Shed floor, need some advice

[evobilly666]

My mezzanine floor in my workshop is made with garden decking timber. Cheap, waterproof and very strong. I have had a landrover up there with no problem. The grooves provide a non slip surface and look good too

 

[Digger6135]

Chipboard I personally would not use that, if it gets wet or damp it just disintegrates, my personal preference would be 20mm waterproof plywood painted with floor paint or good quality floor covering laid on top.

Digger6135

 

[steviec_lj]

Don't use sheet material at all.

Nothing is waterproof or water resistant. Over the years, the glue holding the layers together will fail.

All OSB fails miserably when moist.
All Chipboard fails miserably when moist.
All Plywood fails when moist.

Pressure Treated planks of 22mm T&G with hidden nailing would be your best option. Bearers spaced at 14".

 

[Neilios]

What about a planked floor with a glued ply overlay.

I have a 50mm air gap, 300mm joists and 15mm timber plank deck, some 3mm foil backed insulation as a DPM and then 12.5mm external grade ply painted with epoxy 2pack paint (all timber was treated with at every stage using creosote), used this method before and it has a long life and feels very sound for working on and equipment such as small lathe and compressor etc.

 

[God mode restorations]

Inch plywood won't bend, but I agree the floor joists are spaced too far. Shame you aren't near me I could sort you out with a few.

Inch plywood would be good..I use that often...good stuff and depending where you get it from you can get a good deal....

 

[MrFluffy]

I'd also be one of the people rather tempted to take all those internal bits out, put some shuttering round the outside edge, a rail to run the tamp on to form the top surface, dpm under it and fill it with concrete with a bit of mesh in it. Weekend session with mixer, friends who are willing to work for free beer, job done and you can anchor things to it in future.

 

[God mode restorations]

Out of interest chaps..how many of you have wooden floors in your work shops and have machinery in the..lathes/mill ect...reason I asked is I was looking in to alternative solutions to concrete. ..m

 

[I'm getting on a bit]

Out of interest chaps..how many of you have wooden floors in your work shops and have machinery in the..lathes/mill ect...reason I asked is I was looking in to alternative solutions to concrete. ..m

I went to the Honda factory when it had an open day

In an individual room it gave the spec for a Machining centre.

The floor had been dug up and a new concrete reinforced foundation laid that was 2 metres deep.

So the point is flimsy floor flimsy machine

 

[Pete.]

Depends on the machine. If your lathe stands on three feet like my Denford no amount of fixing it down will aid rigidity.

 

[gaz1]

I went to the Honda factory when it had an open day

In an individual room it gave the spec for a Machining centre.

The floor had been dug up and a new concrete reinforced foundation laid that was 2 metres deep.

So the point is flimsy floor flimsy machine

so basically your saying all these machines stood on wood floors within factory buildings is a flimsy machine what a load of crap some of the old buildings are much better made than the new buildings

if its built right in the first place weather its wood or concrete it will pass the test of time

 

[I'm getting on a bit]

so basically your saying all these machines stood on wood floors within factory buildings is a flimsy machine what a load of crap some of the old buildings are much better made than the new buildings

if its built right in the first place weather its wood or concrete it will pass the test of time

No you are talking crap.

Machines are not installed on wooden floors in factories

 

[SamT]

I wont be putting any concrete in, for my needs the lathe sat on the reinforced area is perfect for me, it's currently sat in a flimsy shed now with nowhere near the strength of the new one and does just fine

 

[Justme]

Dont use a manufactured sheet material. It will deteriorate in the end.

I would use a breathable membrane on the outside / underside not a DPC. The DPC will keep in any moisture whilst the breathable will allow it out.

If insulating the floor space I would fit a DPC to the warm side between insulation & finish surface.

This is exactly what we have in our all wooden cabin/house floor.

It is on raised posts over soil yet all the timbers remain totally dry.

 

[gaz1]

No you are talking crap.

Machines are not installed on wooden floors in factories

I come from the area that had mills the ones that did wool also im also close to the original myford factory i hated history lesson however the mills visit was interesting



fields packaging whilst there doing security was printing cigarette packets and there machines was big 20ft 24 ft and 30 ft machines all stored on wood floors and fully working when they printed and cutting them you could feel the floor vibrations

theres one thing i will say they dont make buildings like the old buildings anymore they had wood floors that was soaked in oil and wool dies that lasted the test of time the beams was made of oak

though nowadays its all machines on concrete drilled to the floor

 

[MrFluffy]

That floor will have walked about considerably initially when the oak structure was green then taken a set once it had settled in with the machine weight on it and the machine re-levelled after this had taken place if what they were making needed the accuracy, or it would be left and called good because what they were turning didn't require much in the way of tight tolerance.
Every time a machine moved this would have to be repeated but those mills were built to accomodate weaving looms originally in a age when labour was cheap and wood was the defacto flooring material and adapted to the other purposes later on. It wasn't a design choice that someone took from a clean sheet because of it inherently having good qualities for the job at hand, commercial premises generally have solid concrete flooring of a specified depth because its qualities are better suited to the job in hand and affect the accuracy and service life of the machinery placed upon it.

Some lathes like the harrison's don't care, thats because they have their own manufacturers stands which stop the bed creeping out of true over time (cast iron does this slowly), so with them you level to make the coolant run into the drain and its done. Sam's confident that for the application wood will be sufficient and presumeably knows the machine and constraints laid upon the job better than us so wood it is.

 

[DanielW]

Some mills and machine factorys used yorkshire stone slabs.