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Thread: What are you wearing on your feet in your concrete slab shop?

  1. #31
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    NE Ohio
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    6,983
    I spent many years working on concrete floors & sometimes being on my feet for hours at a stretch.

    Heavy soled boots with good arch support made it bearable.
    My granddad always said, :As one door closes, another opens".
    Wonderful man, terrible cabinet maker...

  2. #32
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    E TN, near Knoxville
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    12,298
    Quote Originally Posted by Rich Engelhardt View Post
    I spent many years working on concrete floors & sometimes being on my feet for hours at a stretch.
    Heavy soled boots with good arch support made it bearable.
    I forgot one thing that helped me many years ago when I worked at a job that put me on my feet on concrete most of the day. I took a second pair of shoes and switched shoes in the middle of the shift. I think it was the minor differences in pressure points in the shoe that gave instant relief.

  3. #33
    Quote Originally Posted by Christopher Giles View Post
    New Balance running shoes. The $130.00 ones. Full timer, never have any back pain. Careful what you drop, these don't have the protection of Red Wings.
    New Balance running shoes here too. I have narrow feet and finding comfortable shoes that fit is a constant struggle. Hardly anyone makes a narrow or B width shoe anymore. Boots? Fugetaboutit. The only shoes that I consistently buy and can comfortably wear in the shop are New Balance 990s. I have several pair.

  4. #34
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Houston, Texas area
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    1,308
    Quote Originally Posted by Chris Fairbanks View Post
    I wear Asics Gel Nimbus shoes in the shop and pretty anytime I am not having to wear dress shoes for work. I love them. Switched over from Nikes and will never look back. They are like $160 but if you use camelcamelcamel.com (best amazon price tracker) and have it watch the shoes in your size and color for you they always drop to $99 when the new versions are announced. The current ones are Gel Nimbus 23 so the 22s are $99 right now but only in limited sizes and colors so you need to move quickly when the new ones come out and the prices drop on the old ones. I think they release new versions every 9 months or so.
    I've been wearing Asics Gel Nimbus exclusively for about 25 years. Have an all black pair for church. New pair every year, old pair moves into outdoor service. The only other things that go on my feet are Merrell hiking boots and UGS slippers. I am willing to try something new...

    Thomas, regarding rubber flooring, unless you are reconfiguring your shop every week I'd really try to get some mats. They made a HUGE difference for me. I have about 600 sq feet of mats down in the shop. Some cheap locking squares from Sams and some expensive uLine industrial runners. I can't tell the difference walking over the cheap and expensive versions but maybe my feet would after 10 hours (or maybe not). The uLine mats are in the highest traffic areas but I feel like the cheap Sams interlocking squares are fine.

    EDIT: FWIW, the cheap squares are very light, easy to slide around but may come apart if you try to lift them. The uLine industrial mats are much heavier.
    Last edited by mark mcfarlane; 06-14-2021 at 9:31 AM.
    Mark McFarlane

  5. #35
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    N CA
    Posts
    1,279
    I have a pair of Dansko Clogs that I love in the shop. With the solid base they have to be just the right fit, but if you get that they are terrific for support. Not shoe related but my wife has gotten me into doing yoga these last several months. I find that many of my aches and pains have subsided and many fewer leg cramps. At 72 the old muscle mass is just a memory but much of an old mans strength is in flexibility and range of motion. There must be something there It seems to be working. Yoga with Adrienne!

  6. #36
    Quote Originally Posted by Prashun Patel View Post
    I like crocs. Hard enough to resist mild drops of tools or wood. Not afraid to get finish drips on it.
    I also wear crocs. I got the camouflaged pattern so that my wife can't see them because she thinks they're hideous. She just isn't enlightened to the comfort factor!

  7. #37
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Okotoks AB
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    Quote Originally Posted by Justin Kwong View Post
    I also wear crocs. I got the camouflaged pattern so that my wife can't see them because she thinks they're hideous. She just isn't enlightened to the comfort factor!
    Haha! But your wife is not wrong.

  8. #38
    Join Date
    Dec 2019
    Location
    The old pueblo in el norte.
    Posts
    1,846
    Birkenstock profi clogs normally. I have a pair of steel toed ranch boots, but for the most part that's a huge amount of overkill and the birkenstocks are widely used in kitchens and medical.
    ~mike

    happy in my mud hut

  9. #39
    wore Ecco Clogs from Denmark the first 25 years in the shop then stopped one day. No real issue other than if you step on a small offcut they will turn with the non flexible sole. Back never got tired on concrete. If i dropped something it was worse as the wood sole presented the toes like carrots on a cutting board. Reflexes are good for an old guy and anything dropped feet get out fast on auto pilot.

    When I did my second roof it was ply and even my best running shoes I felt like i was slipping all the time. I got a pair of Merrel hiking books and that model which I have but cant remember had a softer rubber. They stuck to roof amazing. I did wear them out doing the roof from new but so what, its like tires for guys that race, they need stick not get high mileage.

    Have cheap crap now and too often knee pain, time to look for those same Merrels again or look into some you have mentioned. Im lucky so far on back pain, lift way too much heavy stuff and always lifted with my back not my legs like we are supposed to. I think doing the roofs was hard on the knees walking on pitch.

  10. #40
    I am happy to see that a lot of people have solved this problem. I am working more shop hours per week than ever before, and my feet have complained the most about it. I wear “walking” shoes which look the same as running shoes. I should look around for something with more cushion. The floor in the shop is wood so it is not just a problem of concrete slab shops. My shoes are pretty old. Their cushioning may be gone.

  11. #41
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Alberta
    Posts
    2,162
    Replace my runners every 6 months or so. Honestly though the best was installing a wood sleeper floor over the concrete. Mine started with 1x4 flat every 4' on center and then 2x6 two feet on center run perpendicular to the 1x4. The floor surface is 3/4'' plywood screwed down. This floor has taken the tiredness and aches of working on concrete away completely ,also much easier on my tools.

  12. #42
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    N CA
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    1,279
    Thomas, perhaps on those long days your should have an assortment of shoes available. Each shoe has its own comfort and pressure points. Think it is possible changing the shoes you all ready havemight help?

  13. #43
    Join Date
    Mar 2018
    Location
    Piercefield, NY
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    1,660
    I wear Teva sandals in summer and Red Wing boots in winter and my feet feel okay so far. I am size 16 so options are limited. The floor in the shop here is concrete, but I don't find it bothers me if I move around. If I stand still in one place for more than 20 minutes or so I start to feel tightness in my chest, like my lungs don't have room to inhale all the way. I get the same thing in the kitchen which is also concrete. If I walk around for a minute or less I feel normal again. I have no idea why that happens, but it's consistent.

  14. #44
    Birkenstock slipons or Dansko clogs. Rarely tennis shoes, though I wear tennis shoes every day at work and walk a good bit during the day. I have 3 pair that I rotate through to give the most recent pair time for the foam to rebound instead of staying compressed. Saucony, Brooks and Mizuno are my work shoes. Running shoes are Topo’s and they are killer for running with my feet.

  15. #45
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    San Francisco, CA
    Posts
    10,304
    Today? Bare feet. It is very hot today.

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