Thread: Levelling the Shed Floor

i meant, getting the concreters in and having them redo the floor. Doing it this way will pretty much ensure the floor will outlast the building. Once the floor has done there are DIY epoxy flooring kits which are the bees knees. My neighbours recently did this, and I was pleasantly surprised how much it costed. Now every time i go over I'm jealous of his new floor.

Having a timber floor put in especially anything other than solid wood will end up looking real ratty after a few years especially if you're dragging benches around.

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

The floor [of my shed] is neither smooth nor level - as accurately as I can measure it is up to 60 mm out of level and it "waves". The finish is rough - perhaps never trowelled?

It is an absolute pain, hard to drag things around and every time I move someting I have to chock it to stop wobbles and then level the surface. I have put off doing anything to the floor, the shed is full of precious clutter, but my patience is exhausted......

What are my options?

OPTION 3 - Something else.
Is there a better option that I did not think of?

Apart from the floor not being smooth or level it is in quite good condition - no cracks or moisture penetration.

possibly a left field option, but could you live with a floor that is not flat, provided it was smooth?
I'm thinking cover the floor with a leveling compound -- or suitable grout material -- so that it is at least smooth. This would make moving stuff around much easier.

and the out of level issue could be fixed by fitting jack-up legs to each piece of equipment / bench.
Bulls eye levels

and small torpedo levels are pretty inexpensive -- meaning that each machine / bench can be fitted with it's own reference level and leveling feet.

And modern cordless nut drivers make adjusting jack-up feet a cinch

Originally Posted by tonzeyd

i meant, getting the concreters in and having them redo the floor. Doing it this way will pretty much ensure the floor will outlast the building. Once the floor has done there are DIY epoxy flooring kits which are the bees knees. My neighbours recently did this, and I was pleasantly surprised how much it costed. Now every time i go over I'm jealous of his new floor.

Having a timber floor put in especially anything other than solid wood will end up looking real ratty after a few years especially if you're dragging benches around.

In case you are not aware Graeme is mainly a metal worker so his biggest problem will not be movement of machines but small pieces of sharp metal swarf, welding slag, grinding grit, and metal dust.

I was a big fan of epoxy floors and was on the committee in 2015 that recommended the mens shed go with the high quality epoxy flooring option installed by professionals. It looked great when it was new but 3 years on I don't think it's anything to get excited about especially around the metal working areas of the the shed. Most machines and benches are on wheels and everything else is on pieces of upside down carpet tiles but these and workers footwear seem to have tracked metal swarf and dust everywhere throughout the shed and ground away large patches of the epoxy in all of the walkways. I reckon floor protection in a metal shop depends more on how careful you are with swarf containment and general cleanliness etc. For example, I know of several mechanical workshops with hardwood parquetry floors that are still in great shape after 40+ years of use. I've also been in a gas turbine factory with white epoxy coated concrete floors and many dozens of metal lathes, milling and CNCs machines and the floors were so clean and shiny you could see your refection and literally eat off the floor.

BobL.....In case you are not aware Graeme is mainly a metal worker so his biggest problem will not be movement of machines but small pieces of sharp metal swarf and powder.....

Correction, BobL, but I am mainly a woodworker. My metal work consist mainly of sharpening and shaping blades, but I am very untidy and throw swarf eveywhere!

The rest of your posting makes a lot of sense.


Cheers

Graeme

Originally Posted by ian

possibly a left field option, but could you live with a floor that is not flat, provided it was smooth?
.......

The big effort will be in getting my treasures out of the shed, first. With so much invested effort I don't think I would the like to take short cuts for a sub-optimal result. I will also be putting in a comprehensive shelving and timber racking system to minimise future clutter and maximise workable floor space and bench space.


Cheers

Graeme

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

Correction, BobL, but I am mainly a woodworker. My metal work consist mainly of sharpening and shaping blades, but I am very untidy and throw swarf eveywhere!

The rest of your posting makes a lot of sense.

Cheers

Graeme

Apologies to Tone and yourself - I got you confused with the Grahame C on the MWF.

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

The big effort will be in getting my treasures out of the shed, first. With so much invested effort I don't think I would the like to take short cuts for a sub-optimal result. I will also be putting in a comprehensive shelving and timber racking system to minimise future clutter and maximise workable floor space and bench space.

the way I'm approaching this is that you only need a level floor, or one that slopes in only one direction, if you are going to park a vehicle in it.
When it comes to shelving and racking -- the shelves should be level, but the supports can be different lengths as this is a one off adjustment.

I'm not arguing against a smooth floor, I believe that to be an essential, but a 60 mm difference over 7.5 m is 0.8% -- a slope water has trouble running down.

So I'm not so much thinking that a skim coat is good enough -- more that after you remove the "waves" you won't notice the slope.


and if you fix a laser level to a wall, the smoothing can be done in stages -- lessening the need to clear everything out.

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

The big effort will be in getting my treasures out of the shed, first.

How much room do you have in front of the shed? Thinking that you may be able to hire a shipping container to store the treasures in while re-doing the floor.
In regards to the highs and lows of the floor, could you grind the high spots away enough to use a leveling compound?
A photo of the offending area would help to recommend a solution.
Kryn

I have a similar problem to you Graeme although my floor doesn't sound as bad as yours. I intend to use a concrete grinder to take off the high spots and will look at patching any low spots that I cant get. If the stars line up for me I will be having a go at it in the coming week.
Will do it in a couple of sections due to the amount of clutter in the shed including a heap of racked timber I don't want to move at the minute.
Can report back in a week if you wish.

Tony

For those thinking of using a self leveling type product like Ardit keep in mind that most of them are designed as an underlay product for carpet, tiles etc and not recommended as a finished floor surface in their own right so check the product spec before buying.
Also if you have not used it before it is not an easy product to use like the name implies and is like spreading honey with a trowel.
With the wrong application technique you can easily end up with a floor finish worse than what you started with.

Originally Posted by tonzeyd

i meant, getting the concreters in and having them redo the floor. .......

Thanks tonzeyd

I am keeping this option open, and it was my original expectation, but I am attracted to the added comfort of working on a wooden or chipboard floor.

..... Having a timber floor put in especially anything other than solid wood will end up looking real ratty after a few years especially if you're dragging benches around.

So true. That was one of the background issues behind my original question. But real wood is real $$$$$'s. Perhaps we should regard fibreboard floor as expendible and add another layer every ten years ????


Cheers

Graeme

Originally Posted by BobL

Apologies to Tone and yourself - I got you confused with the Grahame C on the MWF.

Hi Bob

Absolutely no appologies necessary, until now. How could you confuse me with some buggar who cannot even spell the name correctly?


Cheers

Graeme

Originally Posted by KBs PensNmore

How much room do you have in front of the shed? Thinking that you may be able to hire a shipping container to store the treasures in while re-doing the floor.
In regards to the highs and lows of the floor, could you grind the high spots away enough to use a leveling compound?
A photo of the offending area would help to recommend a solution.
Kryn

Hi Kryn

Cannot get a shipping container onto property, but I do have a concrete deck exactly the same size as the shed immediately adjacent to it. Thinking of erecting a "tent" on it to store treasures.

Until I get all or most of the stuff out of the shed it is difficult the quantify the irregularites. I laid a 4m aluminium straight edge down the middle of the shed, levelled it and measured the greatest hollow - 61 mm. But all the floor is "wavy" - not so obvious until the straight edge is there. If the average dip is only 20 mm, then, given the area of the shed we would require over 50 bags of self leveller at $45 which is $$$$'s, and I have doubts whether self leveller is hard enough for a shed floor surface.

The offending area is the whle shed floor, which is too difficult to photograph without moving veerything out.



Cheers

Graeme

Originally Posted by tony_A

I have a similar problem to you Graeme although my floor doesn't sound as bad as yours. I intend to use a concrete grinder to take off the high spots and will look at patching any low spots that I cant get. If the stars line up for me I will be having a go at it in the coming week.
Will do it in a couple of sections due to the amount of clutter in the shed including a heap of racked timber I don't want to move at the minute.
Can report back in a week if you wish.

Tony

Hi Tony

I am wary of doing it that way; in fact that was one of the reasons that prompted my original query. My wariness is that half way through the job I might find a "new high spot" and either get an irregular section or have to go back over the prevoius work. I like the gestalt view.



Cheers

Graeme