Workshop Flooring

Hello All,

My workshop has a concrete floor which I have painted with proprietary floor paint. I put about 3 coats on it. Or rather my Son did, while I watched him as I drank tea and ate biscuits. It is a very good floorcovering, and served me well in my old workshop before I moved house.

However...I am now looking at something like this:-

Clickable link.

https://www.findmeafloor.co.uk/product/699/r-tek-interlocking-garage-floor-tile-chequered-colours?gclid=CMS58srr_8UCFafJtAods3wADg

a) As it looks nice

b) Because I can

Does anyone have any experience with this stuff, or similar? Is it worth me bothering with it? Or is it more trouble than it is worth?

Carl.

Edited By John Stevenson on 08/06/2015 11:37:07

It does look nice but two things spring to mind.

A) it's probably a bit more difficult to keep clean than a painted floor.

B) unless your floor is perfectly flat some of the edges of the tiles may stick up a bit?

Best advice is to try and find someone who's actually laid and has been using this system for a while.

Hi

My originally painted my workshop floor, after a few years some areas were badly worn and getting very dusty.

I covered the entire floor with this vinyl flooring. Mine is a hard vinyl as opposed to a foam vinyl also advertised. It's not solid, the underside has a honeycomb hollow pattern,

My Elliott Junior mill stands on this without any problem, just some 3/4" ply to spread the load. It cleans very easily and so far, (3 years) is not showing much sign of wear.

There are circular and chequer patterns as well.

I am very happy with it and would use it again, it's not much trouble to lay other than having to move workshop stuff around to clear floor space.

Usual disclaimer - no connection with the advertiser linked above.

Nigel

Edited By tractionengine42 on 08/06/2015 12:02:54

Edited By tractionengine42 on 08/06/2015 12:04:59

My Mate Chris has that stuff on his workshop floor and likes it. You do have to watch out for thermal expansion though so don't lay it tight beween walls otherwise it can buckle/bulge as it expands. Chris cut it in around the machines. I did think about it myself but then went for Flooring grade Chipboard over felt underlay over concrete. Chipboard is then floorpainted. Lathe sits on steel pads through holes in the chipboard and is bolted through to the concrete. The mill and everything else sits on top.

regards Martin

My post refers to the original posters product.

Martin

Gentlemen,

Thanks for the replies. The paint I have on my floor at the moment is as hard as nails, and has been down for two years without showing any signs of wear. I was attracted to this plastic flooring stuff from a point of view of it making the w/s even more of a pleasure to be in than it currently is. As you point out Vic, it might be harder to keep clean. With my painted floor I sweep it regularly and every so often give it a mop over. My workshop is integral with the house and has an electric, sealed roller door so I don't get crap from outside either blowing in or trod in.

I think the floor is fairly flat, but I take your point there, it could be hard to fit and therefore more trouble than it is worth.

Thanks for the vinyl idea Nigel, definitely something to bear in mind for future reference.

Thanks for all your contributions chaps,

Carl.

Hi Carl

Interlocking plastic tiles look great and are nice to walk on. however how will they stand up to metal swarf? I have yet to find a pair of shoes that are immune to it, the stuff always imbeds itself into the soles.... leather rubber or plastic it does not matter. Unless the tiles are rated by the manufacturer to resist penetration by swarf I would stay clear. I am not sure how it would stand up to heavy machinery also? Or do you have to cut around the heavy stuff.

My floor is painted with 2 pack and it has stood up well except in front of the lathe and mill, the chips have cut through the finish now but it has stood up for almost a decade.

When I do refinish it I will be using a heavy coat of epoxy. There are many brands and types available.

Regards
John

Hello Carl,

I installed some dense foam interlocking tlies which are about 1/2 inch thick, Axminster sold them at the time ~15 years ago..They form a central strip up between benches.

Today there are used in kindergarttens in bright colours---mine are matt black with swarf highlights, but they are comfortable and warm to stand on for long periods. They provide a degree of cushioning for things that fall off the workbench. I have been very pleased with them. They do provide useful crevices for the small object Gremlins to hide and conceal things, but then so does a jungle of swarf.

Regards

Brian

Swarf does indeed have a knack of wanting to embed itself into any surface pliable enough, particularly plastics. Probably the best stuff to use is the Vinyl flooring used in labs, it has some kind of tough metal already embedded in it. I have a mat made of the stuff and it's surprisingly swarf resistant. No idea what it's called though so you'll have to google it.

Vic,

That sounds like Altro flooring. It has carborundum embedded in it to make it non slip. It's used behind pub bars etc.

I used it for my workshop floor. Managed to get a big enough offcut from Ebay for a very good price. Only problem is it's light blue but most of it's now covered by machines and rubber mats so it's not too bad

It's best glued down if possible to stop it creeping which is what I did.

John

Edited By John Baguley on 08/06/2015 19:03:47

I use the foam mats from Halfords in front of my machines, makes it a lot more comfortable to stand there for a few hours and they don't suffer too much from swarf.
Other than that I've just used floor paint of left it. In the house we used an acid wash that melts and hardens the surface before laying the carpets.

Steve

If you can still find it, the 3' wide belts from a colliery are superb for floors, never wear out and forgiving when fragile parts are dropped.
One guy (who shall remain nameless) got a load of new stuff from work and laboriously cut it into 12" squares which he used for his kitchen floor, they waxed up nicely.

Edited By john carruthers on 09/06/2015 08:44:18

I've 'owned' a number fo floors in my businesses.. including heavy duty vinyl as used in bus garages, 9-coat epoxy, floor paint, quarry tiles and pressed powder tiles (the sort used in shopping centres). Only the latter held up to the public trailing in grit and path debris.

For a workshop you either have to accept changing that floor at times or picking an option and then using mats in standing areas..or just leaving the concrete. pressed powder tiles wih epoxy grout are expensive and unforgiving of fragile items dropped.

Bear in mind that these comments are based on a working workshop floor under heavy use. Chips coming off my lathe are very hot and there are large amounts of them.

I started off with conveyor belting scrounged from a local quarry, used but because it's used it has a saucer shape to it and in one run it's not bad but putting two together means the edges often lift causing trip hazards. I just had single runs. Wears well, nothing sticks to it very hard but very heavy if you want to lift to clean.

At one point I tried the foam mats, they lasted a day. Chips just burn their way thru them or part way and leve sharp edges exposed.

Then went onto the rolls of rubber matting 3mm thick, this comes in either checker plate pattern or buttons. I chose buttons as I thought it would be easier to sweep. When new it was fine and very pleased with it but over a three year period it gradually swelled and bubbled up then started to split and it was a serious trip hazard.

Having said that this is 3 years in a very busy full time shop which would equate to 10 years ? in a home shop.

I was ready to replace it with the same or 5mm if I could find it when I discovered the horse mats made from rubber crumb. Bought one to try in front of the lathe which is the worst wear area in the shop. Came off Ebay and in my case 10' x 4'

Been down a year now and wearing well. Last week was a very busy week, flat out with breakdowns all week and not much time to clear up so today attacked the floor.

This was it earlier today and I have raked all the birds nests up and this has been trodded in for just over a week.

Part way thru the clean with a stiff nylon bristled brush and it cleaning up well. A lot of these chips are bright blue but being a crumb finish they don't leave marks. These are about 10mm thick but can be easily handled and when the workshop gets extended later this year I propose to floor the whole shop in these mats.

Concrete floor s are hard work if you stand on them for any length of time, not to mention cold in the winter.

For areas where you walk/stand my shop has plastic mats made redundant at work.

Toy R Us used to sell 1 metre squares of "holey" rubber matting, intended to minimise damage to children falling off slides. Cut in half, you get two mats, which laid end to end cover two metres. Life not known, since my shop has the hard plastic mats mentioned above.

1) They keep your feet off the cold concrete,

2) The swarf tends to fall through the holes, so is much less likely to pick up on the soles of your shoes to cause strife when you go indoors.

The downside is, that every few months you need to lift the mats and sweep up. (Known hereabouts as The Mucking of Geordies Byre, not that either of us is Scottish, or located there - just my perverted humour) Then you can get back to the essential activity of cutting metal or whatever other material takes your fancy. (Last time I was at The WaterWorks Museum in Hereford, I found myself boring a leather washer. That's a first!)

Howard

Edited By V8Eng on 10/06/2015 00:00:16

I have several items on castors. Do they work on the vynal floor or do the castors sink in when they have stood in one spot for a time?

When I built my new workshop about 12 years ago the friend who helped me friend who helped said we should simply use the green water proof chipboard tongue and groove under flooring used in modern houses. The better brand from the local builders merchant. No floor paint, just used as is. Now more sandy than green with some minor scarring and odd stain but still holding up well under pretty much daily use. Swarf will embed if sharp and you stand on it just so but generally not a problem. Possibly one or two pieces to dig out on the weekly muck out. Probably 40 % machine time, 40% bench work, welding et al and rest in the office space. Machines stand direct on it just fine. Fairly hefty stuff too Pratt & Whitney Model B 12 x 30 & Smart & Brown 1024 lathes, Bridgeport mill, Pollard 15AY drill and Elliot 10M shaper. Offcuts and over orders made lovely shelves and nice bench tops for blind brothers piano fixing shop.

Just don't put a pry bar directly on it, fortunately I found that out when moving the P&W up the step on a ramp made of the stuff.

Had to be the green stuff. The alternative sandy or brownish version available at the same time was hopeless and mega dusty when worked with.

Clive.

Fred Dibnah used railway sleepers but then he did have traction engines parked on his floors.

Martin

Same as John mines a full time shop tried most economic means.

The only downsides to concrete floor and standing on them are the cold coming through and the dropsies. Its by far the best to shovel and sweep up.

Tried two variants of foam matting, didn't last an hour before ripping up and throwing out.

Large carpet type and bristle door mats and the like but swarf burns in to.

Same with raised wood platforms, swarf embeds in to and a bitch to get out. It even embeds in to that waterproof chip board, rather annoying under your feet.

Have also kept an eye on the thinner horsey matting but tend to come in sizes that's very uneconomical if laying like you would a carpet cut round machines.

For cheapness I bought the 3mm ribbed matting 3 yrs ago, very rarely does hot chips stick in, the only downsides are sweeping up down the length of ribs then flicking across then finding bit awkward for the shovel. Very tempted to go for it again but thicker 4mm to 5mm. Originally intended to use it upside down for better sweeping up, tried it with coolant on and was a little slippy.
The 3mm in summer tends to expand and with coolants it bubbles. Upon contraction it often cracks but did last almost two years as at last year, still down serious trip hazard. Best money ever spent and to boot saves many a tool and verniers when knocked off on to floor, might go red next time make it feel warmer.

The PVC matting in various styles wouldn't work but is cheap.