Workshop floor? Keep it concrete?

[Hsmith192]

To my understanding I have a large concrete slab as a floor. Only issue is? I am insulating the walls and want it to be a little warmer and more comfortable on my feet.
Can a celotex floor with joists and ply, a rubber floor or just a plywood floor suffice?

Thanks for reading.

 

[Bingy man]

My advise is based on cost and time taken to do the work as I assume the concrete slab is existing otherwise my vote would be vapour barrier , Celotex , followed by 75 mm screed .

 

[Jameshow]

Depending on door clearance 50mm insulation and then ply or chipboard on top.

Unless you have big machines it will be fine.

 

[Spectric]

All you need are old mats to put in places where you stand, you could buy rubber mats but don't go wall to wall otherwise when you want to move things around they will cause problems.

 

[eribaMotters]

I see a serious omission in the survey. An answer 5 of none.

Colin

 

[Jacob]

Ordinary flooring chipboard is good. No finish is best as it stays very non slip. Big machines no prob but wide wheeled pallet truck would be good if you move them a lot.

 

[Deadeye]

To my understanding I have a large concrete slab as a floor. Only issue is? I am insulating the walls and want it to be a little warmer and more comfortable on my feet.
Can a celotex floor with joists and ply, a rubber floor or just a plywood floor suffice?

Thanks for reading.

I faced exactly this. My garage had, rather oddly, had its floor poured in two sections - one quite good (but ribbed), one pretty bad (ribbed, rough and bumpy). It also wasn't flat or level.

I'd have loved a nicely poured acrylic/resin job, but that was way too expensive. And eating into height clearance made smoothness the priority over insulation. In the end I put down overlapping membrane, roofing battens at 12" centres and two, offset layers of overlapping ply (with additional batten support on joins and corners). Glued and screwed would have been strongest, but I went with just screwed and then painted with enamel floor paint.

It's smooth, clean and level. It's also easy to sweep and only about 50mm deep. It's not warm so I wear boots and think socks in winter. It's also not soft on the feet, although better than concrete. And it was much cheaper than poured/insulated options.

 

[Jacob]

I'll be doing the same after christmas. But chipboard. One trick I learned with concrete slabs is to have a squarish bit of broken slab under every corner joint so that the 4 sheets meeting there are self levelling and well supported. I'll do same here but with wood squares same thickness as battens.

 

[Hsmith192]

Depending on door clearance 50mm insulation and then ply or chipboard on top.

Unless you have big machines it will be fine.

Sorry to sound daft, do you need battens for the insulation on the floor?

 

[LeeElms]

Following on from Hsmith192 above, can someone confirm (or not) whether my understanding is correct about how to use battens / insulation / ply or chipboard to insulate a floor. Is it vapour barrier, with battens and insulation on top of that, and then the ply or chipboard supported by the battens?

 

[MikeJhn]

If the concrete floor has a DPM under it you do not need the vapour barrier.

 

[newbiegirl]

Total novice here but just a suggestion, would stable mats (I have horses) or slightly cheaper cow mats, (for milking parlours I think) be any use for this, my little workshop has them and rest insulated and works very well. Good luck

 

[Donald Cookson]

Easy way to get over concrete undulations is a thin screed of sand then vapour barrier insulation then flooring chipboard stagger the insulation and chipboard joints and pva glue board joints keeping a margine at edges for any expansion. This worked for years on sales offices on housing sites even with 3 inch fall in garage floor to comply with building regs for attached garages

 

[simonridout]

I am in the same situation. I am thinking of using stable mats. The choice is 1 X 1 metre interlocking mats or 6' X 4' butt jointed mats, which are cheaper. I am planning to use the latter as the perimeter is a course of bricks, upon which the timber walls are built. Cost of the 1 X 1 metre mats are £28 per sq M, the 6' X 4' mats £25 per sq M. They will be laid loose and the edges are straight and square, so easy trimming to fit.

 

[Boywonder]

To my understanding I have a large concrete slab as a floor. Only issue is? I am insulating the walls and want it to be a little warmer and more comfortable on my feet.
Can a celotex floor with joists and ply, a rubber floor or just a plywood floor suffice?

Thanks for reading.

PVA foam gym mats there interlocking

 

[LeeElms]

My main reason for considering installing an insulated floor is to help with heating. It seems to me that, with insulated walls and ceiling, that heating the concrete floor uses a lot of heat (heating is only occasional, so the concrete cools down between uses). Does this sound to be a sensible approach?

 

[Cabinetman]

I have used 1200 x 2400 x 18mm T&g roofing OSB straight over joists wth heavy cast iron equipment moved about on it with no effect for years.
I would put a vapour barrier sheet down if you aren’t sure what’s under the concrete then 50mm kingsman or similar then the OSB or chipboard. The OSB can look really nice with a water based poly varnish on it.

 

[Sachakins]

The interlocking gym mats give great relief when standing and give a warm feeling to the floor.
I laid 10mm thick 600mm x 600mm mats in garage straight onto the concrete floor not leveled just normal rough screed, made a big difference to comfort and warmer feet.
The only thing with them is they won't stand up to moving anything over them. They are only EVA foam, not thick garage rubber mats.
I got a set of 48 for £95 on offer from amazon, about 192 sq feet about 20 sq yds.
Similar garage rubber flooring that can take rolling machines across ut was about £550.

 

[LeeElms]

A follow on questions about a 'detail'. With battens supporting OSB, and Celotex insulation between the battens, should I make the battens exactly the same height as the thickness of the Celotex, or would having an air gap above or below the Celotex be OK?