Shop flooring

[Ole Anderson]

I'm looking at cow mats for the areas around my main stationary equipment. I've used some at work on a padded fixture table. The rubbery smell went away in a short time. $1.75 per SF. Some insulation value. Easy to reconfigure.........horrible color.

You could probably do better than $1.75/sf if you went used...

[Eric Rimel]

You could probably do better than $1.75/sf if you went used...

Half of my 30x60 was used as a dog kennel before I purchased the property. I have some free plywood if anyone wants it. The smell is free as well.

[Hoang N Nguyen]

Thanks everyone for some great input. After some thought, I may consider the sub-flooring options some here have mentioned. I'll leave it unfinished at first to see how I feel about it, if it bothers me than I'll lay down some hardwood flooring over it. I'm trying to avoid placing mats around the shop because my Roomba doesn't like mats. If it's too thin and light weight, the mats get pushed around, too heavy and thick the Roomba won't climb on it to clean. Call me lazy but I hate sweeping and vacuuming my shop floor.

[Michael Stockdale]

Peter,

On the short side (4' side), did you join the two sheets in any way? I'm thinking that might actually be an acceptable use for my biscuit joiner... Or, conversely, did you just allow the screws on 2' centers do the holding? Did you finish it in any way? Is it too difficult to sweep up? I am thinking this may be my best bet for a "wood" floor that is affordable and yet offers some level of comfort... My feet are simply not holding up well to the concrete floor, even with a few pads scattered about. I've got to do something.

Mike

[Roger Feeley]

Jerry, I looked at dricore at the local had and the surface was very rough. What are yours like?

[Richard Barker]

I floated advantec has over delta fl then nailed t&g oak flooring into the advantec. no problems either.

[Matt Hardy]

A few members here suggested cheap laminate flooring as a good option. I looked around and ended up going with some Laminate flooring from Costco that was on sale and I have really liked it. It ended up costing me about $1.50 a foot so it was a fairly cheap option.

floor.jpg

[Peter Kelly]

Peter,

On the short side (4' side), did you join the two sheets in any way? I'm thinking that might actually be an acceptable use for my biscuit joiner... Or, conversely, did you just allow the screws on 2' centers do the holding? Did you finish it in any way? Is it too difficult to sweep up? I am thinking this may be my best bet for a "wood" floor that is affordable and yet offers some level of comfort... My feet are simply not holding up well to the concrete floor, even with a few pads scattered about. I've got to do something.

Mike

Michael,

If the finished floor is going to be hardwood or laminate, the underlayment sheets don't need to be biscuit-ed on the 4' ends but they should be staggered so intersections of panels have no more than three corners. I'm not real wild about OSB as a floor, if the sheet material is the final thing, I'd recommend spending a few extra dollars on T&G DryPly plywood. Biscuits in the short ends of the panels would probably be a good idea in this case. A plywood finish will still be more difficult to sweep and keep clean as oppose to hardwood or laminate.

Great overview of a concrete floor with a Delta FL system installation: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...ion-Experience

[Jerry Strojny]

Jerry, I looked at dricore at the local had and the surface was very rough. What are yours like?

I guess I would say it doesn't seem that "rough" to me. It's not a slick surface, but obviously not a baby butt smooth surface either. It's seems to be just like your average osb 4x8 sheet finish. If you felt a definite texture, then no, mine do not have like a dimple texture or anything like that.

Sorry it took me so long to respond. I don't always have time to get back on the forum...tis the woodworking season though, and I am working on my shop.

[Martin Wasner]

Hi all, looking for recommendations for shop flooring. I'm having a new house built with a 1500 sq. ft. basement I plan to turn into a woodworking shop. The basement will be unfinished with concrete floors and I'm looking for something to ease the pain on my feet. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

Buy better shoes.

[Jim Becker]

Buy better shoes.

Wearing quality shoes goes without saying. I'm a fan of anti-fatigue mats, however, and use them extensively in my shop which (unfortunately) has a concrete floor. (It was originally a 3.5 vehicle garage space) If I were building new space, I'd opt for a wood floor if at all possible, particularly in a bench/assembly area. I'd still probably use the mats, however, which I buy from ULine for reasonable money.

[Martin Wasner]

I'm standing on concrete 80 hours a week. Good shoes, and taking care of your feet is critical. My view is skewed, because anything other than concrete won't hold up to the abuse i put it through.

[Dave Cav]

I had recycled 1/2" gym weight room mats in my old shop. They were made of heavy recycled/ground rubber and worked very well. My local Gold's gym did a remodel so I got them for free; the only problem was they were odds 'n ends of sizes. I plan on going with either 1/2 or 3/4" stall mats on my new shop floor. Not the entire floor, just in the standing-in-one-place-for-a-long-time areas. And good shoes, yeah. I was a shop teacher on concrete floors for years....

[roger wiegand]

rigid foam under concrete for insulation, 2x4 sleepers laid flat on 12" centers, 3/4" plywood subfloor, "mixed domestic hardwood" (at least 10 different species) flooring, Bona Traffic HD finish. Looks great, comfortable, nearly bulletproof.

[Frank Pratt]

I don't understand the almost universal dislike for standing on concrete floors. Good shoes will do more for you than all the mats in the world.

Concrete is hard on dropped tools though, and it doesn't look as nice as a hardwood floor.