What's on your shop floor?

[Bird Cupps]

I have a second floor shop with plywood floor. I'm thinking about laying those rubber mats, maybe softer than what's used for cattle. What do you have on your shop floor?

[michael dilday]

Sawdust. No seriously mine is concrete. One day I might paint it. I move my equipment sometimes so I would not be able to put any type of soft floor down. I just wear comfortable shoes that is my padding.

[Bruce Page]

I have rubber mats in front of my bench and all stationary machines. I couldn't work without them.

[Paul F Franklin]

Sealed concrete. I have several of those foam rubber mats around my bench and assembly table. Not the cattle kind, the anti-fatigue kind. I found that you can buy those in any length you want in the flooring section of the big box stores. They have big rolls of it as they sell it for runners or for putting under exercise equipment. It's a little cheaper to buy it that way and then you can have a single 8' or 10' length or whatever along your bench instead of having several smaller mats.

[Bird Cupps]

Putting the mats down sounds ideal. I'm hoping my machines will stay put, but you never can be sure.

[Wayne Cannon]

A caution to not go too spongy on the mats. The soft mats are actually more tiring, because you have to constantly compensate for the unstable platform. Use a firm anti-fatigue mat. Good shoes with a thick sole and comfortable footbed can be better than mats.

[Jim Becker]

I use anti-fatique mats from ULine for anywhere I stand. While my shop floor is concrete, I'd probably do the same even with a wood floor for areas where there is a lot of standing. Even though wood is much more forgiving, it's still a "hard" surface.

[Andrew More]

Uneven concrete. My garage used to be a one car, now a two car, with a big ugly seam between the two. I make sure I have large casters under the equipment, but otherwise it's fine.

I've thought about adding one of those fancy garage floors, but they generally would be about $1K, which is more than I want to spend.

[roger wiegand]

Hardwood flooring ("mixed domestic hardwoods"-- what I got when I asked the guys at the mill what was cheap. At least 20 species, it actually looks quite nice and is perfect for a shop. At $1/sf it was hard to beat the price.) It's heavenly after years of working on concrete floors. I still use anti-fatigue mats as well in front of the bench and lathe.

[Andrew Seemann]

I have a concrete floor that I can't wait to put plywood over, on sleepers with rigid foam between and a vapor barrier on top. Even with the anti-fatigue mats, my back still doesn't like the concrete. Plus I look forward to better insulation in the winter, and less humidity in the summer.

[Mike Kees]

I installed a plywood sleeper floor over the concrete in my shop. First I put down 1x4 on 6' centers and then ran 2x6 perpindicular to the 1x4 on 16" centers,then 3/4" plywood on top. Every thing is screwed only so it can come out if it needs to. we used my laser level and shimmed where needed under the the joists to level the floor. I can not handle working on concrete,makes everything in my body tired/sore. Love the wood floor. I put extra blocks between joists and shimmed for all my machines as at least 3-4 of them are over 1000 pounds. Has worked great. If I was in a garage or had a lower ceiling height I would do as Andrew describes. My shop floor is insulated under the pad.

[John P Clark]

I use the same uline anti-fatigue mats over 3/4” horse stall mats, over the concrete. I have found that it provides a good surface and helps with my bad knees

[Thomas Crawford]

Unsealed concrete with those exercise mats that puzzle together. I will lay hardwood at some point but will keep the mats. In another year or so when I have all the machines I'll want I'll probably upgrade to the ULine mats at specific sizes.

[Darcy Warner]

Cigarette butts, some tools and a bunch of dirt.

[Thomas Wilson]

3/4 prefinished solid oak. It is being installed tomorrow. I am so excited.

TW