compliments,” he said. “We’re happy with it. I can’t see why it wouldn’t last for the next 10 years.”

Doug said that he is able to clean leaves and debris off of the deck easily with a blower or a broom, but noted it's best to let the debris dry if it gets wet before cleaning it off - for ease of cleaning.

“It’s nicer to walk on, and it looks 100 percent cleaner all of the time,” he said. “When you’re out there on your bare feet, it’s nice to walk on. You don’t have to worry about splinters.”
Where he lives in Barkhamsted, Connecticut, temperatures commonly reach the mid 90s and the wooden deck itself was harder for him to walk on during those hot days.

Doug said that the new tiles do get a little soft when it’s really hot, but not too much to walk on.

He did caution that furniture and other items with pointy legs do indent the tiles, but they rebound to their original shape.

His proactive solution to that is to use coasters under the legs, which has eliminated the indenting.

“Furniture coasters work great,” he said.

While the main deck area is a floating installation, meaning the tiles are not secured to the deck, he did find it beneficial to attach the tiles to the stairs with stainless steel screws.
With the large area remaining unattached, he has lifted the flooring to check how it is affecting the wood underneath and says it looks good.

“I can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t want to do this,” he said. “With all of the work the scraping and staining (the wooden deck). If you have to get out the and scrape and stain, that takes forever - not 2 days.”

As an added bonus, he’s found other uses for his leftover tiles, like using them to fix broken utensil baskets in his dishwasher!

“We find all kinds of uses for them,” Doug said.

Doug Vanwormer

Residential

Barkhamsted CT 06063