Thinking about SwissTrax flooring or already enjoying yours? In this quick guide, DirtFarmerJay shows how unbelievably easy it is to remove a single tile—or a whole section—for cleaning, repairs, or access underneath.
If you've got a SwissTrax floor—or you're thinking about getting one—you might be wondering: “How do I remove just one tile?” Whether something spilled and dried underneath, a tile got gouged, or you just need access for cleaning, maintenance, or repairs, you’ll be happy to know it’s much easier than you might expect.
You can quickly and safely remove a single SwissTrax tile—or even a whole section—without disrupting the rest of your floor. One of the things we love about our SwissTrax RibTrax floor is just how easy it is to maintain. Those underside channels help shed water, dirt, and debris, and you can vacuum, blow, or rinse underneath without much effort. But sometimes, you really do need access under the tile itself.
All you’ll need is a simple paint can opener or even a flat-blade screwdriver. I prefer the opener because the little hook on the end makes the job even easier. The real trick is knowing where to pull. Each tile has peg and loop sides—and where two peg sides meet, that’s your ideal lift point.
Look down through the tile to spot peg-side alignment. Once you find it, just place your tool under the edge, hold the adjacent tile down, and lift. That’s it! You can remove a single tile or pull back several tiles to access a larger area. When you're done, simply return the tile in the same orientation, align the loops and pegs, press down, and it’s like nothing ever happened. Slick, huh?
SwissTrax has truly transformed our garage. It looks great, feels great underfoot, and the flexibility of removing and reinstalling individual tiles is a huge advantage over fixed flooring systems.
Check out our episode using time lapse portions to show the entire installation and how it is done here:
Hey, Dur Farmer Jay here from der
farmerj.com. So, you've considered
getting a Swiss track flooring system
for your garage or you have one and
you're concerned about how do I just
pull a single section or get some of
this to come up so I can access under
it. Well, stay tuned and I'll show you
how. It's a lot easier than you may
think.
Hey, Der Farmer Jay here from der
farmerj.com. We love our new Swiss track
floor. It's pretty. It feels good in the
feet. It's got great color. It's really
popped things up around here. What I was
concerned about early on uh was how you
access things, how you clean it. So, for
instance, if let's say you dump some
sand or dirt cloud or mud comes in,
dries and gets down below. Well, you can
use a vac or a shop back and you can
pull that all out. You can actually
because of the way the channels are on
the underside of these tiles, they shed
water. Uh, and you can actually blast
air under them or put water through and
have it shed off. But let's say that you
do want to remove a section of tiles or
a single tile. Uh, let's say it got
damaged, gouged, or there's some kind of
mess under it. You really want to have
access to clean it. How do you know
where to open it up? And what do you
need to do so? Well, you're just going
to simply need one of these paint can
opener tools, or you could use a
straight blade screwdriver as well, but
I like this cuz it's got a hook on it.
And then what you're going to do is
you're going to look at the tile, look
down through it, and you're going to
choose where there are two adjacent peg
sides. So when I look here, I can see
this on this one, the peg side is right
along here cuz it's going into the loops
and the blue. And if I look over here, I
can see white loops, meaning there's
another set of pegs here. So where there
is two peg sides adjacent to each other,
that's where you pull up. So I'm going
to go here, grab my tool, I'm holding
down this one, and I'm going to lift.
And watch what happens. See there? Now I
can get as hold as much of this as I
want and pull out a section uh back as
far as I want. Pull that section out.
And when I'm done uh so I'm just going
to pop out this single one right here.
And let's suppose the soil or the damage
is right here.
So now I have this single tile out. And
to replace it, I'm going to do the same
thing. I'm going to put it back in the
same orientation. Or if I've cleaned it
or got the mess that was out here below,
I'm gonna put it back the way it was.
Inserting these corners back under the
sides like that.
Pop it all back down.
Pop this down. And there you go. It's
like nothing ever happened. Slick, huh?
So, if you're getting ready to install
one of these floors or in the middle of
installing it and you want to know how
to do special cuts around obstacles like
garage door track, stairs, pipes that
are in the wall, other obstacles without
a lot of hassle and without displacing
the floor. Check out this video where we
show you some shortcuts a lot of times
without using a tape measure. You'll be
a lot richer for it and end up with a
great installation with a lot less
hassle and anxiety. Hey, until the next
time. This is Dirt Farmer J from
dirtfrj.com.
Loving this Swiss track floor.
