Workshop Floor

paulrussell · Post by **paulrussell** » Sat May 15, 2010 8:07 pm

My wife has offered to convert our basement family room into a workshop when my stepson goes off to college.
The issue I'm faced with is that the floor is carpeted with a tight-weave berber carpet which I don't want to damage. So I'm looking for something to protect the carpet and also allow the shopsmith to be rolled on its casters when needed.
Anyone have any experience with anything similar?

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Sat May 15, 2010 9:48 pm

I would store the carpet and either put down tile or one of the new floating floors. You could always just used the concrete and get some mats where you stand most of the time.

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Sat May 15, 2010 9:50 pm

I sgree with Ed!

paulrussell · Post by **paulrussell** » Sat May 15, 2010 10:28 pm

Since the carpet is on a concrete basement floor I suspect the installers had to glue it. I'm not sure if it is possible to uninstall/reinstall it - but I admit I don't know much about carpet install/removal.

iclark · Post by **iclark** » Sun May 16, 2010 12:23 am

unless it is carpet tiles rather than a rug, it seems more likely to be installed with tack strips around the edge of the room. if you can take up a length of quarter-round (assuming there is some) and baseboard, it should be easy to tell what you are facing. if you can roll it up and store it, that seems like the best bet.

I would suggest rolling the rug and the pad separately. that way, you can replace the pad when it is time to put it back and you don't have to worry about the pad breaking down against the top of the rug.

tkhudson · Post by **tkhudson** » Sun May 16, 2010 1:56 am

throw some OSB down and be done with it

paulrussell · Post by **paulrussell** » Sun May 16, 2010 1:50 pm

tkhudson wrote:throw some OSB down and be done with it

This was one option I had considered. Another was the interlocking foam floor panels sold just about everywhere these days. If I went either of these routes, I would first put down a cheap plastic painter tarp (the ultra-cheap clear plastic ones you can buy for $2).

For now I have two things to wait out:
1) The stepson leaving for college
2) My wife is now suggesting we look for a house better suited for our empty-nest life: fewer bedrooms in exchange for a workshop and room to entertain.

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Sun May 16, 2010 5:17 pm

I think if you cover the carpet you will ruin it.

I'm almost certain if you put plastic over it and then cover you will have ruined it. There is bound to be some moisture in concrete or from condensation (cooler floor warmer air). If you cover the carpet with plastic that will allow the plastic to work like a condensing later and hold moisture against the carpet. MILDEW!

YOur wife may have point, but if you decide to stay either write off the carpet and just use it in your shop or pull it up and try to save it to reinstall if and when you decide to sell. Anything else will ruin the carpet and probably make other problems like Mildew odors and such.

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Sun May 16, 2010 6:56 pm

Again, Ed has made an excellent point!

Even in comparatively dry Montana - when we had an addition put on our house it had a crawl space. The dry ground beneath the crawl space was covered in a thick plastic sheet. It only took a couple of weeks before the lower side of the plastic was covered with moisture.

I recall recommendations (maybe code now) that when installing a wood floor above concrete, there must be a vapor barrier above the concrete. Don't know how the carpet was installed, but carpet breathes, and so does concrete!

There is a forum post about the guy that stored his wood on end on his concrete shop floor? He found the ends of the boards all checked when in use. The ends were moist when he used the boards - then when dry, they checked!

iclark · Post by **iclark** » Sun May 16, 2010 11:21 pm

paulrussell wrote:This was one option I had considered. Another was the interlocking foam floor panels sold just about everywhere these days. If I went either of these routes, I would first put down a cheap plastic painter tarp (the ultra-cheap clear plastic ones you can buy for $2).

in addition to what Ed and Charlese pointed out, it's a safe bet that your fluency at profanity will improve if you try to use the SS casters on those interlocking foam panels on a rug.

the SS casters are too small to roll easily from one panel to another when the panels can also push down into the rug and separate/gap between panels.