Pine Wood Floor for Shop

[Bob Winkler]

I'm close to completing my shop and realize my dream of a nice wood floor over the concrete slab. There is a local sawmill that saws, dries, and mills eastern white pine for flooring. I can get it in widths up to 8", but will stay with 5 or 6" to minimize cupping. My plan is to use 1" XPS rigid insulation covered by T&G Plywood subfloor. The pine T&G floor goes over that.

My main concern is whether the pine floor will be too soft for a shop. My largest tools are a 15" planer and 16" bandsaw, and this is a hobby shop, not pro. I won't mind an occasionally gouge or divet, but don't want the floor to crack.

The floor cost is similar to strip oak at the big box. I just wanted to be different and use a local mill- hence the pine. He also mills oak, but it is too rich for my budget.

What do you guys think about the pine?

Bob

[Scott T Smith]

Bob, I have a combination of antique heart pine and white oak flooring in my home. We installed the heart pine ourselves about 6 years ago.

The pine is much softer than the oak - no two ways about it. Considering that we have the old heart pine in our house (which is much harder than modern SYP), I think that you will find that it scratches and dings fairly easily. If you have any tools on mobile bases, you will probably find that a groove will be left behind when you move the equipment around.

On the other hand, it would probably make a beautiful floor.

[Derek Gilmer]

I can imagine any tools have substantial weight will sink into pine pretty bad. You could get sample board or 4 and put them under one of the tools for awhile and see how they handle it.

Also what kind of vapor barrier does the insulation have? If this is going over concrete that would be a serious concern as well.

[Tom Wassack]

Greetings from NC!
Bob,
I have a purpose built semi-pro shop, that has SYP floors and I love them. In my shop I have several vintage machines on mobile bases, including a Porter jointer weighing in around 800 lbs. and a Powermatic planer at nearly 500 lbs. While I can not speak to your original inquiry about white pine, I will say that after nearly 9 years, my SYP has held up nicely. Sure there are dings, dents, and scratches from dropped tools, hardware, and lumber - but that's the reason I went with wood floors to begin with. With mobile bases, I minimized the denting or marring of the floor by selecting the correct durometer wheel for my machine's weight and floor surface. McMaster-Carr has a good caster selector tool for just this purpose.

Here's a couple of photos of the floor and machines on mobile bases...

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m150/TomRandNC/BandSaw/P8290025.jpg

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m150/TomRandNC/PorterJointer/PC280236.jpg

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m150/TomRandNC/Planer/P6140202.jpg

Good Luck with your decision!

Regards,
Tom Wassack
Asheboro, NC

[Ole Anderson]

Tom, That is one fine looking floor!

[John Lifer]

I'd not go with the eastern white pine. Would be WAY too soft. Heck you would probably ding it walking around.
SYP is a different animal, much harder.

[Bob Winkler]

I think based on these replies and my own comfort and stress level, I'll go with the oak floor from the Borg. I know it looks good, is tough, and it's easy to get. One less thing to worry about.

Thanks for the replies.

Bob