shop flooring

[dave]

I am in the planning stage of putting a floor down in my garage shop. Going to use 2x4 sleepers with 6 mil polyethylene sheet underneath and rigid foam in between. I've read/heard about tongue and groove plywood, but have not found any locally. Honestly, I only looked online at Lowes and then got off track. :gar-Bi

Anyone know of a source? Also, which type of plywood (wether tongue and groove or not) would be best?

Thanks!

Dave

 

[scsmith42]

Dave, two good options for flooring are Advantech (an OSB type of flooring) available in a variety of thicknesses and T&G, and "Plytanium", which is an actual plywood type of sub-flooring material (also T&G.)

Most of the commercial building supply houses stock them, including Stock, Professional Builders Supply, and Builders First Source.

You will want at least 3/4" thick.

 

[dave]

Great! I'll check into those.

Thanks Scott!

 

[Bill Clemmons]

Dave, take a look at the floor in the photo below. This is bobbyg's shop, taken at a recent Shop Crawl. I think he said it is a cork product that comes in 2x2 squares. I don't know anything about cost, but it was really a nice floor. Easy on the feet and legs, and it is over concrete. Just FYI.

Bob, I hope you don't mind me shamelessly promoting your shop. :gar-Bi

Bill

View image in gallery​

 

[bobby g]

Dave, take a look at the floor in the photo below. This is bobbyg's shop, taken at a recent Shop Crawl. I think he said it is a cork product that comes in 2x2 squares. I don't know anything about cost, but it was really a nice floor. Easy on the feet and legs, and it is over concrete. Just FYI.

Bob, I hope you don't mind me shamelessly promoting your shop. :gar-Bi

Bill

View image in gallery​

Bill... Glad you mentioned it. I was about to do it myself.

Bob



Dave,

The floor in my shop is actually 5/8" OSB over high density styrene foam. The pieces are 2' X 2' square and have tongue and groove on the edges. The foam back has channels molded into it for air and moisture flow and it is installed directly on the slab.The floor does have a nice "soft" feel to it although it is rated at about 1200# load per square foot. I don't remember the cost but I can look it up if you're interested. Let me know if you'd like to come visit the shop and see it.

Bob

 

[dave]

Bob,

That looks nice! Is it floating or secured to the concrete? Since I am putting this down in my garage, I want to be sure I can take it up if/when I move.

I would like to come by and see it when convenient for you. I am free most afternoons and weekends.

Thanks!

Dave

 

[bobby g]

PM sent.

bobby g

 

[MikeCSmith]

I was in a Home Depot in another state (I think Cincinatte, Ohio) where I saw they were selling a utility flooring that was plywood mounted on a plastic typ of base. They were about 2' square. They looked well made and they somehow snapped together to make a plywood flloor. I thought they would be perfect for a shop, however I have not seen them here. I don't remember what they cost, but I do remember thinking it was very reasonable. It looked like about 1/2" of plywood on this plastic base, and it looked to be a good quality product. I know I am not giving you much information here, but if I was going to put down a wood floor in my shop, I would investigate this and see what's up with it.

 

[dave]

That sounds like Dricore. Did it look like this?

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

Dave

 

[ehpoole]

Just to (possibly) throw a small wrench into the discussion. If you do not continually heat and cool your workshop, then insulating the floor will likely lead to wilder (and more extreme) temperature and humidity swings in your shop.

As much as we may hate concrete floors in the workshop, they are great heat/cold reservoirs and can also add important humidity during extremely dry periods (preventing unwanted splitting).

My two-car garage shop never (ever!) falls below 40F during the winter, seldom below 48F. In the hottest summer months, it seldom ever exceeds 86-88F (even on 100F days). Just as importantly, while I need a dehumidifier in the wetter months, during the exceptionally dry periods, the natural moisture from the concrete prevents the shop from falling much below 30%RH.

Without the thermal and moisture buffering provided by the floor, I'd have to humidify my shop during the winter (at least the area where the wood is) and I would have to worry about finishes, glues, etc. freezing.:BangHead:

Obviously, if you have a shop that is kept heated/cooled 24x7 (and where necessary, humidified and dehumidified), then the more insulation the merrier since it will help lower your bills.

 

[dave]

No problem there, I had a one ton mini-split AC unit installed. It's been keeping the shop around 70-74. During the winter, the temp never went below 66-68. I also don't have any windows or doors in the garage and the garage door itself is insulated. The unit also has a built in dehumidifier.

 

[BKind2Anmls]

One thing I wish I had researched before I installed my floor was radiant heat underneath the floor. You may want to check it out before you install.

 

[FlyingRon]

One thing I wish I had researched before I installed my floor was radiant heat underneath the floor. You may want to check it out before you install.

I've got cork in other areas of the house, not only does it work well with radiant heat, but it's way cool to walk on with bare feet when the heat is on.

In the shop, I've got this slate finished industrial rubber that we used elsewhere (back hall, etc..).

 

[MikeCSmith]

By the way, yes that wood flooring did look like the DriCore and their web page says they sell to Home Depot, so I guess this is what I saw. I think it would make a great shop floor, but I don't know that for sure, I would want to try and talk to somebody that has installed it. I liked it because it sounded to me like you did not have to worry about moisture on your floor; that is you did not need to put down any moisture barrier, you just laid the suff down on your cement floor.