Laminate flooring, in a Workshop??

[JSW]

This is just an idea at the moment, and just asking the question so don't deride/fall off chair laughing etc etc but ...

I acquired a load of walnut laminate flooring from my next door neighbour recently (hi Mike!) with a view to utilising for jigs and, well all sorts .. for eg: I find the stuff perfect for pushsticks through the table saw, nick an edge, bin it, cut a new one.

Anyways turns out there is a LOT of it, in pretty good condition, so I thought, given the concrete floor in my double garage workshop gets a bit hard on the feet after a few hours, why not lay the flooring in one half of the workshop, the idea being the unlaid part is where the car will be parked over the winter months.

I already have a couple or rolls of spare underlay, but will the damp winter months turn the lam flooring to mush? even though the workshop appears to be sound and dry, and will the flooring actually give the desired effect of being less hard to walk on for hours on end than the concrete is?

Another thought was, given the walnut is quite dark, would it be any better laid upside down, just for the visibility of dropped items, and to lessen the darkening effect of the walnut.

Any other thoughts that spring to mind I'm all ears!

Thanks all.

John

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Why not? At least you won't wreck the edge of every tool you drop.

 

[Adam9453]

I personally would say don't do it, think about how slippery laminate flooring is when you're wearing socks and then think about how slippery laminate flooring will be with a layer of fine sawdust over it.
In my opinion it would be dangerous, particularly if you have any machines where you need to push heavy timber or sheets through. With no purchase under foot, you'll likely come a cropper.

 

[JSW]

Ah, now there's something I didn't consider, how slippery it could potentially be with sawdust on it. I normally wear trainers or workboots in the shop, I'll mock up a small area with a few boards and sawdust just as a test. Thanks for the input, much appreciated!

 

[AndyT]

You could always use the free flooring and paint it with non-slip floor paint.

 

[MrYorke]

Far too slippery as mentioned above!!!

 

[adidat]

I used a workshop for 18 months with laminate floor never slipped once and it used to get pretty dusty, the owner is a builder so it was probably over ordered. But we didn't have any heavy machines on it, not that it would make much difference.

Adidat

 

[Lons]

About 1/3rd of my floor is covered with engineered flooring (like laminate but top 4mm is solid beech), it's varnished so I was concerned about slipping but never happened however none of my machines are on it as it's just around my benches and lathes. Definitely much easier on dropped tools and a cinch to clean up.
The only dangerous part is that I sometimes need to use a ladder for access and certainly can't trust that the feet won't slip so one day I'll sand off the top varnish.

No damp problems and if your floor is modern it should have a DPM installed.

Bob

 

[JSW]

Many thanks to everyone for the input.

Opinion seems to be a bit divided, but I think I'll go for it nonetheless, worst case scenario I'll apply a coat or two of non slip paint, if that's the only expense then it's worth a try I guess.

 

[beganasatree]

Laminated flooring and sawdust is an accident waiting to happen.I am a kitchen fitter and in the past I have slipped a few times on this combination.I now cover the floor with a sheet of ply,not just to protect the floor but also myself.

Peter.

 

[ColeyS1]

Slightly off topic but years ago I bought some concrete paint and painted an area around my bench. One reason was to minimise the dust, the other to make sweeping up easier. I went for the normal glossy paint and it worked beautifully. The dust just seemed to almost hover on the surface,sweeping up became super easy ! After that success, I suggested to my work mate that we should paint the rest of the workshop, his only gripe was that he found it a bit slippy. To cut a long story short I painted the entire floor with nonslip gritty paint. It's nowhere near as easy to sweep anymore which in turn means it gets done less often. I've twisted my ankle several times standing on bits of rubbish, the other annoying thing is the nonslip paint doesn't seem anywhere near as durable as the original stuff I used- give me that version any day of the week please
Providing you push your brush over it fairly regular and have decent footwear I think it should be fine as a shop floor
Coley


Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[Sporky McGuffin]

I personally would say don't do it, think about how slippery laminate flooring is when you're wearing socks

Or rollerskates!

Does anyone here really do woodwork without shoes on? Good, grippy, protective shoes?

and then think about how slippery laminate flooring will be with a layer of fine sawdust over it.

Or buckyballs!

My workshop isn't surgically clean, but the floor gets swept every day I'm in there. Isn't that normal?

 

[RobinBHM]

I think overall it would be a more comfortable workshop with laminate floor instead of concrete. There is always the option of using a clear non slip varnish later on.

 

[Sporky McGuffin]

Or some anti-fatigue matting where you'll be standing.

 

[JSW]

So, could anyone recommend either a non slip paint or varnish? The lam flooring is a textured matt-ish finish (walnut) would it need sanding back to create a key for the paint/varnish to adhere to?

 

[Zeddedhed]

Watch make all sorts of industrial floor coatings, including anti-slip.

http://www.watco.co.uk

They ain't cheap mind....prices will likely make your eyes water, causing you to fumble around and ....... slip over!!

 

[JSW]

Yeah we'll pass on that one I think ... yikes!!

Any Toolstation/Wickes/Screwfix types circa 30-40 quid you'd trust? TBH though I just laid the first 3 runs the length of the shop, and wearing trainers .. it isn't near as bad as I feared it may be.

 

[Adam9453]

Not personally tried it but in theory you could add sand to normal floor paint to make it extra grippy.

 

[Adam9453]

Also I'd expect the reason there is divided opinion is that I think there are three poster types that have replied;
1: people which have experience and have slipped on it.
2: people which have experience of it but haven't slipped yet!! (probably due to no machines from those posts).
3: people which no experience and are purely speculating.
Be careful taking advice on safety aspects from a public forum when you don't know what qualifies the person to give you said advice. I.e. Would you jump off a cliff, if some replies said it was safe despite others warning of the risk?