What should I use for shop flooring????

[Mike Steblay]

I am in the process of finishing my shop which is a second story on my garage. The flooring now is 3/4" plywood but the framer did a lousy job of laying the floor - alot of gaps, uneven seams, etc.

I would like to put down a subfloor over this plywood and am looking for ideas. The shop is about 600 square feet and I don't want to spend a fortune. It would be nice to have something that reflects the light and is easy to sweep. Any thoughts?

Some of my thoughts were:
1/4 4x8 plywood sheets
cheap vinyl (tiles or sheets)
Hardboard sheets(easy to sweep)

All ideas are much appreciated

[Scott Greaves]

Hi Mike,

I think I would go with the plywood, but maybe consider 3/8" or even 1/2". Unless you think you would ever remove it for any reason, I would glue it and screw it, which will do an excellent job of tying your whole floor together, and give it a lot of extra strength. I would fill the seams and knotholes - I have used Rock Hard water putty. Then I would paint the whole thing with a durable floor paint. This will give you a strong good-looking floor. Good Luck!

Scott.

[Ken Garlock]

Feel free to jump in and wade anytime. You will not find a nicer group anywhere on the internet :)

Regarding your second floor shop, before I would do any additional flooring, I would take a good hard look at the floor joists strength. If your framer did such a poor job on the decking, you just might have been short-changed on the joists also. I don't know what you plan to put in your shop, but do consider that any major power tools are going to weigh anywhere from 200# to nearly 500#.

Flooring wise, I would get a good floor sander and smooth the bad joints in the plywood. Putting down standard plywood might cause you problems down the road due to voids(inter-ply holes) in it. Something heavy rolling across the floor might cause a hole in the surface. You might want to consider something like MDF over the existing plywood, given that your shop will be dry. As you know, MDF and water don't get along.... I haven't used MDF for flooring, perhaps someone else can give an opinion on using it.

Have a Merry Christmas.

[Mike Steblay]

The floor joists should be fine. I had the garage designed for this purpose and the architect new I would have a 500# cabinet saw and other heavy equipment. The joists are double 2x12.

The framer just didn't as need of a job laying down the subfloor as I would have done. Some of the double joists are slightly higher then the next and if a seam landed there, it is uneven.

I thought about MDF but it would be too dark and if I spill, I would hate to have the MDF swell on me.

[Kurt Aebi]

Sand the plywood already there and go with 3/4" MDF or Particle Board and give it a good sanding and then cover with a good flooring paint.

I have done this for a second floor sculptur's shop and it has held up fine. (She does use floor mats around the stone when she chisels - of course)

[John Miliunas]

I agree with most of the other posts, particularly somehow sealing/painting it. Inevitably, something will spill sometime down the road and it's a good idea to protect it. I would really discourage any type of vinyl good, tile or sheet. They telegraph any inperfections from below to the top. :cool: