Build a garage!

[nesty]

Hey guys,
We are planning to build a garage near our place. We provide the materials which are needed for making the machines. We have a small area near our home and want to convert it into garage. I have heard that for building a garage we can't use a normal flooring, and concrete flooring would be good. I asked about it to my friends and they suggested me with Industrial & Commercial Epoxy Concrete Floor Coatings Toronto | Proseal Flooring . They do concrete flooring for garages. I needed to know more about them.Is it a good option to hire them? And would this be too costly?

[Frank S]

I'm not sure what you are calling normal flooring. but all I can find out about the link you provided appears to be a company which applies the coating to an existing concrete floor. I would suggest that you consider contacting 2 or 3 reputable construction companies in your area. Provide them with at least a rough layout of your garage size then ask them to refer you to a contractor who specializes in concrete slabs. They may ask you for architectural drawings. For sure your local municipality will require you to contact the building and zoning commission for permits before you will be allowed to build your garage

[Toolmaker51]

There is endless variety in serviceable flooring for shops; including linoleum-asphalt TILES, epoxies, bare cement, compound oil stains...First in choice process; what variety of work is the area for? Metalwork? Wood? Welding? That will bear on what means are acceptable for cleaning. Linoleum tiles are surprisingly good around machinery and easy to clean up. Epoxies offer color, not easily damaged but complicates patching repairs. Prepared oil sealing will sweep up metal and wood chips, they'll contain water while mopping. Not ordinary petro oils; those can rot wood.
Then if it's REAL machining, consider end-grain wood blocks. Note; end grain not linear. My all time favorite, once you've seen one, walked on it, dropped a micrometer or project...and it's not cold. Won't accommodate a radiant sub-floor, but fine for above. Labor intensive to have installed, (do you have radial arm & band saw?) inexpensive material if sourced efficiently, lasts a LONG time, usually 2-4" thick. If construction is concrete, just pour a thicker perimeter sill or raised cinder blocks a decent amount above grade to deter incursion of water. People are amazed at how some massive shops were just so equipped.

End Grain wood Floor | Fine Homebuilding | Breaktime

Practical Machinist - Largest Manufacturing Technology Forum on the Web

Wood Paver Alley, Chicago - Kaswell

[C-Bag]

WOW, end grain wood floor! Never heard of such a thing but after going through the articles it totally makes sense especially for a machine shop. Just never know what's going to pop outta that vast eclectic pool of knowledge of your TM51!

[Toolmaker51]

WOW, end grain wood floor! Never heard of such a thing but after going through the articles it totally makes sense especially for a machine shop. Just never know what's going to pop outta that vast eclectic pool of knowledge of your TM51!

Thanks C-Bag, I appreciate that.
All the block floors I've seen were completed before machine installation. I'm not so tall, a block floor would alter the working height nicely [like reaching Bridgeport drawbars] instead of the 7'' step I use. Really believe I could block the floor myself, framed AROUND equipment bases instead of underneath. It's way above ground level, only need a heavy transom at the rollup door for forklifts and carts...

Well, if I could hardwire 'eclectic' 3ph 440v THAT would be something. Heck, it's only missing one 'e'...

[Frank S]

My great Grandfather on my dads side was I believe 3/4 Comanche and as I understand it quite an accomplished wood worker.
How all that came about I have no idea, not about him being 3/4 Comanche that part is easy his Father was half German half Comanche his mother was full blood Comanche. Not germane here but there was Cherokee blood on my mother's side as well, but anyway the house my grandmother lived in had a unique jigsaw puzzle style parquet or rather patchwork, end grain wood floor made entirely from local tree harvest such as scrub ceder mesquite live oak Pecan black walnut and post oak. I remember when I was very small I used to play for hours on end trying to follow the pathway lines made into the floor My Grandmother used to tell stories of when she was a small child she and her father would scour the woods and hills for any freshly dead not yet fallen trees to cut down and drag home. She said that her father and uncle would spend days or weeks sawing up the logs into pieces about 4 Inches long or as she said it about as long as both her young hands were wide.
Now remember I was very young when I here her stories just as she was very young when she witnessed the pieces of the floor being made You also need to know that these stories and many others started taking place over 55 years ago and continued until I turned 15 when she passed away at the age of 94. The last time I was at that house was sometime in 1977 or possibly 78 when my dad' oldest half sister passed away the floor although over 100 years old still seemed solid. To this day I don't know what substance was used under the floor I can only speculate that since the entire structure of the house was flag stone sand stone and granite chips save for the beams supporting the roof were wood, that the foundation and underlay of the floor might have been rammed Earth and stone
Although not a picture from my Grandmother's house her floor looked similar to this but with a much wider variety of colors