Wood garage floor

[TractorJeff]

For what its worth!
The back shop was originally a "Bunk House" built in the mid 70's. It has a plywood floor set on nailers resting on old broken cracked concrete. I have lived here over 15 years and restored one 1929 Ford Model A, one 1944 Caterpillar D2 which weighs over 10k lbs and currently have a 1929 Caterpillar TEN and a 1947 John Deere B in there right now! The D2 on tracks rolling in there made the flooring creak and grown but it held up. Its had gas and diesel dribbled on it, oil slobbered on it and the most flame I use in there is an occasional propane torch. How does it look? Actually good for the abuse it gets. BTW this is NOT pressure treated plywood!
How long will it last? If it lasts another 10 years, then maybe I'll change it??
Also I know another guy that has half his Garage/Shop floor in planks and the other half in dirt!
Assume your build is detached?

 

[Mike99]

Thats amazing. I used 4x4 pt on top of packed limestone and covered it with pt 2x8 boards. Built it in a day and it looks great! Might not even paint it. It is attached. The hardest part was fitting 12 foot boards into my 8 foot trailer.

 

[Mike99]

Just thought Id add this. Where I live code does allow wooden garage floors. No code violation if the wood is in direct contact with the gravel. My insurance company has no problem with it and it does not affect my premiums. Someone mentioned splinters and warped boards and stains etc. I made my deck the same way 12 years ago and it still looks like new.

 

[PCO6]

We have a few garages in my neighborhood that have wood floors. Both are suspended floors one is over a 3 foot crawlspace the other has a workshop under both are built from 2 x 10's old growth Douglas fir installed on edge spanning approx. 12' both built in the 50's. still good structurally. I think concrete would look pretty economical to install in today's prices for old growth fir

I used to share garage space with about 8-10 guys in a building with floors that were exactly as you described. The building was originally used as a munitions factory. I can't tell you how many coats of gray paint had been applied to the floor but it as smooth as could be and very easy to clean up. It was a very comfortable floor to work on.

 

[Skiff Builder]

MIKE
Good for you getting it done. I think your going to have it a long time. My building inspector / insurance/ mortgage bank were all good with our floor too, They consider it non structural.
Enjoy.

 

[Mike99]

Test

 

[axle54]

Gentleman,

Worked in an aircraft engine factory. Had end grain wood flooring. Easy to to repair and to run power, hydraulic and air lines to equipment. Just pop up blocks and install whatever necessary. No cutting a nice shiny concrete floor for troughs. And this is modern factory. I'm talking hundreds of thousands of square feet. Large fork trucks and equipment ran on it no problems.

Educate yourselves see interesting link.... will be all the rage for a hipster floor I bet....

http://kaswell.com/about-us/history-of-woodblock/

 

[mygarageone]

Well I would say if all the aircraft carriers / battle ships and cruisers of WW11 used wood for there decks , you certainly could use wood for your garage floor .
And let's see , they were on the water all the time .

 

[yhprum]

The wood floor is forgiving of whatever you accidentally drop too. That aircraft engine factory woudn't have been in Stratford CT by chance?

 

[ddawg16]

Well I would say if all the aircraft carriers / battle ships and cruisers of WW11 used wood for there decks , you certainly could use wood for your garage floor .
And let's see , they were on the water all the time .

Well...that wood was usually Teak....a lot of prep and care went into it...

And if it was so great, how come they are not using it now?

 

[lakeroadster]

Hey Mike.. need some pic's...

 

[Markomyt1]

I have sold some older homes that have wood floors in the garage. They were all made out of oak. Some 2X6 others 2X8. They weathered great and lasted at least 100 years in these homes. Some people were parking their cars and trucks on these floors.

I don't think this is a terrible idea, but the cost for hardwood might be high.

Good luck!

-Marko-

 

[ddawg16]

Well....it would seem Mike99 doesn't like my 'input'.....got some PM's from him....

Originally Posted by Mike99
Your advice wasnt helpful.

and today.....

I would advise you to refrain from posting unhelpful comments. That is my advice.

Mike....do NOT ever PM me again.

 

[Mike99]

Will do Lakeroadster. Am having IT issues but will post as soon as able. Love my floor!

 

[PT Doc]

Mike you should just proceed and go with the wood. And save the $4000.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I helped a buddy put in wood floor in part of his barn for horse stalls and would do the same for a garage without hesitation.

I don't know the technical term but the base was 3/4 crush with smaller rock and sand.



Using a a jig I leveled it down 5" from grade then compacted down to 5 1/2" from grade.





Laid rough cut pine 3x12" [actual size 2 3/4"x 11 3/4"] 24" on center



and then laid the second course crossways.



We nailed it with double dipped galvanized spiral nails but next time I would use screws [pre-drill the holes].



Some of the boards had a bit of a twist which I used a belt sander to bring down level. Seems to be working fine and I would have no problems driving anything onto it.

 

[jonesg]

Can anyone who has a wood garage floor comment on it. Good or bad. My 22x 22 concrete slab is sunk and cracked and Im not too keen on replacing it with concrete. Wood seems to be a sensible option and is 1/3 the price. Please dont lecture me about the oil and gas theory my cars dont leak and I have a sprinkler. And we dont have termites where I live. Thanks.

You're asking in a forum where many might be self conscious about the amount they spent to have a floor better looking than my wifes kitchen floor.
Anytime I see elitist cliques I know its based in fear.
Any time opinions are proffered instead of experience you may rest assured they are guessing. I was considering concrete for my cracked garage floor but i think you've made a good case for wood, done right its pretty smart.
The benefits of wood are obvious after working on concrete floors for a few yrs.
Good for you stickin by your guns, theres more than one way to fix things.

 

[Crash105]

Can anyone who has a wood garage floor comment on it. Good or bad. My 22x 22 concrete slab is sunk and cracked and Im not too keen on replacing it with concrete. Wood seems to be a sensible option and is 1/3 the price. Please dont lecture me about the oil and gas theory my cars dont leak and I have a sprinkler. And we dont have termites where I live. Thanks.

Did you go with the wood? If so what did you do to account for spills or water? I hace a house built 45 years ago 2 garages one on top of the other. The floor is 4x8 12" on center floor joists, then 2" toung and groove slats, then 1" plywood and last 1/4" plywood, to which linolium was glued on to create the water barrier. The linolium has dried and cracked over time and we had a water pipe break this winter, I need to replace the top 1'4" plywood and water barrier. I am trying to figure out the best way to crete that water barrier, linolium again, epoxy or something else? What did you do? BTW, this garage is in Portland OR and has done great. Definitely not as cold as concrete.

 

[tom86951]

We have a wrap around porch with wood floors, and while it would 'work' in a garage, it would be a compromise for sure. It needs to be above the ground (so you'll lose height) and so you'll need a lot of supports to have it bear the weight of cars -- for As long as it lasts. Definitely consider painting it. Alternatively, Racedeco is cheap and fast. Porcelain tiles can give you the look without the reality. Or maybe a nice Pergo or similar laminate wood flooring system?

 

[Crash105]

We have a wrap around porch with wood floors, and while it would 'work' in a garage, it would be a compromise for sure. It needs to be above the ground (so you'll lose height) and so you'll need a lot of supports to have it bear the weight of cars -- for As long as it lasts. Definitely consider painting it. Alternatively, Racedeco is cheap and fast. Porcelain tiles can give you the look without the reality. Or maybe a nice Pergo or similar laminate wood flooring system?

@tom86951 thx for the advice, I looks like leaving it as is or painting it is the way to go. Then I can add the RaceDeco flooring if I want to. I learned one more problem in my space...the linoleum is glued down so well in many places that it is a chore to try to scrape it off. So, I considered taking the top 1/4 plywood off and just replacing all of them but the guy used about 50-100 nails per sheet, it is ridiculous. So, now I know I could just paint the floor but I have to figure out how much work I am willing to go thru. I wonder if paint will stick to linoluem, like maybe Zinsser's Wartertite?

 

[jkeyser14]

While I sell, and lay tile for family and friends, I would not recommend that for a sunk and cracked slab. That slab gets to moving and cracking and will crack and possibly break the tile loose from the mortar.

You sell and lay tile but have never heard of decoupling membranes?

 

[FJ4FUN]

Without commenting on the safety, code compliance, insurance risks I'll offer up this, we've had quite a few customers apply our BondTite primer and/or BondTite 1115 clear epoxy under our EnduraShield 2254 hybrid-urethane with traction additive to wood decked enclosed landscape/gardening and toy hauler trailers with great success. I was skeptical at first given the amount of flexing and vibration that these environments would see and made it clear that these were "off-label" applications with zero warranty considerations but they all love it and have not had any issues.