Need Input for Flooring for Shop

[Izzy Charo]

Hello,
We're just completing a renovation/expansion of my home shop and it's time to decide on the flooring. I was thinking of plywood over sleepers, but I'm having trouble finding plywood that looks decent. Hardwood plywood looks great, of course, but the top hardwood veneer is thin and this is for a shop with the usual heavy tools, etc. Construction grade plywood would work, but I was hoping for something a bit nicer.... What do folks think about 3/4 inch Baltic Birch (it's available near me in 4x8 sheets)... I think plywood, even Baltic Birch, would still be a lot less expensive than even discount solid 3/4 wood flooring.... Thoughts/experience of others would be most appreciated!
Thanks!
Izzy

[Von Bickley]

I don't think I could put birch down for flooring. My vote would be for advantech.

[Thomas Wilson]

I put down solid oak prefinished strip flooring. I was hoping it would stand up to heavy tools like the table saw and planer. Sadly it does not. Heavy tools leave tracks when rolled. I just have to limit the damage by moving infrequently. You might have to go to ipe ($$$) to have nice and tough enough for rolling heavy tools. Or go for really stationary, stationary tools.

[Jim Becker]

BB is still thin veneer. Consider Advantek or get cheap oak strip flooring. Or use regular underpayment plywood and live with the rotsrty cut look and potential chipping of the veneer.

[Bruce King]

Concrete or wood floor?
I use rubber mats over concrete just in areas that I stand at often.

[Peter Kelly]

You can usually find pre-finished Click Lock engineered oak for just over $2 / sq ft. Install is floating so no sleepers required.

HD also has Traffic Master laminate for $1 - .75 / sq ft that looks decent. https://www.homedepot.com/b/Flooring-Laminate-Flooring/TrafficMaster/N-5yc1vZare1Z5bx?Ns=P_REP_PRC_MODE%7C0&experienceName=inspirational

[Michael W. Clark]

LVT? Some of the premium versions have a backer that may be softer and make it easier to stand on.

[Bill Dufour]

The prefinished click lock stuff may be too slippery when coated with sawdust?
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[Peter Kelly]

The surface of the red oak click floor I'd seen wasn't that shiny smooth, should be fine even with sawdust.

[Frank Pratt]

The surface of the red oak click floor I'd seen wasn't that shiny smooth, should be fine even with sawdust.

Doesn't need to be shiny at all to get slick with a little sawdust on it. The factory applied finishes are so hard that even a matte finish will get very slippery. First hand experience with that.

[Jay Kepley]

I'm also in the process of considering shop flooring. I've got a "tender back" which is made worse by standing on hard concrete for hours. I'm considering an 8mm rubber flooring (in tiles). I've got a sample, and it looks like tough stuff. The least expensive option is solid black. The cost is probably around $4.00/foot delivered. I can also move it if I move from my current location. Does anyone else use this type of rubber flooring?

[David Publicover]

I'm also in the process of considering shop flooring. I've got a "tender back" which is made worse by standing on hard concrete for hours. I'm considering an 8mm rubber flooring (in tiles). I've got a sample, and it looks like tough stuff. The least expensive option is solid black. The cost is probably around $4.00/foot delivered. I can also move it if I move from my current location. Does anyone else use this type of rubber flooring?

My back is fine but my feet and knees would ache from the concrete floors in my garage/workshop. I was considering putting down a wooden sub-floor or rubber mats but decided to try some good shop safety shoes ( shortly after dropping some plywood and breaking a toe...).
I bought a pair of Timberlands Pro ESP with aluminum toe caps and am very satisfied! I can work in my shop all day and not have any pain or soreness. They are lightweight and have a thick sole that is has lots of give. They feel more like a running shoe and not at all like the work boots I had years ago. I still make mistakes though, so they’re not perfect. ;)
I'm sure other brands must have something similar.
I like the look of a wooden floor but wasn’t keen to spend the money or do the work at this time but needed a solution to the aches and pains. So far, the shoes have worked out great.
I hope you find a solution that works for you.

[Marc Fenneuff]

I'm also in the process of considering shop flooring. I've got a "tender back" which is made worse by standing on hard concrete for hours. I'm considering an 8mm rubber flooring (in tiles). I've got a sample, and it looks like tough stuff. The least expensive option is solid black. The cost is probably around $4.00/foot delivered. I can also move it if I move from my current location. Does anyone else use this type of rubber flooring?

I’m looking for something like this. Can you share your source?

[Jay Kepley]

https://www.rubberflooringinc.com/interlocking-tile/8mm-strong-rubber-tile.html

Here's a link. Let me know what you think. I haven't pulled the trigger yet. There is young guy on Youtube who put this in his shop. I reached out for some feedback, but he didn't respond.

[Roger Feeley]

I considered a wood floor in my basement shop but I just couldn’t bring myself to give up the headroom. I was lucky to get the floor space I got and asking for a 10’ deep basement would have been a bridge too far. Right now, I could just stand an 8’ board up straight.

my solution has been extra good shoes.

[Lisa Starr]

My floor is the typical T & G 3/4" plywood used for subfloors. It is reasonably priced, helps prevent sawdust from filtering to below the flooring and looks okay. I had expected to paint it with Porch Floor Enamel, but have never gotten around to it. It has held up well, even though I move my cabinet saw and 15" planer around.

[Marc Fenneuff]

https://www.rubberflooringinc.com/interlocking-tile/8mm-strong-rubber-tile.html

Here's a link. Let me know what you think. I haven't pulled the trigger yet. There is young guy on Youtube who put this in his shop. I reached out for some feedback, but he didn't respond.


That's along the lines of what I was thinking. They appear to also carry the "ramps" needed for the edges. I also get a pop-up for 28% off... what's not to like?

[Ole Anderson]

I went with Pergo over roll foam on my 1975 concrete floor.. Not slippery, but sweeping is a dream. Entire finished basement same material. A few small dents where the TS wheels sit.

[Izzy Charo]

Thanks for the input....I think I'm going to go with 3/4 tongue/groove plywood, one-side sanded. Seems the most practical. I'll stain it so it looks a little bit more finished...and then maybe a coat of poly over that, or not. It is, after all, a shop. Thanks again!

[Osvaldo Cristo]

I see you are from California so I imagine low temperature isn´t a major issue. I would go for painted concrete. Actually it is what I have in my small shop under tropic Capricorn (800 m altitude). Works great to me all the year. My shop is used all the year and except for a couple of days in the year it is plenty comfortable.

[Frank Pratt]

Thanks for the input....I think I'm going to go with 3/4 tongue/groove plywood, one-side sanded. Seems the most practical. I'll stain it so it looks a little bit more finished...and then maybe a coat of poly over that, or not. It is, after all, a shop. Thanks again!

Be aware that plywood won't stand up well to repeatedly having heavy machinery wheeled back & forth. We had a shop with a mezzanine & just having a pallet jack with wide wheels moving things around completely destroyed the top layer & mostly through the second. This was over several years, but they weren't heavily loaded pallets, maybe 300-400 lbs.

[Jim Becker]

I see you are from California so I imagine low temperature isn´t a major issue. I would go for painted concrete. Actually it is what I have in my small shop under tropic Capricorn (800 m altitude). Works great to me all the year. My shop is used all the year and except for a couple of days in the year it is plenty comfortable.
The whole idea of a wood/wood product floor is that it's more comfortable on the feet than concrete. That little bit of "give" can make a lot of difference. It's not just about heat/cold.

[Alex Zeller]

Another vote for Advantech. But I would look around and see if you can find thicker stuff. The 3/4" should be fine but 1" should be better for heavy equipment. As far as standing in front of a machine why not just get a anti-fatigue mat? Put them where you want and move them if needed.

[Osvaldo Cristo]

Jim, I will take your word... but it looks odd for me: the floor from all the habitable space of our home have 20 mm solid ipe boards over concrete since I built it almost 30 years ago. The garage and my workshop have only acrylic painted concrete. Except on the coldest days or when barefooted, I cannot feel comfort difference between them.

All the best!


The whole idea of a wood/wood product floor is that it's more comfortable on the feet than concrete. That little bit of "give" can make a lot of difference. It's not just about heat/cold.

[mike stenson]

Ipe is hard. Also, dropped tools are happier with wood flooring of any kind.

[Daniel O'Neill]

I don't think I could put birch down for flooring. My vote would be for advantech.
Just put down Advantech in the shop. Long story, it was the best cost\value by far. used the foam glue (great product) and tapcons. I do like the look too FWIW. I think it would look really nice with a clear poly on it. Haven't got that far yet though.
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[mike stenson]

I went with dricore. It was fast and relatively cheap (and doesn't require sleepers/vapor barrier). With that said, it's only up in the bench area of my shop, so there will be no heavy tools on mobile bases, ever.

[David M Peters]

I recently finished my shop addition and went with this sandwich:

* 5mm loose lay vinyl
* 1-1/8" T&G subfloor
* 2x4 sleepers on 12" centers

Moving from a basement shop I was also "feeling it" in my knees and ankles after a few hours so I sprung for the sleeper floor. I did retain a 10x20 slab area just in case I get something really beasltly!

I went with the loose-lay product for repairability; it does not click together. The disadvantage, as I've found out, is that it will slip & buckle under a heavy rolling load (400 lbs+). Just need to apply more rows of adhesive than the manufacturer recommends.

[Andy D Jones]

I second the recommendation for high quality work footwear.

There is no substitute for excellent foot support, regardless of flooring material, when you will be standing/walking for hours.

And the price of good footwear is a bargain compared to some flooring solutions.

-- Andy - Arlington TX

[mike stenson]

Go run on concrete.
Go run on asphalt.
Go run on hard packed dirt.

You can feel the difference, easily, between all three (this is why you'll see many runners eschew the sidewalk in preference for the street btw). Shoes help, and you should wear good ones, but surface matters.

[Jim Becker]

Good, supportive footwear is always a plus, but yes, surface matters when standing for long periods of time. My shoes are comfortable and I have most of my shop floor covered with anti-fatigue mats which helps a lot. But I'd love to have a wood/wood-product floor to make things even more comfortable.

[Bill McNiel]

Thanks for the input....I think I'm going to go with 3/4 tongue/groove plywood, one-side sanded. Seems the most practical. I'll stain it so it looks a little bit more finished...and then maybe a coat of poly over that, or not. It is, after all, a shop. Thanks again!

3/4" T&G unfinished over sleepers is what I did 27 years ago and have had absolutely no delamination or any other detrimental results. Floor is comfortable and it doesn't matter when a little epoxy or beer spills on it. I did exert extra effort to make sure it was dead level as I need to have my toys and shop cabinets as coplanar as possible to maximize space and efficiency.

[Terry Therneau]

I have 3/4 OSB over 3/4 rigid foamular 250, on top of a concrete floor. I don't move machines often, but some of them are quite heavy: Felder K700S pro and Moak 26" band saw for two. It's worked well. I thought about a prettier floor, but find I never actually look at it. Not that it is alway that clean anyway.

Terry T.

[Jeffrey D Jones]

Did you use any kind of sleeper?...or just lay it over the foam? Glue in the T&G joints?