Semi OT: Shop Floor - padded floor or good shoes?

[David D]

I got mine at Rona, David ... like Lowe's but in Canada (and yes, paid in Canadian dollars too ... woohoo!) I've actually seen laminate as cheap as 79 cents a square foot at a local borg.

And at that cost, if it wears out in a couple of years, it sure doesn't owe me anything.

Having said that ... my refrigerator is on laminate for the last 3 years ... big heavy sucker, and it gets wheeled out for cleaning every week or two, so my guess is the laminate will tolerate a bit of abuse and certainly some weight.

I'd have a nicer kitchen floor but my partner runs a daycare out of our home, so cheap and durable are the two watchwords for us in that regard. I did the shop floor with laminate because I had spare ... wouldn't have thought to do so otherwise.

[Unquestionably Confused]

on 3/7/2005 1:47 PM Duane Bozarth said the following:

If I'm not mistaken, all of those laminate floors, Pergo, etc. are meant to be floating. You must maintain a gap between the flooring and walls, cabinets, etc which are then bridged with shoe base and quarter-round. Getting ready to do a kitchen and I'm somewhat concerned as to whether or not to run it in all the way underneath the refrigerator and the stove/oven or just far enough to conceal the rough edge. Probably not a problem and I'm leaning to just installing it all the way beneath the appliances. I can't imagine there being enough seasonal movement with the laminate (will be using Pergo) to be a problem so long as the stuff's not butted up against the cabinet bases and/or wall plates.

[David D]

As I said, I have had it in my kitchen for a few years now ... never a problem, and I went "wall to wall" with appliances on top ... looks as good today as when I laid it, and as you say, leave a bit of space at the walls that you can cover with trim.

If it can withstand a passel of kids and the stringent and harsh cleaning necessities that entails as well as rolling appliances across it regularly (fridge out for cleaning, portable dishwasher as the kitchen reno featuring a built in is at least a year away ... ), you should be ok.

[James "Cubby" Culbertson]

There was a review of various mats etc... in a recent Fine Woodworking IIRC. I do remember that it was pretty pricey for even a small shop. I'm really liking the laminated floor idea. Not to mention the Jones' factor. Can you imagine telling your neighbor that you put down the same laminate they used in their house, in your garage (in my case unfortunately)? Good shoes are really a neccesity in my book whether cushioned floor or not. Cheers, cc

[Unquestionably Confused]

on 3/7/2005 5:37 PM David D said the following:

Thanks, I figured I'd have more problems with moving the appliances in and out with that "lip" even if I trimmed it out with their transition piece or made my own.

[Doug Miller]

Rockler and Woodcraft sell some pretty nice anti-fatigue mats in various sizes. It's certainly less expensive to put several small mats where they're needed, than to try to cover the entire floor. I have four mats in two different sizes. One large one stays next to the workbench most of the time, one large one stays in front of the table saw most of the time, one small one gets kicked around to wherever it's needed, and one small one *never* moves from in front of the lathe.

Good shoes with arch supports are a must, even with the mats. Rockport makes several that are suitable. I've also found combat boots to be surprisingly comfortable. Your foot comfort will also be considerably enhanced with good heavy socks made of natural materials; I'm partial to wool myself, but cotton works well too. The synthetics just don't allow your skin to breathe.

We've kicked this topic around a few times before, too. A Google search on this newsgroup will turn up hundreds of opinions.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

[Greg O]

Even at a buck a square foot laminate flooring is not inexpensive. Do the math, a 20 foot x 20 foot room will run $400. 5-6 fatigue at mats at work areas will run much less than that. Then if your shop is also a garage the flooring is pretty much out of the question.

[Duane Bozarth]

Yeah, I bet it would be...what you got me thinking of though was try essentially the same thing w/ the leftover strip flooring I have...

[David D]

Actually, Doug, as ex military myself, and as I mentioned, my partner runs a daycare and one of our families is current military, good, properly broken in combat boots make excellent and extremely comfortable and safe shop footwear. Our daycare dad has arthritis, and the Canadian military provides him with custom boots from a company called BioPed ... my slippers should be so comfortable and supportive.

I also agree about the natural fiber socks, although I prefer cotton to wool ... or silk to wool. Wool is too hot for my taste.

[David D]

My only concern would be that wood won't be as resilient as is the laminate, Duane ... if that's not a concern for you, then I'd say go for it.

[Philip Lewis]

well there might be a question of quality... but we just picked up a pack of mats at sam's club for ~15. they are two sided, black on one, colored on the other and interlock like a puzzle. It was sold as a "multi purpose mat" IIRC. (showed kids on the colorful side and a guy working on the black side.)

Each unit mat is ~2x2 and there were 8 total... so ~$2 a mat, or $0.50/ft^2 after taxes.

We picked it up for the wife's DDR (dance dance revolution) floor-mat which doesn't have any padding of it's own, but now that i think about it, i might pick up a couple packs for the shop. ;)

[O D]

If you have bad wheels the you may want to look at custom made boots. Will cost you $800 maybe little more. Can be resoled. You feet are not growing any more like the kids. Concrete is all over the place. and your padded floor will only be in the 20X20 shop. You only get issued one set of wheels when your born so make the best of what you have left of them. Hell take a look at the loggers up in the Pacific northwest. They don't spend $1500 just for the hell of it. There is a reason . Red wings good boots........ for someone who has ok feet. If there as bad as you say do the most for them. Who was it that said you only want to cry once when you buy a tool. Well same thing here. There is no easy way out. And I will tell you one thing ,. If you get custom made boots they will not fit someone else very good. Store bought boots will fit a ton of workers.

[Duane Bozarth]

No, it won't, but this is left over yellow pine from the original barn and salvaged from other outbuildings--it's milled 80 years or so and is thus hard as it can be. I would leave it as is to keep the patina but add the little cushioning instead of laying it directly on the slab. I can try a small area as a try to see how it goes.

[David D]

Sounds lovely. I'll look forward to pics in abpw when you get it laid.

[Duane Bozarth]

...

That'll be some time... :)

Much to go on the barn itself and farming season is just getting ready to start up in earnest, so time will be short (althoughs days long) in a little while...

[James "Cubby" Culbertson]

Agreed that at $1 a foot it's not necessarily more inexpensive than some solutions. I have tried those 1/2" or so mats from the likes of Sam's Club etc... and actually found them to be a bit too cushiony for my tastes and I couldn't get good leverage on them for tasks like hand planing etc... Looking at the mats that FWW reviewed, prices ranged from $1.10/SF to $4.29/SF so comparing to these alternatives, the laminate would be cheaper. I haven't priced out those horse mat type things but I do remember my local Woodcraft had them on sale a while back and the cost to do a portion of the garage was better than $200 (price to do the laminate). I figure 1/2 the garage is just woodworking and there are no vehicles there (well a Harley but that's ok) so no worries about putting a car on it.

Ultimately, if I could afford it, I'd have a dedicated shop and build a raised floor with planks but that's the "dream" so to speak....

Cheers, cc

[Duane Bozarth]

James \"Cubby\" Culbertson wrote: ...

The local farmers' supply has 4x6 (perforated or solid, your choice) at $28/ea, w/ volume discount as much as 25% depending on number. I like the holes for the shop as it lets chips, etc., fall in. Only disadvantage is they're fairly heavy so if join a bunch together it's somewhat of a pita to clean up completely. I keep most separate so simply lay one at a time back and sweep up (on the rare occasion I get that anal about it)...OTOH, a hose w/ floor sweep attachment on the DC makes pretty quick work of the bulk of it so there's not a real need unless one is fanatical. If the shop were in the house/basement sort of thing it might be a different story...

Anyway, they're relatively cheap, almost indestructable, heavy enough to not move, have good traction and yet "cushiony-enough" to make a really noticeable difference plus help a lot on the cold-feeling slab in an unheated area.

[Pat Barber]

Google on Apache Mills... they make all the good stuff for foot comfort mats... Sam's Club carries a NICE mat for around $25 for a 3x3...

[e-mail] wrote:

[Australopithecus scobis]

I figgered that was a disadvantage; too hard to sweep up. Ok, I guess, if you use a shop vac. How are they (the stock mats) for resilience?

[Duane Bozarth]

It's a mixed blessing...overall, I like the hole so I don't step on small cutoffs, etc., that gives an uneven footing and will put up w/ the cleanup hassle for that. They can be had in either form, however.

For resilience, I'm not sure which specific issue you're wanting to know about...they're dense but flexible and have sufficient cushion to relieve the foot-weariness yet don't feel spongy as some of the lighter ones do. They are a really tough for withstanding cuts, etc., as they will stand up to cattle/horse traffic for quite some time.

HTH...