floors

[yesteryearforge]

What type of floor do you prefer in your shop and what do you feel the advantages are for your prefered type
concrete ?
brick ?
wood ?
dirt ?
also do you use the type that you prefer or do you use whatever was there to start with
How do you mount your vise and other equipment, / Permanent or movable
any tricks to maximize the use of available floor space ?

[elkdoc]

I still like dirt. Seems like it is easier on my feet over the long haul.

[Strine]

Dirt here is much preferred but alas my forging area is paved for the sake of the carpet :cry:

Dirt mixed with cow manure is an excellent flooring material. As well as making a lovely mixture to grow petunias in it also has the added advantage of keeping the flies at bay.

[HWooldridge]

I have dirt floors but my last shop had a brick floor on sand. I was given several pallets of red bricks so I raked some sand onto the floor until it was level and then laid bricks until I ran out about halfway across the shop. At that point, I staked some timbers up against the last line and swept sand over the top of it all. It was OK to stand on but started sinking in various spots after a year so began looking a little wavy. I still think oil on dirt is good but it may have environmental issues depending on where you reside. I have several gallons of old vegetable oil that I may try on a few dusty spots - trouble is, the dogs may start trying to eat the dirt... :mrgreen:

[Leah]

The floor in the shop I have now is concrete. I had a dirt floor before and, while it was much easier on my feet, it was a pain to move stuff around. A lot of the stuff in my shop is on wheels so I can move it out of the way and next to the wall when not in use. Maybe it is just the girl in me-you know how much we like to rearrange the furniture. 8)

[Ed Thomas]

I really don't like dirt floors. Either they are damp and everything corrodes, or they are dry and dusty. Most of my shop is concrete with the exception of the back 14' x 30' forging area. There, I put about 3" of gravel down with drainage pipe under that. Then a layer of plastic as a vapor barrier, and then another 3" or so of #63 gravel. It is nice for standing and working, but a real pain for moving things around.

The best argument I've heard yet for dirt or gravel is not that the surface is so much softer on your feet (it all packs down after awhile), but rather than it is NOT flat. By having a floor with some contour to it, your feet make contact in different positions as you move around. So you don't get as fatigued from the demand of one same foot angle.

Most of my shop has a 6" concrete pad and I REALLY like that. Much easier to clean and to roll equipment around.

[mike-hr]

I have a concrete floor and love it. I have a thick textured 'welcome' mat in front of the mill, lathe, and forge. If I'm doing a repetative job for a couple days straight, I'll change boots at lunch. The different boots put different pressure on my feet for the second half of the day. Gel sole inserts in boots are a great thing also. My feet hurt a lot less than everything else.

[GobblerForge]

If drainage is good, dirt is best for me. Kept flat, it is easy on the feet. Dropping tongs, tools or hot steel on concrete or bick is harder on them. Cut offs that hit the floor will cool harmlessly on dirt. Concrete and brick can spall and pop under hot steel. Drop a rivet in gravel and try to find it. You can dig a small hole in a dry dirt floor to bury hot steel for anealing.
Oddly enough, smiths of old did use oak and buckeye on occasion for flooring. These two woods are less prone to igniting under a hot cutoff that falls to the floor. They will smoke and hiss and singe, but are less likely to actually burst to flames. Concrete in other parts of the shop is great for working over but around the anvil, DIRT.
Gobbler

[IRONMAN]

I prefer dirt floors covered with about an inch of rock dust
Ive never had a lot of trouble moving things around in fact I seem to rearrange the shop every few months to make room for more stuff