I’m setting up shop in my attached two car garage and the concrete slab is not level. Should I lay down a plywood floor to level it out? I’m not sure whether it’s better/easier to just shim all the machines level or do the floor. If I were to do the floor, I would make it temporary rather than permanent (not afix it to the slab) for when I sell the house. Any advise will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Tom
Replies
Why do you want the floor level? All (above grade) garage slabs should slope towards driveway at 1 percent or so. Most are reasonable flat, 1/4 per 10 feet is what most concrete folks shoot for. Maybe you could just shim your assembley table/area? Just some thoughts, damien
My original workshop is level. When I expanded, I knocked out a wall to the garage side of the structure. As you can guess, the new part slopes, as it should have for a garage. PITA. I really cannot assemble anything in that space.
Cheers,
When I built my "garage", I planned for it to be my shop eventually, my office needed a floor and I laid down "Vizqueen" as a vapor barrier and 2x2 (ripped 2x4's) for my stringers, laid foam between them and covered the whole thing with some salvaged 3/4" ply and put a salvaged wall to wall carpet over that. In Oklahoma, the floor stays warm enough in the winter so my office 8' x 16' x 8' tall with insulation only needs a small space heater to keep it comfortable. All the walls & the ceiling are insulated. Next month I'll do the same in the 24' x 30' shop area, The floor will be covered with 2 layers of 5/16" ply and "sheet vinyl floor covering". The foam insulation is some bead-board that was left over from some large (4'x4'x2') pieces I was given from a jobsite that I had cut to the right size to completely fill the gaps between the 2x2's. I expect that I should get the same warmpth from this floor and if it is uneven, you'd just need to shim the 2x2's which I am screwing to the concrete, but if you wanted to you could "float" the floor and hold it down by attaching 1x2 against the studs to hold it in place and then pull up the panels when you move. I'd say go for it, just put down your vapor barrier and some insulation below the floor and you'll be more comfortable. I'd rather have a wooden floor than the concrete one I work on all day in the theatre where I work.
One needn't bother with a bit of strapping against the wall studs to hold the floor in place. Trust me, it won't go anywhere.
I used 3/4 T&G underlayment on top of 3/4" ply 'sleepers' with 3/4 foam in between. Sleepers are 4" wide, on 16" centers. Foam was 2' wide panels, I cut them in half. Works a treat.
Ed;
I obviously was't "thinking thin" that sounds like a good idea too. I was just trying to recycle and not spend any more money.
Donn "DerBear"
Being a person with an ocassional lazy streak I'd probably opt for the latter option of shimming equipment level. But if you insist on adding a plywood subfloor there are other benifits besides a level floor. Namely insulation. I put plywood over a concrete slab earlier this past spring and instead of the usual sleeper foam insulation routine I opted for one of those dimpled plastic products called Delta FX sold at Lowes. It creates an airspace between the plywood and slab that gives an R# rating. It went down pretty quick and is a nice alternative to the traditional method.
Personally After spending a year with a shop and a conc. floor I would go with the wood if I was in your shoes. In fact I expect I will pretty much so the same as was suggested above (2x2s ect.)
Doug Meyer
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