Ideas for cheap floor covering

[simso]

Hey folks, After some suggestions for a super cheap floor covering suitable for a metal work room

The second story is floored with plain cheap high density chipboard (21 mm thick), the joins allow dust and crap to fall through and down below into the clean rooms woodwind and brass repairs.

I need to fit a cheap surface covering that will not catch fire and can be swept with a broom, ideas

[Tod Gilding]

Steve, I covered my workshop floor with sawdust and wood off cuts

[rocket]

sheet vinyl

[simso]

Steve, I covered my workshop floor with sawdust and wood off cuts

Ah huh , very good

[Nick]

Vinyl has been the flooring of choice in most of the engineering shops I've worked in Steve, maybe not the cheapest option as an initial outlay but it's a piece of cake to keep clean (as long as you seal it annually), mop up coolant spills & oils e.t.c and as long as you don't drop heavy stuff on it (and dent or tear it), it'll still be there in 50 years time doing it's thing so it's paid for itself in the longrun.
I've also worked in shops with concrete floors (obviously guessing that's not what you have on the second floor!) but we used rubberised paint around machines just to make mopping up fluids easy & won't mark or stain the concrete beneath either. But Vinyl would be the weapon of choice for me & it's amazingly resilient to hot swarf too!
We also have it on the floors in all of our research labs where it's subjected to all sorts of solvent & chemical spills (some certainly weird sounding chemicals get spilt on it!) & providing they are mopped up quickly, the floors look like brand new still & some of that is 5 years old.

[simso]

sheet vinyl

I had actually considered this, the only issue I can see, is the movement of heavy equipment will tear the vinyl, out floor is rated to 400kgs / sqm, and we are always shuffling things around.

I need to sort a flooring out as I have a guillotine (1.6meter length) / pan brake (1.4meter) and tig welder being delivered next week and fork lifted upstairs, and I really dont want to be trying to move them to get a flooring underneath, they weigh too much

[simso]

Vinyl has been the flooring of choice in most of the engineering shops I've worked in Steve,

Okay another vote for vinyl, Ill price it up tommorrow, I guess just got to be careful when moving things, upsatirs wont have liquid cooled machines just manual machines.

I could always make a portable hoist or use an engine hoist for moving things around as required

[Nick]

If you can spread the load of the equipment, it helps abit. Mount the machines to wider feet or boards then sliding them around isn't so damaging to the vinyl. Another thing we do when we have to slide heavy objects around on it, is cut up some carpet squares & put these pile side down under the feet, it's amazing how easy it is to get things sliding on a shiny vinyl floor & a few scraps of carpet.

[simso]

You can see the cracks in the flooring, I can putty and fill them up but would much prefer a floor covering

[Allen]

That room is neat enough to go with the white ceramic tile look. Next you'll tell us that you actually work up there.

[simso]

I dont like a mess, friday is clean up day. No excuse.............

Yes I probably suffer from OCD. Mmm I like the white tile idea. "A lot"

That being said, with the advent of the folder and guillotine coming this week, I can finally finish of my paint booth, its only been 6 months or so

[rocket]

That doesn't look like Sheet flooring you've used there Steve, looks more like random size sheets of chipboard. Sheet flooring has a tongue and groove connection which would prevent any dust falling through the joins, but another option for your hard wearing covering is 6mm hardboard underlay, masonite to the layman. The masonite underlay is used under vinyl to give a nice even surface to lay the vinyl on when covering a timber floor, if dollars are an issue you could just lay the masonite making sure you lap over the joins in your floor.
Cheers,,

Rod.

[simso]

Agreed, the flooring was done by the company that installed the mezzanine

[MBP]

we really need a tour of your workshop with a bit of a run down. Looks great.

good luck with the flooring

[kiwigeo]

That room is neat enough to go with the white ceramic tile look. Next you'll tell us that you actually work up there.

Looks cleaner than my doctor's surgery

[simso]

Not enough time, everyone is too busy to do a measure and quote and install

So there in without floor covering first, but the folder is broken. Dang........