# Insulated Floors



## peterw3035 (5 Jun 2021)

Due to ground levels my new bike shed and workshop will be a concrete beam & block floor on two different levels. The bike store will most likely have a screed or concrete topping. But the question is in the workshop will an insulated floating chipboard floor (25 or 50mm celotex & 22mm chipboard flooring) cause issues later if I eventually invest in some old cast machines? Certainly a bigger lathe such as a Graduate or large Vicmarc is on my wish list but also a cabinet saw & planer/thicknesser are possible in the future. Anyone have any experience of floating floors in a workshop?


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## Cabinetman (5 Jun 2021)

No sorry Peter, but JFYI, I used tongue and groove 2.4 x 600 18mm OSB (designed for roofing I think) across joists on 16” centres and it has stood up to big cast-iron being moved around on it for nearly 10 years now and still good, I put three coats of water-based poly floor varnish on it, that has suffered a bit in places but I would do it again.Ian


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## peterw3035 (5 Jun 2021)

Ian, it's the compressibility (?) of the insulation that makes me wary, it's certainly a fairly common standard in housing but you don't tend to have a 2000+ kg lump of cast iron in one spot in your lounge. But then you may have the rugby club round for a few beers


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## Adam W. (5 Jun 2021)

peterw3035 said:


> Ian, it's the compressibility (?) of the insulation that makes me wary, it's certainly a fairly common standard in housing but you don't tend to have a 2000+ kg lump of cast iron in one spot in your lounge. But then you may have the rugby club round for a few beers



What machine are you buying that would weight 2000kg ?


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## PerryGunn (5 Jun 2021)

According to the data sheets Celotex can take a floor loading of of up to 4 kN/m2 uniformly distributed or 1.5 kN concentrated (both when supported & covered with a suitable protective layer. If I understand the conversion factors correctly, this equates to 400Kg/m2 & 150Kg concentrated - hopefully you're unlikely to get anywhere near this as the flooring material acts to spread the load.

I'd use use two layers of the overlaid flooring material e.g, rather than one layer of 18mm chipboard (which turns to porridge if it gets wet) use 2 layers of say 12mm OSB or plywood laid at right angles to each other (ensure no vertical alignment of joints)


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## peterw3035 (5 Jun 2021)

Adam W. said:


> What machine are you buying that would weight 2000kg ?


Haha, too many zeros !! Should have been 200+ kg. VL300 235kg & graduate 300kg


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## peterw3035 (5 Jun 2021)

PerryGunn said:


> According to the data sheets Celotex can take a floor loading of of up to 4 kN/m2 uniformly distributed or 1.5 kN concentrated (both when supported & covered with a suitable protective layer. If I understand the conversion factors correctly, this equates to 400Kg/m2 & 150Kg concentrated - hopefully you're unlikely to get anywhere near this as the flooring material acts to spread the load.
> 
> I'd use use two layers of the overlaid flooring material e.g, rather than one layer of 18mm chipboard (which turns to porridge if it gets wet) use 2 layers of say 12mm OSB or plywood laid at right angles to each other (ensure no vertical alignment of joints)


Thks PerryGunn, I think I'll just lay one layer and double up if I ever get the heavy weight machines


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## Adam W. (5 Jun 2021)

Too many T's in my case.

I was going to say, that's some lathe.


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