Options for shop floor

[Bob Borzelleri]

There's a fair chance that I will never act on this momentary, casual and probably fleeting thought that has just wandered through my brain. Still, it's something that I frequently think about when I sweep or vacuum the floor.

My shop is 25x25 with wood floor (actually painted plywood subfloor) on a raised foundation. Notwithstanding the fact that probably the most prudent thing to do with this floor is to insulate it, I don't look at the floor from down below anywhere near as often as I see it under my feet, and staring at aging gun metal gray plywood is getting pretty boring.

Is it serviceable? Yes. Does it satisfy any kind of reasonable feng shui floor aesthetic? I don't think so.

Options:

1. I could forget any lingering dissatisfaction with the floor and move on.
2. I could slap fresh paint on it. Maybe a nice fuchsia.
3. I could lay down one of those loss leader $.99 a foot laminates that they always have stationed near the checkout counter at carpet and floor stores (even Ikea has that stuff).
4. I could lay down "real wood" (what a thought for a wood shop). But then what kind if wood?

The first two options are pretty much up to me so that leaves, assuming that I can't forget and don't want to paint, the possibility of a laminate versus the cost of the real thing.

Oh wait, then I'd have to move all the machinery...

[Matt Hafner]

I would stay away from the laminates. They aren't typically designed for the weight stresses of wood working machines. I am planning my next shop, and will probably go with a "utility grade" hardwood. Red Oak seems to be the cheapest, but I am really thinking Hickory.

[Bob Borzelleri]

I would stay away from the laminates. They aren't typically designed for the weight stresses of wood working machines. I am planning my next shop, and will probably go with a "utility grade" hardwood. Red Oak seems to be the cheapest, but I am really thinking Hickory.

Not a bad thought. I was surprised to find both red and white oak at prices close to the blow out laminates. The utility price was even better, but I think I want better "rollability" than what I'd get with utility given some of the pictures I saw at Lumber Liquidators.

[Mike Cruz]

I called up my local Lumber Liquidators and got Hickory (rustic grade) for 99 cents per square foot.

PROS:

Just about the cheapest thing I could have gotten.
Super tough and durable.
Looks very cool in a shop.
Can always be sanded down and finished/refinished.

CONS:

Being rustic there were a bunch of obsticles:
Many pieces are short.
You HAVE to check each piece to make sure it has 2 tounges and 2 grooves.
You HAVE to check to make sure each piece is exactly the specific width ALL the way down the piece, meaning (with 2 1/4" wided pieces) that they are 2 1/4" the whole way, not tapering to 2 1/8...
Unless you care, you HAVE to check to make sure each piece is actully hickory. I got pieces of maple, cherry, walnut, oak, and ash in my order. There was NOTHING wrong with these pieces. They were PERFECT maple, cherry, walnut, oak and ash...but they were HORRIBLE hickory (if you get my drift).
Half of my order came in with a microbevel and half had no bevel at all. Not a problem for me, I was going to be changing direction of the wood at a certain point anyway, so I sorted through everything and split it into two piles. Each "bundle" was fairly consistant with whether it had a bevel or not.
Because of all the sorting and short pieces, it took quite a while to do the floor. But the finished product looks great with the knots and stuff.

Everyone that sees it loves it. My brother and his girlfriend even considered using it for their house. These two pics, you can see a glimpse of the floor. I wasn't taking photos of the floor, I was taking pics of a moble clamp rack and a mobile base wheel, but just dismiss them... All in all, I've very happy with it. And I ended up with great kindling for the fire with all my extras....

[Thomas Bank]

3. I could lay down one of those loss leader $.99 a foot laminates that they always have stationed near the checkout counter at carpet and floor stores (even Ikea has that stuff).

Not a bad thought. I was surprised to find both red and white oak at prices close to the blow out laminates. The utility price was even better, but I think I want better "rollability" than what I'd get with utility given some of the pictures I saw at Lumber Liquidators.

I did my shop in utility grade hickory from Lumber Liquidators and got it on sale for 99¢ a s.f. Installed it myself, sanded it a bit, and did stain and three coats of tung oil on it.

Turned out nicely and I am very pleased with it.

[Kevin Groenke]

Solid hardwood is a great choice, I would avoid laminate, it will chip if you drop a sharp tool or heavy bit of stock on it.

We have commercial vinyl composition tiles (VCT) over concrete. It's not beautiful, but it is tough, resilient, low maintenance, not too cold and easy to clean up. It's available in numerous colors, so you can do a nice checkerboard or similar patterns. ~$.90/sqft





I've always thought 1/4" rolled rubber floor like you see in gyms would be great, though it can be tough to sweep.

Carpet probably wouldn't to a very good choice.

-kg

[Bob Borzelleri]

Thanks for the responses. I am now a believer in utility grade hardwood. Hickory sounds and looks good. Final choice will likely be between Hickory and white oak.

I wonder how much overage to buy when using utility hardwood given the variation in individual pieces?

[Mike Cruz]

If you are getting what I got, expect a lot of unusable stuff. Simply unsuable...other than for firewood. Whatever they recommend as overage wil do. IIRC, for my shop, I ended up with 75 square feet of unusable stuff...yeah, I thought that was a bit rediculous. But when I thought about what I paid for it, it is the equivelant of having 25 square feet left over of regular store bought stuff (at $3 a foot). My shop is 720 square feet, so I think I ordered about 840 or so? The reason for the math difference there is that there will always be waste... the 75 feet I was refering to was unsuable in the sense that it was 1/16, 1/8 or more too narrow at one end, or had no toungs or grooves, had a horrible split, was structurally unsound, etc, etc.

[Troy Turner]

Bob - Eventually I'm going to put the utility grade down in my shop. But if I do that before I put it down in the house, well, I might as well go ahead and build me a bed out there too If you shop around, you should be able to get a good deal on it too.

Just a thought, not sure about your winters, but have you thought about putting down some radiant heating before you install?