Question on workshop floor

[ANDRES VALDES]

Hello everyone,
I am a middle age guy who is just starting in the craft of woodworking (In love with it my entire life, but we you know that you don't always do what you love but what you have to do to survive). Any way, I just bought this house and I am now planning my workshop in a small 19x9 room of the house.
The floor is tiled and it is very well done, leveled and shiny like a mirror. But then, it is slippery and I don't want the tile to get stained or broken. So I'd like to install a plywood floor on top of it that can be easily removed if I have to in the future.
I've seen some guys done an amazing job with plywood boards, sanded and cut in 8" strips (this is what I am talking about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotat...&v=50q1FksaLG8) and that is exactly what I'd like to do but the guy in the video can nail the planks to the wood subfloor, I can't...
So here it is my question: What else can I do? Any suggestions are going to be highly appreciated.
Thank you very much,
Andres

[Bryan Lisowski]

If I faced a similar situation I would buy heavy rubber mats to cover the floor except where I have my machines. Tractor supply carries them for horse stalls. The other thing would do a floating floor where you don't have nail or screw through the tile.

[Keith Hankins]

You could try DRIcore tiles. OSB with rubber backing that interlock. Designed for basements. Only concern would be what size equipment you gonna get. My tools would tear em up, as some weigh 1500 lbs. You could always cover that with 3/4"ply I guess. Anyway here's a link. Big box stores sell them

http://www.dricore.com/en/index.aspx

[Mike Konobeck]

There are a lot of options but I would seriously consider floor tiles. You are going to run into problems rolling really heavy equipment on it but it may be an option.
http://www.racedeck.com/index.html

There are a bunch of brands similar to Race Deck so do some searching.
http://www.rubberflooringinc.com/gar...loc-tiles.html

[Peter Quinn]

I work on concrete, tough on the feet, tiles are about as bad. Id be less concerned about the tiles and more concerned about the feet! Those floating interlocking rubber floors look like a good option, IIR they make them with minimal bumps, almost smooth but enough texture to keep them from being slippery. I wouldn't want to roll mobile bases over something with lots of bumps, in a space that size I assume you will need to mobilize any machinery? I suppose you could just buy 3/4" a-c fir t&g and pocket screws the sheets at the seams, but it might develop a bit of crown on the sheets. I have some sheets of rubber in front of major machines very much like the interlocking stuff, much more pleasant to stand on than the cold concrete.

[ANDRES VALDES]

Thank you very much to all of you.
I have visited every website recommended. So far, I am leaning towards racedeck Octane Tiles. I am also very budget constrained in this project and the diamond tile, which is better is like 50% more expensive.
My heaviest equipment is the table saw, and it is less than 300 lbs. I don't visualize myself owning something heavier at the moment. And yes, everything is on casters and need to be moved once in a while.

I have a question about the plywood on top of tile option though. (buying 5 boards 8 by 4 solves my problem and even at $40 per board is half of the Octane tile). Is there any glue that might be strong enough to stick the board to the tile and at the same time if necessary be removed by some solvent without damaging the tile?
If not possible, then I better start saving for the Octane tiles :-)

Thank you again to all of you!

[John Sanford]

I'm thinking that if you want to save the tile, then you should put some sort essentially impermeable barrier on the tile, then whatever you choose to top it with, no adhesive. Attempting to bond the flooring to the tile is just a surefire path to grief. While you certainly can find adhesives that will bond the plywood to tile, and that can be dissolved by solvent, it's very unlikely that anybody would go to the trouble of doing so down the line. Think about it. An adhesive both strong and flexible enough for the application is going to take some powerful solvents to cut through, solvents that will take a while to work, will stink to high heaven, and will probably work less completely than you would hope and take much longer than expected to do the trick. Which means the careful removal of the plywood runs a high risk of turning into a psychotic demolition adventure.

One thing that you can do with regards to the mobility issue is build your own mobility, which will allow you to use larger wheels than the great majority of commercially available mobile bases use. Floor bumpling becomes less of an issue as your wheel diameter increases.