When I did the floor in my shop ~21 years ago, I used commercial floor tile. Clean up is a breeze, does insulate, and it does not bother my knees - which are pretty bad to start with.
Ray
When I did the floor in my shop ~21 years ago, I used commercial floor tile. Clean up is a breeze, does insulate, and it does not bother my knees - which are pretty bad to start with.
Ray
I have Dri-Core. Had it for over 15 years. Held up well. Covered it with poly. Easy to level, vapor barrier, easy on the joints and tools that drop etc. Not as good for rolling things heavy compared to concrete but not bad at all. Very happy with the "old" Drill-Core.
However, beware that the company that sells Drinks-core changed the product in a bad way. Not as thick. Surface very rough. tongue and groove did not match. I found that out when I tried to buy additional panels to match to expand. Very disappointed in the new product and ended up returning it. I think it may be good as a subfloor but not so good as what for me has been a subfloor and final floor in one over concrete.
as far as rubber mats, soft but not good for rolling things on it.
Good luck.
I have a concrete floor in my shop. I work full time. The parts that seem to bother me are cutting glass and glazing. Any machine work, sanding, assembly, etc is fine.I have a few pieces of carpet in places I stand a lot.
The main way I can work on the floor is by exercising and keeping by weight down (BMI 22). I have a bike on a stand in the shop, a rowing machine in the house, and I get out hiking in the woods off trails every day.When I miss parts of the program, my knee and hip injuries show up again. I'm in my mid-sixties.
This is my second shop and in both shops I insulated under the slab and also put poly under the slab. Pt 2x4s on 16” center, advantec on top of that and then random width random length hardwood flooring. Very comfortable.
I put a layer of plastic then 3/4" Fomular 250 directly on the concrete floor with 3/4 OSB on top, that was the most height I could get without resetting all the doors. (I did have to shave the foam down to 1/2" at one door). The concrete is smooth so I didn't have gaps to span. 25 lbs per square inch adds up pretty quickly, the result will hold a lot of weight. I can move the Felder saw/shaper about with no trouble using the pallet jack, though I don't do that often (8' slide); I backed the trailer holding it into the shop (but not the car) when I bought it in order to get underneath an overhead lifting point. No trouble with a cart or the edge sander (Ekstrom Carlson, 525 lbs of cast iron). I've rolled the 26" Moak bandsaw (1100 lb) on 3/4 pipe the two times I've changed shop layout, though I did cut out a rectangle of foam and replace with 3/4 board where it sits permanently. My only major dent in the osb is when I dropped a vise off the bench when installing it (just glad it didn't hit my foot) . I staggered the joints in the OSB and haven't had a need to fasten it down. Where is it going to go with all the cast iron sitting on it?
My feet have been a lot happier, and warmer, since.
Terry T, southern Minnesota
Last edited by Terry Therneau; 03-14-2023 at 11:19 PM. Reason: added some detail