Shop floor

[jerrye]

Have a 15'x15' area under the house with ~ 7' headroom that will become the shop. A friend suggested leveling the dirt & laying down 2 layers of poly, then using pallets, tied together, as floor framing with ply or OSB as subfloor/floor. Have thought of pouring concrete, but will be difficult to get truck close enough to doorway. Will stud up a wall between foundation pillars to isolate shop area from the rest of the crawlspace. Input or ideas anyone? Getting tired of dragging out benchtop tools onto deck to do ANY project!

[Armini]

quote:Originally posted by jerrye

Have a 15'x15' area under the house with ~ 7' headroom that will become the shop. A friend suggested leveling the dirt & laying down 2 layers of poly, then using pallets, tied together, as floor framing with ply or OSB as subfloor/floor. Have thought of pouring concrete, but will be difficult to get truck close enough to doorway. Will stud up a wall between foundation pillars to isolate shop area from the rest of the crawlspace. Input or ideas anyone? Getting tired of dragging out benchtop tools onto deck to do ANY project!

I wouldn't use pallets for this, too much opportunity for future shifting. Concrete is still worth looking at, especially because the concept of 'frost line' is moot.

If you want to use the 'floor framing concept, you should frame it as a single piece. To really do it right, use larger dimensional lumber (2 x 6 for example) and reinforce between the studs between the frames to get the torsion box effect.

FWW had a similar floor in a recent issue, though that was over concrete. In NC, it might be worth it to insulate the floor because after that it won't take as much energy for you to control the temperature and especially humidity in there.

Envious in a climate where I couldn't even begin to cut those corners....concrete guy is coming next week.

[BobSch]

quote:Originally posted by jerrye

Have a 15'x15' area under the house with ~ 7' headroom that will become the shop. A friend suggested leveling the dirt & laying down 2 layers of poly, then using pallets, tied together, as floor framing with ply or OSB as subfloor/floor. Have thought of pouring concrete, but will be difficult to get truck close enough to doorway. Will stud up a wall between foundation pillars to isolate shop area from the rest of the crawlspace. Input or ideas anyone? Getting tired of dragging out benchtop tools onto deck to do ANY project!

How much extra would they charge to pump concrete? Sure beats shlepping it in a wheellbarrow.

[pierhogunn]

pumping it in is the way to go, do you need a drain, or anything like that in this space?

Dan

[LarryG]

I'm not sure I'd use pallets, either, but I can see the attraction: they'd reduce the available headroom by a smaller amount than any other type of wood framing system.

The difficulties of getting the concrete in place notwithstanding, a 15'x15' space would make a VERY respectable shop, so a little extra effort and expense would probably be well worth it.

[maxparot]

I'd go with having the concrete pumped in. Also I'd put a drain in so you can hose down the place and in case of any water leaks.

[JR]

My local rental yard sells a pre-mixed concrete that they put in a trailer suitable for towing by a small truck or SUV. I think it holds one or two yards. If you can back a trailer into that space you could pretty easilty dump the concrete.

Just a thought.

JR

[jerrye]

Thanks for all the advice! Yeah, concrete would be best, I think, but don't know how to keep foundation drain open as it is in one of the corners. Trowel in a trough around the perimeter, leaving that corner open? PVC or drain tile under perimeter of slab? Might can get truck close, but all utilities run under yard where truck would go, and I live in a planned community with small lots & not a lot of space between property lines. Nice thing about planned shop area is that knee walls were used in construction of the house, so three walls already have framing from halfway up the wall. Each wall also has two foundation vents. Was at the house when electrician was doing construction estimate, so I had him stub in conduit thru the utility room floor to allow me to just add a couple of breakers & drop wiring into shop area. Thinking I'll just put four-outlet box in a couple of places along the ceiling/floor joist area for convenience. If 220v circuits needed, will need help on that. My experience with electrical is quite SHOCKING![:I] As to insulating & heating, house has Apollo heat with the supply hoses running thru the shop area, and air exchanger is located just the other side of the foundation pylons, so seems to me it'd be easy to "rig" something. Insulating floor wouldn't be needed if concrete had laminate or other flooring, would it? Have a source at BJ's for laminate flooring ~$1.21 sqft. Have this in the house & have been VERY pleased. OK for shop floor?

[monte]

Check into having the concrete pumped. It isn't as expensive as you'd think.