Rubber tile shop floor, installed w/ PICs

[Mark Denovich]

Now I obviously have to buy all Festool gear to match my floor. :D


It's 3/8" thick, 4'x4' interlocking rubber tile, obtained for $.20 a sqft via Craigslist (retail is $3.50sqft + shipping.) I love it. The shop is quieter, easier to clean and looks better too. I'm completely worn out after installing it though... at 40lbs per tile, handing each piece probably a dozen times adds up to quite the workout.

I've added a large floor sweep along the one wall... I can now sweep the whole shop in no time by blowing it across the floor and towards the sweep.


214153214154214155

[Bruce Page]

Nice! That must feel good on the legs.
It must have been a chore moving all of that equipment too!

[Mac McQuinn]

Very nice, quite the deal on C/L. Your knees will certainly thank you in a few years.

Mac

[Ted Calver]

Mark, That's a great looking shop and a great looking floor. What brand is the floor, even at $14 a square it is tempting.

[Jim Neeley]

That looks really good! Is it firm enough to roll a heavy toolbox or chair around on?

[Dave Sepucha]

Nice floor. What's the story of that large MFT?

[Mark Denovich]

Nice! That must feel good on the legs.
It must have been a chore moving all of that equipment too!

I've become rather practiced at tool herding. The Minimax has wheels and I was able to slip a furniture dolly under the workbench which made it pretty easy to wheel around. It was a lot worse a year ago when I put the subfloor in. I had to clear much bigger areas and had 20 sheets of 3/4" MDF that also had to get shuffled around a few times.

[Mark Denovich]

Nice floor. What's the story of that large MFT?

It's just a regular MFT1080 (previous generation, but I think the same dimensions)

Ah, on second look... it's an artifact of using an extreme wide angle lens (10mm on my Nikon D300 SLR) that is stretching the dimensions of the MFT (since it's at the edge of the frame.)

[Mark Denovich]

Mark, That's a great looking shop and a great looking floor. What brand is the floor, even at $14 a square it is tempting.

I can't say with certainty what brand it is, but what is shown on this page looks absolutely identical:
http://www.greatmats.com/products/rubber-mats-interlocking.php

[Mark Denovich]

That looks really good! Is it firm enough to roll a heavy toolbox or chair around on?

Absolutely. The Minimax is about 800lbs and doesn't even make a dent. It's about as dense/firm as the rubber on a car tire.

[Mark Denovich]

Very nice, quite the deal on C/L. Your knees will certainly thank you in a few years.
Mac

I spent a bit too much time squatting (sitting on my heels) on concrete and standing on a ladder last year... I got swelling in my forefoot (capsulitis). It took a few months, but better shoes, cushioned wool socks (Darn Tough brand... best damn socks I've ever worn) and prednisone (when I got poison ivy) got it under control. But I still need to be careful. I'm hoping this floor will go even further in keeping that at bay.

[Mark Denovich]

Found this shot of the shop from a year ago, before the latest (most dramatic) round of shop upgrades.

214189

[Shawn Russell]

Mark,

That looks like a superb idea.

Do you think it helps/hurts having laid that over a subfloor vs bare concrete.

[Matt Day]

Let me know if you have any extra! :)

I'd love to score a deal like that. The cheap foam mats I have are good cusion, but I can't put them down in certain areas because I have to roll around some equipment and it the mats wouldn't hold up. Sounds like you've got the ticket there.

[TODD RAYMER]

I have a 26 x 32 shop and I found a excercise and weight room place going under, and purchased all their mats. They are
48" x 72" x 1/2" thick. Paid $20.00 each for them years ago, and they beat standing on cement for hours straight.

[Rod Sheridan]

Very nice Mark, I like your outrigger storage as well.............Regards, Rod.

[Dave Sepucha]

it's an artifact of using an extreme wide angle lens...

Ha! I should have noticed. I was so focused on the width of the table that I didn't even notice the distorted vac and rail. Thanks.

[Mark Denovich]

Let me know if you have any extra! :)

I do. But my friends have already called dibs on them... that's if I don't decide to do the garage floor too while I'm at it.

Like Todd in the message below, I got mine from an exercise studio. I was a bit worried that they might smell... but thankfully, it was a women-only place, and they must have kept it pretty clean. But they still got a thorough scrubbing with the purple simple green before they came inside. It worked... surprisingly they don't even smell like rubber. No smell at all.

I had a set of the foam ones... ($10 from Harbor Freight) they aren't bad. But being lightweight they don't stay put/lay perfectly flat. They are harder to sweep too. I have a set that I use any time I'm under a car, or laying on the driveway for some reason. They aren't pretty, but they beat cold, gritty pavement any day. I also use a set of pads when I'm moving furniture or machinery as padding or to keep things from getting scuffed up by the straps.

[Mark Denovich]

Very nice Mark, I like your outrigger storage as well.............Regards, Rod.

I need to come up with something more sophisticated... it's being held up by two giant washer head spax screws. I only got the wall up a few days before the floor went in. Figuring out a good place to stash the tenoning shroud and mortising attachment is going to take a bit more thought. (stuck behind my workbench at the moment.)

[Mark Denovich]

Do you think it helps/hurts having laid that over a subfloor vs bare concrete.

In my case, I really didn't have a choice. My floor was way too far from being flat. I think you can install over bare concrete... although I suspect you might want/need to do something to control moisture. The subfloor takes care of the moisture... There is plenty of air space underneath to help it stay dry. I had already epoxy painted the concrete years ago... that helps any spills find the drain quickly and seems to keep moisture from seeping up through the concrete too. The other bonus of the subfloor is that at least in the center I'm able to run a fat armored cable under the floor to my Minimax, so I'm not having to worry about tripping over the cord.

[Mark Denovich]

Another one in the plus column for this floor: as I often do, I found myself sitting or kneeling on the floor while I was assembling something. It's much nicer on the rear and on the knees than the plywood was. Plus it seems to be much easier to get completely clean. The plywood (which I had painted with exterior grade porch paint) always seemed to have a film of fine dust, no matter how well I swept. Hopefully, I can keep it that way.