Floor for New Shop

[Izzy Charo]

I'm going to building an addition that will function as my woodshop, and wondered what folks have used for the flooring. I would like wood, ideally with space underneath for electrical and dust collection runs. Wondering how other folks have done this, and which materials they used-
Thanks!
Izzy

[Jim Becker]

You have a number of choices....everything from simple plywood to "overstock/remains" hardwood from Lumber Liquidators or similar, to thick, interlocking Advantec, etc. Some of your decision will be around cost, some will be structural and some will be aesthetic. If you want access from below, you'll need either a crawlspace or a full basement.

I suspect that any future shop I have will still have a concrete floor and if I have the choice, I'll at least put in a sleeper system with a wood surface to work on...and still use my anti fatigue mats.

[Frank Pratt]

I have unfinished concrete (garage/shop) and it works well. Until I drop a tool. My ideal shop floor would be hardwood that has been sanded to about 80 grit & then just a couple of coats of BLO, Danish Oil, or some other penetrating oil finish. That leaves a surface that doesn't get slick when dusty, is easy to clean & is reasonably resistant to spills. I wouldn't want to use red oak though because of the large pores.

[Jim Andrew]

Not so sure how you build in California, but in Kansas the ideal way would be to pour 4' stem walls, build a floor system on top of that, so you have 4' of space under the floor to do your work on your dust piping, plumbing etc.

[David M Peters]

I'm in the middle of building a shop addition and am doing a floating wood floor over a concrete slab.

The sandwich will have these layers:

* 5mm loose lay LVP
* 1" T&G OSB or perhaps Advantech if the price works out
* 2x4s joists on narrow side, 12" OC
* 2x4 laids on wide side. Two runs down length of floor (these are the dotted lines in the drawing)
* Slab
* Rigid foam panels + moisture barrier


ShopFramingAndSlab.jpg
ShopFloorPlan.jpg

At the bottom of the diagram is a 10' wide area of slab that is at surface level. This might be an eventual welding area or perhaps a place to put a stupid-heavy metal lathe. I intend to put my wood lathe (Robust AB) in the wood floor area. If the floor causes vibration I'll add sort of concrete piers down to the slab.

The live load rating for the floor plan is pretty darn good, I hope it works out. They didn't want to put the 2x4 sleepers directly on the slab because of the expected imperfections in the concrete, it would have been a pain to shim/level out.