Flooring for wood shop? (1 Viewer)

[EricG]

Hi guys - I'm thinking about extending my outside shop so I can move my woodworking shop back and have the front available for cruiser work. Due to the slope and difficulty getting fill to the site, i'd probably build a framed floor over piers.

While thinking about materials cost yesterday I realized I've never had a framed floor under a shop, and I'm not sure what is use.

This would be part of a detached garage and would only have heat when im using it. Size would about 20x30. Need something tough, easy to clean up and relatively cheap.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

Your question is a bit confusing to me regarding what you want to do. If I was building a woodshop then I would do something like the following. I have no idea what I would do if I wanted to drive a cruiser into a shop with a wooden floor on piers but it would have to be more than what I'm about to describe.

A typical subfloor these days is 3/4" plywood over joists on 16" centers but I don't think that would be stiff enough for a shop. If you could get some rough cut 1x6 or 1x8 oak you could go over a 3/4" plywood subfloor on a diagonal pattern (45 degrees) and that would be pretty stiff since you would have the full 1" thickness of the oak. You could then use a drum sander and get everything to the same level and call it a day. Of course you would have lots of cracks in the flooring but they would only go down to the plywood subfloor and I would think in a wood shop that the cracks would fill up pretty quickly anyway. Of course the pier spacing, joist size, etc. needs to be engineered for the anticipated loads.

I'm guessing that by the time you do this right you would be better off and cheaper to bring in the fill and pour a slab.

 

[EricG]

The shop extension would be just for the woodworking shop. The existing garage, where I plan to work on cars & metal has a slab.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

The shop extension would be just for the woodworking shop. The existing garage, where I plan to work on cars & metal has a slab.

That's what I thought but I wasn't positive. How high above existing grade would the tallest piers be? In other words, how much slope are you dealing with?

 

[EricG]

Eyeballing it, i'd guess about 4'

I'm not to worried about the load on the floor. Heaviest tool is the unisaw. I think a good 3/4" subfloor will be fine if you size the joists right. More interested in what to put over it.

 

[Michael Hanson]

T & G 1 1/4 sturdy floor on 12 inch centered floor joists. MIke

 

[kiwidog]

Wood floor

Hi Eric,

Have had a similar shop for the last 20 years 20x 34 for wood and 30x34 for metal and TLC's.
The wood shop floor is 3/4 T&G doug fir plywood over 2x10's on 16" centres spanning 10 feet. Pony wall running down centre of the 34 length set on a footing. Ridgid enough for anything you can throw at in the wood department. Lightly sanded off the T&G and put 3 or 4 coats of urethane on it. It is just starting to wear through in the heavy traffic areas. You can see that in the pictures. Would I do it again like that? In a heartbeat.
Only thing I would like to add would be transom windows higher up on the south side to let in more natural light.
Hope this helps a little.

Thanks jb

 

[batcon]

T & G 1 1/4 sturdy floor on 12 inch centered floor joists. MIke

Overkill for just a shop but something I personally would consider if your future plans may include storing heavy material or a light vehicle-equipment. Of course joist size and supporting girders come into play for proper load strength.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

Great looking woodshop Kiwidog. How about an epoxy system over the plywood? Here's some info on Garagejournal: epoxy on plywood floor? - The Garage Journal Board

 

[kiwidog]

show off

Thanks War Eagle will have to check that stuff out.

Heres a picture of the metal/TLC shop latest project. Finished it last weekend.
Pretty sure it will come in real handy.

Thanks jb

 

[EricG]

Damn nice shop kiwidog! That's certainly the cheapest/easiest way to go, but I wasn't sure how it would hold up to that kind of traffic. May have to search to find T&G plywood though - don't think the OSB commonly available would hold up as well.

 

[PAToyota]

My woodshop is on the second floor above my automotive/metal shop. So 2x10 joists, T&G plywood subfloor, and then Lumber Liquidator's utility grade hickory T&G solid wood flooring. Makes a nice looking floor for a woodshop!

 

[EricG]

My woodshop is on the second floor above my automotive/metal shop. So 2x10 joists, T&G plywood subfloor, and then Lumber Liquidator's utility grade hickory T&G solid wood flooring. Makes a nice looking floor for a woodshop!

Yea, thought about that also - if I could find a great deal on solid utiity grade, that could work.

 

[Michael Hanson]

You need to figure your live and dead load requirements. Then figure in a fudge factor, most exceed their original requirements years after the build. Seen the tornado damage lately, many of the homes and buildings just meet code thats the minimum requirements. MIke

 

[WarDamnEagle]

Yea, thought about that also - if I could find a great deal on solid utiity grade, that could work.

Sometimes you can find 2 1/4" width oak or hickory for as little as $0.99/ft2. Of course it's fairly knotty and the lengths are short but it would make a good floor. Anyone can run a drum sander and put down a couple of coats of poly. You would probably have about $200 in rental, paper and polyurethane.

 

[PAToyota]

Sometimes you can find 2 1/4" width oak or hickory for as little as $0.99/ft2.

That's what I did. LL seems to run sales pretty regularly on the utility grade for 99¢ a square foot. Most of the pieces are short - I wasn't really expecting that when I ordered it. But I found a minimum of objectionable pieces or damaged pieces.

I had more trouble recently laying a pre-finished oak floor for a friend. You had to scan every piece for damage, defects, or things being cut wrong. And I can tell you she paid much more than 99¢ a square foot for what she bought!

I finished mine with a bit of stain and then wiped on three coats of tung oil. The tung oil soaks in - unlike the poly - so it doesn't chip off. And if it gets damaged I can just wipe on some tung oil in the damaged area and you'll never tell anything happened - again, unlike poly.

Here's a picture:

 

[kiwidog]

shop floor

Guys we are talking a shop floor here.
If you want to go to the expense/ time of putting Dgrade oak or what ever other floor you can get for $0.99 a foot then go to it. The T&G fir looks good IMHO and you don't stress ever dent or gouge you put in it.
One of the things the most people don't realize about flooring is the guy who lays it is probably the only guy who is that close to the floor and see's all the imperfections. The rest see it from the 5 foot level and the eyes can't easily pick up the imperfections.
EricG spend your time building a solid floor not a palace that always looks like it never has any bumps or dents.
My floor has been down for 20+ years and still looks/feels good and cleans well and easy, which what you want if you if you are an active woodworker.
You can over think this process. life is too short to worry about every detail except when it involves TLC's

Thanks jb

 

[rusty_tlc]

What about cork?

 

[WarDamnEagle]

I was at the gym this morning working out and noticed the flooring that they had down. It looked like very large interlocking tiles made from recycled tires. It also looked like it would be impossible to destroy. Did a quick google search and it looks like this material: interlocking rubber floor tiles, rubber floor tiles, interlocking weight room

I have no idea what it would cost but it would make a great workshop floor. Not sure how well sawdust would sweep up however so maybe not so great for a wood shop. It also wouldn't give you any structural integrity and would only add to the deadload (looks very heavy in person). It was installed over concrete in the gym.

 

[EricG]

I was at the gym this morning working out and noticed the flooring that they had down. It looked like very large interlocking tiles made from recycled tires. It also looked like it would be impossible to destroy. Did a quick google search and it looks like this material: interlocking rubber floor tiles, rubber floor tiles, interlocking weight room

I have no idea what it would cost but it would make a great workshop floor. Not sure how well sawdust would sweep up however so maybe not so great for a wood shop. It also wouldn't give you any structural integrity and would only add to the deadload (looks very heavy in person). It was installed over concrete in the gym.

Don't think I'd like this stuff in a shop due to the cleanup - want something hard and slick for sweeping up I think.

Regarding the hardwood - agree, it's overkill. I'm definitely impressed by kiwidog's 20 years on poly'd plywood.

You could also go with cheaper OSB subfloor to offset a small part of that. Saw some utility grade oak on LL for $0.89/ft^2