Heavy loads on casters on oak floor?

[Bert McMahan]

I'm putting in a new attached shop and am trying to decide between some standard polyurethane-finished white oak and some sort of heavy duty vinyl tile (like they make for garages).

I'm leaning towards the white oak as it'll match the rest of my house, but I'm worried about damaging the wood with heavy sliding loads. The biggest one is my combo slider, which weighs about 1500 lbs. Am I going to wreck the floor with casters? The garage tile looks like it's rated for that sort of load but I can't find info about white oak.

[roger wiegand]

You might need to upgrade the casters, depending on what you have currently. Wide urethane wheels will spread the load and avoid damage. Small cast iron casters will probably leave a "patina" of tracks on the floor. (not the worst thing on a shop floor, IMO, it looks pretty natural in that setting)

I have a number of very heavy mechanical music machines in the house; they come with small (1-1/2") steel wheels that definitely dent oak floors; replacing the casters with double urethane wheels about twice the diameter (2-1/2") fixes the problem. The good piano casters run about $150 for a set of four but are worth it in that setting.

[Jim Becker]

I agree with Roger...but even if you can't retrofit to better casters, I'd still choose the wood flooring. The finish might mark over time due to the nature of what happens in a workshop, but the oak itself is pretty dense stuff. (If you're planning on the thin, engineered material, it may not be as durable, however)

[Mike Cutler]

Are these machines going to be continually moved around? Are more or less positioned and every so often as a project requires moved?

Urethane casters are probably your best bet, but they have drawbacks also. They get flat spots if set in one position for years and the urethane can split if the space is unheated. I'm sure the more expensive urethane casters are better quality.
I have a 1700lb jointer and believe me, you want that weight firmly supported by the floor. On casters, even the heavy duty leveling casters that much weight creates vibration if it isn't damped.
Regardless, oak has some impressive compression properties. Worst case is that you place hardboard pads underneath the support section of mobile platforms and wheels to protect the floor.
I vote oak.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Another vote for oak.

Oak has 7400 psi compressive strength, even pine is 4000 psi ish. Wood is excellent at resisting compression in general. Good wheels will be fine on the wood floors. Poorly built casters can cause problems though.

[Jack Frederick]

You might also look at closing up the spacing on your floor joists or increasing the dimensions of the joists.

[Thomas Wilson]

My solid, prefinished, white oak flooring has tracks from 15” Powermatic planer and 3hp Sawstop ICS. I have factory casters on both. Both of these tools are much lighter than your slider. I just try not to move them. I can take pictures tomorrow so you can assess the damage. I am just going to live with it. I like the flooring for a lot of other reasons and don’t regret the choice.

[William Hodge]

I worked in a shop that was an old mill. We had lumber carts with steel wheels. The newer floor, from the 1930's, was White Oak. The older floor, from the 19thcentury, was Eastern White Pine. The pine wore down such that the harder wood, like knots, stuck up higher.The oak was pretty good, it was able to with stand just about anything. The oak did offer less traction. It could get slippery.

The best part of wood, over plastic and concrete, was that we could screw or nail stuff down anywhere. Being able to put a cleat on the floor makes the entire shop into one of those silly Festool work tables.

[Wayne Cannon]

Just be careful to use good casters. I mentioned before that the casters on my HF four-wheel dolly left narrow permanent ruts in my new oak living room floor with only a 100-lb load, because the wheels apparently have a thin rigid internal disk (for strengthening?).

[Bill St Amant]

i'd get a sample piece of luxury vinyl plank [LVP] and a small metal plate or washer assembly. Crank that in a vise for a few days and have a look. that might simulate the long term load of machinery. My intuition is that the LVP is going to look dented as the material "creeeps" around the metal.