Cold Garage Floor

[Lodgepole]

I have a single car attached garage that I use as a wood shop. The single car garage has 365 square feet of floor space. The house and shop were built in 1963. The garage floor is concrete and i am fairly sure doesn't have a moisture barrier under it.

In this part of Idaho temperatures can drop down into the -10 degrees.

I have an electric heater, hung in one ceiling corner of the shop for the winter months. But, when it comes on it is way too hot. As soon it turns off it is cold. Please note that i have had insulation blown into the walls and additional insulation blown into the attic. I also have an insulated single person door and an insulated garage door. in the winter I also add a concrete blanket over the garage door. So, insulation is not a problem.

I have added a small pellet stove for a more even heat when i am working. I only use the electric heater to keep the shop at 50 degrees.

But, as you can guess the floor is still cold. I saw an episode of Ron Hazelton's House Calls where he added a subfloor of DRIcore which he bought from Home Depot. He then covered this with rolled out vinyl flooring. I can see where this subfloor adds an insulating layer. But, it can be 3/4"-1" thick, which would kind of throw off the spacing of the steps, etc. I can see this would definitely help keep the floor warmer for a total cost of $1,234.

I am also looking at Home Depot 12"x12" modular interlocking garage floor tiles. The total cost would be $1,020. But, would this tile provide any kind of insulating value? How well would the Shopsmith and Power Station roll across these tiles?

Any suggestions or additional ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[davebodner]

It seems that the Dricore would be a good solution; though, I have to admit I have no experience in this area. I would expect the HD garage floor tiles would not be quite as warm.

Do you have enough headroom to lay 2x4 sleepers? That would allow you so much more insulation.

[Lodgepole]

I have the head room for 2x4 sleepers. But, I don't want to change the distance to the steps going into the house. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Gene Howe]

Sleepers plus a ramp???

[JPG]

I think a short first step to be a small price to pay for an insulated floor.

How about 2x2 sleepers and 1 1/2" foam insulation between?

[jsburger]

I think a short first step to be a small price to pay for an insulated floor.

How about 2x2 sleepers and 1 1/2" foam insulation between?

That is exactly what I was thinking. You beat me to it. One will adapt quickly to the different first step IMO.

[Hobbyman2]

Not sure but I think you can insulate from the out side as well , it would take more labor then material but dig down and add 4 in Styrofoam around the out side of the foundation just below grade and go down about 2ft or so , ? sounds like what you describe is the ground freezing beneath the slab? There are also heating pads like this that can add in certain areas instead of the entire floor , maybe under the bench or around the out side walls ? JMO https://www.wayfair.com/WarmlyYours--Te ... gIIkPD_BwE

[robinson46176]

Steps are not usually that big of a deal, if reasonable you can just redivide the amount of rise and build varied thickness caps for all of the treads so that they all come out equal.
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There is usually more than one way to skin a cat... My woodshop is in the basement and is always warm including the floor, sometimes a bit too warm.
My farm shop on the other hand is in a converted 36'x50' barn that you could not get comfortably warm in really cold weather even if you sat it on fire.
I find that it makes a big difference if I insulate myself from the floor and cover my ankles by wearing tall shaft crepe soled boots when working there in bitter weather. They soften up the concrete too. Boots like these:

1 boot.jpg (11.57 KiB) Viewed 20316 times

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[tucsonguy]

I would be concerned with any interior treatment, with damp and moisture and cracking of the concrete below.
However, if you're going to do it, you might want to consider this: if you have enough headroom, install a 2x6 frame and insulate and cover that.
The advantages are huge - you can run dust collection pipes, shopvac hose, water and compressed air piping and electrical all under your feet and get a huge amount of clutter out of your way. Plus you can add some serious insulation. Heck, you could install in floor heating if you wanted.
Just a thought. I ran my DC pipe under my floor - gives me the shortest run pipe, highest efficiency and least mess of any system. Pipe comes out in the center of the floor directly under my Shopsmith!

[Lodgepole]

Thanks for all of the suggestions!