Removable garage floor ideas....?
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From: Canada
Removable garage floor ideas....?
I've been busting my brain all winter thinking about this. I have a 24x24 garage that was built by the previous owner. He never poured the concrete pad in the center of the garage. Right now it's just sand/small gravel. This makes rolling around on my creeper impossible, my large toolbox is quite unstable(sinking), and I don't like loosing my tools in the sand!
This garage will be torn down and recycled when I build a new 3 car garage in a different location in 2yrs. I don't wan to bother putting down concrete as I will have to jackhammer it out later.
For now I'd like to have some sort of solid floor. I was thinking of renting a tamper, level the sand, and lay plywood down joining it together with flat brackets and screws.
Any other ideas???
This garage will be torn down and recycled when I build a new 3 car garage in a different location in 2yrs. I don't wan to bother putting down concrete as I will have to jackhammer it out later.
For now I'd like to have some sort of solid floor. I was thinking of renting a tamper, level the sand, and lay plywood down joining it together with flat brackets and screws.
Any other ideas???
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From: West Valley Utah
I suppose you could put down brick pavers, like the brick used for patios. Get the right color and you could use them at a later date for something else.
The big problem I see with anything temporary is every time you drive a vehicle in and out it's going to move a bit, compact some here and there, plywood is going to suck up moisture unless you lay a vapor barrier. I'd probably get enough plywood to make a good work surface when I had to and just lay them down when needed and keep the tool box on something solid all the time.
The big problem I see with anything temporary is every time you drive a vehicle in and out it's going to move a bit, compact some here and there, plywood is going to suck up moisture unless you lay a vapor barrier. I'd probably get enough plywood to make a good work surface when I had to and just lay them down when needed and keep the tool box on something solid all the time.
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Thanks mistakenID! I like the paver idea, or maybe take that further and use patio stones. I think the 2'x2' patio stones are about $4CAN each including taxes, maybe a bit less. Either way that would be about $500CAN and I could reuse them anywhere around the yard(I have 10 acres!)
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From: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
I put down gravel, packed it some what and placed wooden pallets with a layer of plywood on top. This is in my garage (12 by 24) that is used for light parking and mostly storage. Just finished it this fall so I don`t know yet if it is a good thing or not. Seems alot better than what I had hoped for, if the gravel is level than the floor is quite level as well. I got the used pallets very cheaply and used plywood that I already had so it was low cost which is a good thing. 
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From: ct.
Originally Posted by mistakenID
I suppose you could put down brick pavers, like the brick used for patios.
What about asphalt? Check with pavers in your area to see what that would cost. If you had a small dump, a tamper, and an asphalt plant near you, and some knowledge of raking you could do it yourself. Not hard. The only problem, spills of gas and solvents are going to eat it up. But for a temporary application it might work.
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Asphalt is also soft and flows under pressure. The toolbox would sink unless it was placed on some sort of load spreader.
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From: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Originally Posted by Torque1st
Asphalt is also soft and flows under pressure. The toolbox would sink unless it was placed on some sort of load spreader.
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From: Bothell, WA
I've tried the plywood on sand and doubt you will be happy with the results. Even with the brackets, etc you will probably notice that the plywood settles unevenly as loads are applied to it due to the properties of the sand bed. If you can do the work yourself the best, most durable and cheapest overall will likely be the concrete floor. At 5 C.Y. (3 inches thick slab) (4 sack commercial mix) you would be into the project less than the plywood would cost. The 4 sack mix will break out fairly easily, as long as you don't add reinforcement. I broke my old shop floor up and threw it into the new floor as fill in the low spots. That way you get the entire cost of the temp floor recovered when you pour the new floor and save purchasing the quantity of concrete you bought for the old floor. If you do the concrete solution wet the existing sand and cover it with a plastic vapor barrier.
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From: Murray
How about a concrete skin spread kinda thin ontop of the plywood and sand like maybey only an inch or two deep. Easily broken up later that way or you coud even try a bed of mortar which comes in a bigger bag for less, not sure how itd do under load but if its only gonna be there a year or two why not?
Just my thoughts,
-Chris
Just my thoughts,
-Chris
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From: southern Md
Be tough to spread concrete that thin with all the aggregate in it and mortar will crack as soon as it dries. I think the ply wood would flex under any load and crack the concrete all to pieces. Why not try and get some cr6 like a crush and run and pack it down? It wont be smooth but will set like concrete if wet when packed down. you could use plywood on what ever project you were working on with a firm base. Just a thought.
Glenn
Glenn
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From: Owasso Oklahoma USA
Just a thought, how about placing a vapor barrier down and then use the concrete forms that look like a random pattern from the home improvement center. Fill the forms with concrete to fit as much floor space as needed. When you need to remove the floor it will be like the patio blocks. An advantage to pouring the concrete is you can level it. It would be a lot of work but could be removed and reused else where as stepping stones, etc..
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From: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Originally Posted by tdford
I've tried the plywood on sand and doubt you will be happy with the results. Even with the brackets, etc you will probably notice that the plywood settles unevenly as loads are applied to it due to the properties of the sand bed. .
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From: missouri
okay got a torch? I have a friend they used old railroad cars side for there shop... might go down to the located shredder, junk yard ,recyling place and look around most time they will sell it for weight example #1 steel is $80 a ton when you tear down the old shop haul it back to the shreeder.... we have something that would be perfect old Gas and OIL tanks they stand 16 ft tall and 12 ft round cut the ends out cut down the middle and flatten it out with our traxavtor(rubber tire bulldozer) we have been using this metal for floor for our tag trailers...