Shop floor question

[jcb]

I have a 22'X24' shop that I built a few years ago. I constructed the floor using a mini home floor that I had cut into 4 peices then joined them back together in my back yard. It was good deal but I had no idea at the time that I would be getting into welding. Now that I have a plywood floor to deal with, are there any suggestions out there on coatings, cheap coverings of any kind that I could put on top of this floor to allow me to weld inside the shop rather than having to go outdoors all the time with my mm 180 ?

[welderman23]

personally, i would either use a cheap laminate tile or a thin coat of concrete.
i think industrial laminate tile is best in my opinion.

[KBar]

jcb, let me look the information up at work but we used a spray on material in the locker rooms that would work out great. That was 10 years ago and those floors have been abused but they still look good, no gouges or cracks.

Anything too hard or stiff on top of plywood though is going to crack for you and we all know a crack is where sparks love to land.

[c neck]

put down a cemeant bourd like thy use behide tile and then use a self leveing
cemeant

[tacmig]

Try this..

Light weight concrete! This stuff is the best. Your local ready-mix plant should have it. Prep is easy, floor is strong, quite and dosen't cost that much. When we expanded our shop we used this by suggestion as the best solution all the way around. It's been in for 5 years with no problems!

Good luck,
TacMig

[DDA52]

tac, not so fast. Lightweight costs almost double normal mixes here. Plus, it is only about 20#/cuft lighter...nowhere near enough to justify it. Lightweight is subject to area as to whether or not it is even available or if it is cheap or not. Gypcrete is more common here instead of lightweight. No idea about the cost of it, though., I just mess with the regular stuff.


There are also floor leveling mixes that would work. Self levelers like Ardex might work.

[jcb]

Thanks guys,

I like the ideas of spray on stuff or laminate tiles. I look forward to hearing from you KBAR on your spray on who manufactures it. Are you saying that laminate will handle the hot stuff the welder will throw at it ? What kind of laminate though ? Beacause the shop is on blocks and winter is harsh in this area, the building is subject to heaving sightly between seasons. For that reason I'm hesitant on using any type of concrete that may crack.

[EdZep]

metal sheet?

I've been wondering about a floor protector, as well. My shop has PVC tiles that a car can be parked on. I don't want to tear it out. I asked the welding dealer if a metal floor cover would break any welding safety rules, and he said no. I could use two 5x10 ft. sheets for my main welding area, and I have a heavy duty welding blanket to use elsewhere. Thoughts?

[FusionKing]

Metal floor

Maybe thats why they CALL it tread plate

[EdZep]

metal sheet

Well, OK, tread plate is one thing, but, my concern is metal flooring specifically in a welding situation. Like if it inadvertently becomes part of the workpiece ground. And, rather than tread plate, I'm thinking of maybe 20 gauge.

[tacmig]

Holy turd burger..

tac, not so fast. Lightweight costs almost double normal mixes here. Plus, it is only about 20#/cuft lighter...nowhere near enough to justify it. Lightweight is subject to area as to whether or not it is even available or if it is cheap or not. Gypcrete is more common here instead of lightweight. No idea about the cost of it, though., I just mess with the regular stuff.


There are also floor leveling mixes that would work. Self levelers like Ardex might work.

When we or rather when I had my floor done, they used mesh for the reinforcement (rebar) and poured about 3 inches worth on top of roof paper and 4 mil plastic. The entire cost was $1700.00! I don't know how much it is there, but here So. Cal anything else would have been a lot more and not as good. We have dropped 50 to 100 pounds of material and very, very little damage. And if there is any damage you simply rough it up and pour patch. But we have not had to do any repairs as of date (we have a good sub-floor). I think we can all agree that a concrete floor is the best flooring to use for its fire resistance, sound, solid properties and ease of maintenance. Tile seems as if it would crack, Gypsum board (Wonder board) would also crack and the self leveling goo I've seen would shrink, crack and later peel. At least this has been my experience, but what do I know (know that's a good question)....(:

TacMig

[FusionKing]

Well, OK, tread plate is one thing, but, my concern is metal flooring specifically in a welding situation. Like if it inadvertently becomes part of the workpiece ground. And, rather than tread plate, I'm thinking of maybe 20 gauge.

I don't see that hurting a thing...sort'a like being on a ship or a truck or any other piece of big equipment. People do it every day. I would be more worried about slipping and busting my @$$. Thats why I suggested tread plate...It's designed to be used for a floor. I'm sure 20 gauge would work tho.

[EdZep]

Thanks, FusionKing

I'll check the price of the lightest tread plate. Maybe it's in the ballpark.

[SkidSteerSteve]

When I have needed to torch or plasma cut something that was real close to the floor, I just dump a few scoops of oil dry under my cutting area and it keeps the concrete from popping out from the heat. Obviously, it wouldn't be very practical for a whole shop, but it works great in spot applications. No matter what you do I'd make sure and have a couple of really good extinguishers on hand at all time. Murphy loves to show up when welding and I'm sure he'd love a wood floor. Especially when a mass of slag finds what was left of the quart of oil that was spilled three weeks prior and soaked under the tread plate to saturated the subfloor

SSS

[migman69]

Well, OK, tread plate is one thing, but, my concern is metal flooring specifically in a welding situation. Like if it inadvertently becomes part of the workpiece ground. And, rather than tread plate, I'm thinking of maybe 20 gauge.

heres what i learned when i was a machinist mate in the us navy. You can use a metal floor just fine if you worried bout grounding out do this get a rubber mat and sit your stool on it or stand on it or whatever problem solved thats what we do at work.