Slab or no slab

[Troy Faccio]

I'm wondering if i would be making a mistake if i were to go with a wood floor in my 12x20 woodwoorking shed, and just pour a 4x7 pad under my Grizzly GO766 wood lathe. Would that be sufficient to hold the lathe still?

[Mike Heidrick]

I don't think you need a special slab under a less than 600lb lathe. Just do the wood floor.

[Larry Browning]

My 30X40 woodshop is pier and beam construction with a crawl space. I love it. There is never a temptation to drive my car in there, (that was my intention) and the floor is much kinder on my aging feet and legs. I simply add a little extra support under each heavy machine. If I ever decide to rearrange the shop I can rebuild the extra support. My shop is about 15 years old, no issues so far.

[Aaron Conway]

I'm no expert but if you're concerned about weight, then maybe you could put your floor joists 12" on center instead of 16".

[Jim Andrew]

You could put 2x8 on 16" centers and just nail them to the studs, on top of the bottom plates. Plenty strong. Actual span would be 11'-4".

[Troy Faccio]

And with a wood floor what could i do to keep the animals out or chewing the floor insulation out?

[Dennis Ford]

Supporting a wood lathe on a wood floor is easy; "holding it still" is next to impossible. That lathe is capable of turning large chunks of wood and most of those will start out off balance. Several friends have their lathe on a wood floor and all of those have more lathe movement than those with lathes on concrete. If you are turning spindles, it will not matter but for large diameter work a concrete slab is much better.

[Larry Browning]

And with a wood floor what could i do to keep the animals out or chewing the floor insulation out?

I had this concern when I built my shop due to me living in the woods. My solution was to not have a crawl space access in the foundation. The only crawl space access is from inside the shop. The vents all have a heavy screen on them so there really is no way a critter can get into the crawl space.

[Rich Riddle]

I would pour the slab and place nice thick rubber mats where you stand.

[Garth Almgren]

And with a wood floor what could i do to keep the animals out or chewing the floor insulation out?

In the office shed I'm building, I put 1/4" galvanized hardware cloth on the bottom of the joists, sandwiched between the joists and the support beams.