Hi everybody,
I am finally getting close to starting to build my new shop. When I built my house 3 years ago I crushed the old house which was uninhabitable. It had been built on a slab pinned to a large peice of ledge. The plan had always been to use that slab for the future dream shop. My current shop is also on a slab, and for the first time ever, I finished the work day with very sore feet. This got me thinking that maybe the new shop should actually have a wood floor. I was thinking of the pros and cons of a slab vs. a plywood floor. The slab is super flat, easy to clean, nice to move and set up machines on, but hard (duh) and slick when wet. A plywood floor on sleepers would be more foot friendly, let me run wires and potentially dust collection if I went high enough, and would let me screw fixtures, brackets, etc. down to it easily. But the wood floor is harder to clean, and harder to move heavy machines around on. Things that are not considerations for me are heating and cost. The space will be super insulated and heated with a heat pump. The current slab is insulated. The cost is not an issue because it is a wash. I would pour a new slab over the existing which has a large offset crack down the middle from where the excavator drove on it while tearing down the house. The new slab costs roughly the same as the framing lumber and plywood.
So, does anyone have any input or experience that might help me decide which way to go? Thanks all.
Replies
Mechanicals under floor
If you can raise the floor enough to a high crawl space you can run mechanicals (think dust collection too) under it and adjust them later.
instead of a heat pump look into mini-splits. I can keep my shop at 75f during the summer months of 90 to 100f for under $2/day, closer to $1, and lost no space to ducting. Open space with no or few walls is the key though. Not sure how they perofm in your climate though.
Might be simpler to get liners for your shoes.
Thanks for the replies guys. I did decide to stay with the slab for the finished floor. The reason is that I, or someone after me, may want to use the space for cars. I will probably end up placing some anti-fatigue mats around as well.