Shop Flooring Choices - The Wood Whisperer

First off, I need to say “thank you” to the woodworking community. When I was considering rubber floor tiles for the shop, the outpouring of opinions and suggestions was staggering! Getting advice online is always a crap shoot since we all have different tastes, needs, and regional conditions. But even with that in mind, the comments gave me serious food for thought on what was truly important for my shop floor, and what might be too risky.

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Now the one thing I can’t stress enough is that THERE IS NO PERFECT FLOORING SOLUTION! Every option has at least one or two major flaws or questionable characteristics. This is exactly why I went in mental circles for weeks on this decision. So let me cut to the chase here: the flooring I found the least number of issues with was epoxy plus rubber mats in specific zones. Many of you suggested this very thing and in fact, I think it was the most popular suggestion.

Here’s a rundown of the options I considered and why I decided against them. There are two things you should keep in mind if you are using this article to help in your own flooring decisions (or if you plan to give me crap about mine, haha). First, I live in the desert. The dry climate here means that water just isn’t an issue, although we do have a few months of high humidity at the end of summer. Second, there is a lot of room for personal taste. Appearance was a major factor in my choice and of course, we can’t all agree on what looks good. I will try to make sure my opinions are clearly labeled as such.

Rubber Floor Tiles

I broke this option down thoroughly in a previous article, so check that out if you’re interested. There are a number of reasons I didn’t go with rubber flooring. First is the appearance. It became clear to me that I definitely did not want to take any risks concerning the look of the floor. I really have no idea how much impact black flooring would have on light reflection, and consequently, video quality. Light colored tiles are available, but they cost about twice as much as the black/gray tiles and I really didn’t want to spend that much money.

Another factor was the installation. Those tiles are incredibly heavy and I’m going to have my hands full just getting my tools in place, tuned up, and working. I really didn’t want to lose a week just for flooring installation.

The final factor was something I can thank many of you for, and that’s the ‘unknown’. Many of you brought up some great points about tool mobility, workbench stability, solvent reactivity, off-gassing, lighting, etc. All of these things made me realize that this was going to be a very expensive experiment. My gut (and the rubber flooring company), tells me everything probably would have been fine, but at this point in the game, I am not willing to do anything that has even a remotely questionable outcome.

Vinyl

This one was a bit of a long-shot but I did consider it. I had one flooring company come out to give me a price on engineered hardwood, and after hearing my story, the salesman suggested vinyl flooring. He showed me some samples of this nice fiberglass (I think) material that not only looked decent, but had a little cushion to it. This was something I hadn’t even considered before but I was intrigued, so I had him price it out. Now, this could very well be a fluke, but the price was well over $10,000!! And this was a well-known major flooring installer in our area. In addition to the sticker shock, I heard some feedback from folks who mentioned that seams could eventually become an issue with this type of flooring in a high heat environment. With 12′ rolls, we would have three long seams in the shop. So vinyl was out.

Solid/Engineered Hardwood

Generally speaking, solid wood in an occasionally-conditioned work space is just a bad idea. As we all know, wood likes to move. My shop will experience seasonal and daily temperature swings as well and major humidity swings at the end of Summer, and as we are all well aware, this is not good for solid wood.

Engineered hardwood is a little more realistic as it is essentially just fancy plywood. Even then, I had a few installers tell me they wouldn’t recommend this product for an inconsistently-conditioned space like the shop.

In both solid and engineered hardwood, cost was a major factor. If I chose to hire out the installation for the sake of saving time, the cost was just insane. So although this option would have been the nicest to look at, wood movement and cost knocked it out of the contest.

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Laminate

I have installed several laminate (Pergo) floors over the years and while they are easy to install and nice to look at, they have a characteristic sound that is very unappealing to me (especially on High Heels Thursdays). Furthermore, a layer of dust on a laminate floor is a one-way trip to the broken coccyx doctor.

Sleepers and OSB or Ply

I know many of you who have this type of floor in your shop and love it. We even posted a guest article on the topic. But there were a few reasons I dismissed it. First, I had serious reservations about popping holes in my brand new concrete slab. I realize a floor like this is supposed to be permanent, but something about that just bugged me. Also, I can be a little lazy, especially when I’m in a rush to get back to woodworking. sq feet is a LOT of real estate to cover!! And speaking of real estate, the thought of re-sale value did cross my mind. I know it’s crazy to think about that at this stage of the game, but I do like to think ahead. That’s exactly why I had them install a garage door header that I will never use. If I do sell this place one day, it’s a lot more likely to find a “car guy/gal” than a “wood guy/gal”. And a plywood floor probably wouldn’t be very appealing to potential buyers.

Epoxy + Rubber Mats

And now for the big winner. The decision on this came after a visit to my parents house. They have a small one-car garage with an epoxy coated floor. They only have a few fluorescent lights in the garage but whenever you turn them on, the space just looks bright and cheery. In my current garage, I have a crap-ton of light but I just don’t get the same effect from unfinished concrete. So epoxy wins major points for appearance.

I discussed re-sale value above and an epoxy floor is a no-brainer in that area. Just about anyone would prefer an epoxy floor over an unfinished concrete floor.

There is no doubting the durability and protective qualities of epoxy. Professionally installed with high-grade materials, these floors last a long time and I’m sure it will stand up to just about anything I can dish out.

Cost was quite reasonable, coming out to about $2.40 installed. This included non-slip grit and those little flakes they like to apply.

The one area where epoxy fails miserably is comfort. Obviously, it does nothing to soothe my weary bones. So that’s where the rubber mats come in. Just like in the old shop, I’ll use rubber mats around the various tool zones. Perhaps I’ll even do an entire area where I know there will be heavy traffic. This way I can pick up the pads if and when I need to move the tools.

The one caveat here is that I am pretty much done with the cheap interlocking pads from the big box store. They are way too light and flimsy and I would like a more “semi-permanent” placement. So this brings me back full-circle to the rubber flooring company. Their mats are thick, heavy, and aren’t likely to move when vacuumed.

So once again, I appreciate the feedback from everyone. I am sure that many of you may disagree with my decision or even my logic. But that’s OK. If we all agreed unanimously on anything, that would be spooky. I hope my explanations and ramblings help you in your own shop flooring adventures.

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Hi all, I'm planning a conversion of an existing open air structure into a finished shop space. One open decision I have to make is the flooring. I'll be using this space as a workshop, but could be using it for an office or gym in the future, so something that fits with those uses would be a benefit.

I was going to default to an epoxy flooring of some sort, either poured or painted. I have a vague recollection of thicker poured epoxy flooring options, but I don't know much about them or their advantages over thinner painted epoxy coatings. Maybe they are nice because they'll fill in any expansion joints. If I go with epoxy it'd be a solid white or gray with a satin or matte finish.

Anything else I should consider, such as cork, engineered hardwood, others? One advantage of a flooring that is laid down like that is the drywall, trim, door thresholds will all be raised to allow it. If I just do simple painted epoxy flooring then presumably it would be difficult to go back and add flooring z-height later. I would not choose cork for a shop floor.  While, in thicker floors, cork is easy on the feet, it bruises and cuts too easily to be a shop floor.

You don’t indicate a budget, so I will go ahead and suggest the toughest and hardest wearing of floors:  End grain wood.  Kaswell is pretty much the acknowledged leader in that field.

The first factory I worked in was a turn of the last century building in Brooklyn.  The floors had to be over 100 years old and were end grain wood.  I have no idea of which species.  Some are very attractive.  You finish them with wood flooring finishes.

The Kaswell site has a huge gallery of both residential and commercial installation.

After that, bamboo is very hard wearing too.

I have strategically placed horse stall mats—pretty much the ultimate in anti fatigue flooring, but very low on the attractiveness scale.

I don’t remember which vendor I used.  These mats are thicker and tougher that the lookalike mats from Home Depot or Lowes.
https://www.google.com/search?q=horse stall mats&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1-m
https://www.kaswell.com/end-grain In my head, converting a shop to a gym in the future sounds like much less of a flooring conundrum than converting a shop to an office.  In that vein, I have a hard time coming up with a flooring suggestion that would be appropriate for an office as well as a functioning shop, although I suppose it depends on what is being done in the shop.

Some flooring surfaces are also not suitable on slopes; if you're converting something that was open air, I assume it has at least somewhat of a slope for drainage purposes (and possibly damage from weather exposure) and you may end up limited in your flooring choices if you don't put down a self-leveler first.

How big of a space? I have used 4x6' horse stall mats on my entire ~ sq. ft. shop, similar to these from Tractor Supply:https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/4-ft-x-6-ft-x-3-4-in-thick-rubber-stall-mat. They are heavy and difficult to move (tip: buy a couple of these to move them:https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/ezgrip-mat-mover), but oh they are so much more comfortable to stand on than concrete. Another great feature is that when you drop things, they bounce a bit, so much less damage; I dropped a glass jar once and it didn't break. Unlike the 2' square interlocking mats from Home Depot (which are really comfortable), these are hard enough that you can put your power tools (drill press, band saw, table saw, etc. right on them and even roll them around if they are on casters. They are pretty easy to clean and while they are non-interlocking and you'll have gaps, it is pretty easy to vacuum the debris in the gaps. And since there is no installation other than dragging them into place and sometimes cutting one, if you decide later to go another route, you just pull them back up.

Peter Halle said: I'll Agee with [member=]squall_line[/member] in the fact that knowing more about the starting point of your project would be important in giving advice.

But, even without knowing that at this point I will offer my opinion on epoxy floors - if you go epoxy have your eyes open that sawdust and shavings make for a slippery floor.

Peter

What hard flooring materials wouldn't be slipper besides wood/engineered wood? I wonder how much of a difference it being matte/satin texture would make.

squall_line said: In my head, converting a shop to a gym in the future sounds like much less of a flooring conundrum than converting a shop to an office.  In that vein, I have a hard time coming up with a flooring suggestion that would be appropriate for an office as well as a functioning shop, although I suppose it depends on what is being done in the shop.

Some flooring surfaces are also not suitable on slopes; if you're converting something that was open air, I assume it has at least somewhat of a slope for drainage purposes (and possibly damage from weather exposure) and you may end up limited in your flooring choices if you don't put down a self-leveler first.

How big of a space?

Good point, but I guess for an office I was just thinking aesthetics. A smooth white or gray surface would be OK in my mind. That's also an unlikely situation, just a minor consideration for the selection.

It's got a roof, two walls, so it is relatively flat now, but should be completely flat after they infill with a new concrete pour. The floor now is stone and grout that I thought was on a foundation but apparently not. It's pretty small, about 180 square feet. I found where I got the horse stall mats.  They offer the 4’ x 6’ mats with interlocking edges.  They offer much larger sheets, but those sound like a 4 man installation. Probably better for horse stalls, but for the shop, the 4’ x 6’ is fine.

I would avoid the temptation to wash these mats as any water that gets under the mat will remain for a very long time and will invite mold.

These mats, unlike other flooring choices, are 100% reversible.  That is you can remove these easily with no damage to the substrate.
https://www.greatmats.com/horse-stall-mats.php

Great Mats shipped promptly. I shopped around back then (about 20 years ago) and they were competitive. Their 4 x 6 x 3/4” is $125.00.

Cheese said: As far as being more/less slippery, you’ll notice no difference between matte/satin/glossy finishes. To achieve a noticeable difference you have to apply a finish that’s designed specifically for the anti-slip function. Bona Traffic AS is one that I’ve used and would recommend.

I mistyped there, meant what other hard materials other than wood. That's a good fnish to know of if I end up going with wood though.

Do you have that finish on floors in a shop? Is it pretty manageable to keep clean, if you drip wood glue or other materials on it?

Packard said: I found where I got the horse stall mats.  They offer the 4’ x 6’ mats with interlocking edges.  They offer much larger sheets, but those sound like a 4 man installation. Probably better for horse stalls, but for the shop, the 4’ x 6’ is fine.

I would avoid the temptation to wash these mats as any water that gets under the mat will remain for a very long time and will invite mold.

These mats, unlike other flooring choices, are 100% reversible.  That is you can remove these easily with no damage to the substrate.
https://www.greatmats.com/horse-stall-mats.php

Great Mats shipped promptly. I shopped around back then (about 20 years ago) and they were competitive. Their 4 x 6 x 3/4” is $125.00.

Do you have these on top of raw concrete? If so is it ever an issue of moisture coming up from the concrete, being trapped and getting moldy?

SoonerFan said: I went with the default of epoxy flooring with flakes and a top coat.  Only had it two weeks in this shop but had it before for several years.  It is great!  Durable, super easy to clean and IMO looks great.  I did the floors and stem walls.  Next is nickel gap tongue and groove for the walls and then finally add piping for dust extraction so I don’t have to wheel the Jet dust collector around tool to tool.

I'm building a new garage and am verrrrrrry interested in where you've landed. A post or two would be very appreciated.  [thumbs up] I use my garage as a permanent shop (ie no cars inside). When I bought the house the garage floor was in a poor state of finish - lots of peeling paint. I considered a pour-on epoxy coating but found the floor was so out of level it was impractical. So I scrubbed the peeling paint and applied fresh epoxy paint.  But it was uncomfortable to be on my feet for long.  I tried shop mats but eventually settled on these interlocking floor mats, putting them around and not under the cabinets and machines. They’re cheap, easily replaced, and comfortable. A bonus is that dropped items are less likely to break. The only down side is that they sometimes get moldy underneath but cleaning the floor with borax seems to delay that for a long time.

We Sell Mats Forest Floor Farmhouse Collection 3/8 Inch Thick Printed Wood Grain Mats, 24 in x 24 in
https://a.co/d/5mhvgc8 I found that the 3/4” thick versions of those mats to be superior in every way (except cost).

They stay flat.
They stay interlocked.
They are kind to my feet and my back.
They insulate from the cold (probably not an issue in California).

Note:  They are substantially firmer than the play mats they sell for interior floors. The initial perception is that they are less comfortable because of the harder surface, but an hour into using them, you will find that they are kinder to your feed and back. 

In bright colors, the half inch thick mats are great for a child’s play room.  For the work shop, the 3/4” horse mats are much better.

Also, I don’t know what kind of rubber they use, but it can be trimmed easily with a sharp utility knife.  Use the snap off blades (the larger ones) and extend the blade long enough to cut through in a single pass.  Or make a scoring cut and bend the tile to make a finishing cut.  A regular utility knife blade is not going to be long enough to cut through in a single pass.

Cheese said:

SoonerFan said: I went with the default of epoxy flooring with flakes and a top coat.  Only had it two weeks in this shop but had it before for several years.  It is great!  Durable, super easy to clean and IMO looks great.  I did the floors and stem walls.  Next is nickel gap tongue and groove for the walls and then finally add piping for dust extraction so I don’t have to wheel the Jet dust collector around tool to tool.

I'm building a new garage and am verrrrrrry interested in where you've landed. A post or two would be very appreciated.  [thumbs up]

[member=]Cheese[/member], happy to add a post or two on the new floor.  I should be able to take and post a couple pictures tomorrow. I'm surprised that no-one has yet mentioned AdvanTech.https://www.huberwood.com/advantech

Fasten the panels around the perimeter of the room, but leave the field floating. 1" thickness is preferred, but 3/4" works if necessary.

-- Leaving the field floating allows the surface to span imperfections in the concrete floor
-- Leaving the field floating allows for a little "give", making for a comfortable surface on which to walk/stand.
-- You can still move heavy machinery around without the need to jockey heavy rubber mats
-- It's a less cold floor than standing on concrete
-- You can screw/fasten to the floor for temporary jigs, work holding, etc....
-- If you decide to eventually install a "finished" floor, you'll already have the subfloor in place
-- If you want additional cushioning/insulation, you can install foam sheets underneath the Advantech

I've worked for many customers with the epoxy floors, and I'm firmly in the "against" camp. The epoxy floors are slippery, cold, and uncomfortable to stand on. If they have the speckles, and you drop  a screw, get ready to crawl around on all fours trying to find it. I’ve had epoxy floor in my last shop as well as my current shop.  Total of 23 years of use. 

I did have an abrasive mixed in with the epoxy to reduce any chance of slipping.  It has worked really well.  Easy to clean up. 

But you do want to be mindful of flake colors.  My old shop was black and grey which made it next to impossible to find a dropped bolt or nut on it.  The new shop is tan and black - far easier to see things on it.