Thread: Setting up a workspace

Here in Tasmania now and the house is basically furnished so I can now start thinking about a work space. The house was advertised with a workshop but it is small, dusty and not well secured. I suspect that it will be mighty cold in winter too. A proper description is really garden shed...
However, there is a rumpus room ijn the house that is 5.4 by 4.2m and as I rarely rumpus, I thought of using that. The downside is that it has a varnished wooden floor. I thought I would get around that by putting down a couple of sheets of 4mm plywood but should I put down some newspaper (or something else) between the ply and the floor to stop scuffing?

Michael

Hi Michael,

I hope you're settling into your new "home" well. Good to see you have not wasted any time thinking about seeting up a work space!

I like your thought process. Use the biggest room in the house and devote it to your hobby. This move to Tassie may work out a treat!

WRT your question, there shouldn't really be any scuffing unless the ply moves but I guess it only has to move a small amount and often to create a mark and then there goes your bond when you want to leave. Paper sounds like a very cheap insurance policy for that.

The other option would be to ensure that the plywood does not move by using small amounts of double sided tape every metre or so. You wouldn't need much to keep the plywood from moving and should be able to be removed without damage if done carefully. The double sided stuff used for the 3M command strips come off easily, but you would need to be clever about how you positioned the pull tabs to be accessible. The tape would also prevent the sheets from cupping, which may happen over the change in seasons.

Good luck!

Simon

Hi Michael, and welcome to NW Tasmania. I live quite close to Burnie and while not at home at the moment, l soon will be and would be delighted to meet you sometime.
As to your question, my first thought was yes, put some paper down, but then I wondered if it might stick to the varnish, especially if a heavy weight was pressing down on it for a long period. It may be easier to just touch up the varnish when you move out, rather than removing newspaper stuck to the varnish first, and then touching the varnish up anyway. Craft paper (the stuff that you peel off on self adhesive neoprene sealing strip) would probably be ok, but you may slide about on it, and I'm not sure of its availability and cost either for the amount you would need. I imagine that you would need to fix the thin ply down and if you used brads, some touch will probably be necessary anyway, so perhaps no paper might be best. Hopefully someone with more experience will chime in and tell us all what the best solution is. All the best,
Rob.

I did a similar thing at one time but i put old tyvek, core flute for sale signs down. Worked pretty well except mill swarf could be pushed into it.

Congratulations Michael, I'll reply to your email now too.

Maybe instead of paper you could use builder's plastic? I agree with the other comment that paper may stick and the plastic would provide a vapour barrier.

If it's an old house I would test the finish to see if it's in fact shellac. Drop some metho on it and see if it softens. A lot of the timber in my house (mid 60s) is shellac and needs to be considered differently to more modern finishes.

congrats Michael.
Dont forget to buy a fly fishing outfit...that will take your mind off the cold weather...being on the edge of the stream at day break polaroiding for that huge brownie you'll be too numb too feel how cold it really is..

Shellac would be too fragile for floor finish. If the floor has a hard polish on it will be poly or varnish..can we get varnish these days?
Old floors were polished with a wax...easy to buff and get the a lustre back into them, and dont show scuff marks as much as a hard gloss finish, but I doubt anyone would be using that ie wax today..

when can I come over a go fishing for the elusive brown trout....

Originally Posted by Pete F

Congratulations Michael, I'll reply to your email now too.

Maybe instead of paper you could use builder's plastic? I agree with the other comment that paper may stick and the plastic would provide a vapour barrier.

That might actually be a problem if the timber floor is exposed to the elements on its underside. You wouldn't want any condensation to form on the underside of the plastic.

Other than that I agree - I'd lay heavy builder's plastic then the ply. Except I'd probably go to 5 or 6mm ply and use the sarking foil type fasteners along the seams to hold the sheets together. I did this over the concrete floor in my barn while I was drawing out the boat lines in full scale and it was quite successful, didn't cup and didn't move, easy to pull up when I'd finished. I used 9mm because I was re-using the ply inside the boat, otherwise thinner would have been fine.

PDW

Originally Posted by eskimo

Shellac would be too fragile for floor finish. If the floor has a hard polish on it will be poly or varnish..can we get varnish these days?

Ah ok, good point, it was just a thought as the shellac here caught me out when I went to refinish some. So did floor finishes go from wax straight to poly? I don't know how long poly has been around.

Peter do you think it's likely condensation would form on the underside of the plastic? I'd think the inside of the house would normally be warmer than the outside in dew-point conditions, but I'm really just guessing all this. I'm pretty sure the underlay below a floating wooden floor is also a vapour barrier. That's what I would have normally suggested, but it may not be ideal depending on what Michael is intending to put on it (ie heavy machinery).

Lino, soft underneath so it won't scratch. The ink from newspaper will mark the floor.

Can you still buy linoleum? A cheaper option could be some thin vinyl.

Yep, all flooring shops sell it as do Bunnings. Thickness depends on price.

Maybe some cheap or free secondhand carpet as an underlay for the ply. One issue that you would need to consider however you do it is door clearance. The bottoms of doors are often trimmed to clear carpet etc, but thin ply and some form of underlay etc would probably come out thicker than the clearance if the door was originally set for a polished floor. This would mean that the door might need to be trimmed and would hence look strange when the temp floor is removed later.
As a thinner underlay, consider the rolls of foam used between floors and the click lock style floorboards, generally only about 2mm thick and basically designed for the purpose you want to use it for. Probably not as cheap as s/h carpet destined for landfill though.

I'd make room for this:

https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/summ...per/1164697608

I don't think its a two person lift though.

What about masonite for a flooring cover?
Ben.

Originally Posted by Pete F

Peter do you think it's likely condensation would form on the underside of the plastic? I'd think the inside of the house would normally be warmer than the outside in dew-point conditions, but I'm really just guessing all this. I'm pretty sure the underlay below a floating wooden floor is also a vapour barrier. That's what I would have normally suggested, but it may not be ideal depending on what Michael is intending to put on it (ie heavy machinery).

I don't know about the condensation but I *do* know that a lot of houses built in Tasmania have hardwood floors straight on the joists and no underlay at all. It all depends on how old the house is and what the floor construction is. For all we know it could be concrete with 12mm or 16mm overlay flooring glued to it, or it could be 19mm T&G hardwood nailed to joists with an air space to the dirt. Putting down a vapour barrier and moving the warm/cold interface up via thicker ply shouldn't really make any problems. I've got a hardwood timber floor laid over a vapour barrier and it's all sitting on top of a concrete water tank with over 50 tonnes of water in it. The tank is actually an integral part of the house foundations - council didn't like that idea.

I also know that every so often, usually in autumn, we get a period of quite cold weather followed by a bounce back to warm weather, and every damn machine in my big workshop gets covered in water if it's not got decent drop cloths all over it to keep the moist air off the cold iron.

PDW

Hi Michael,
As Ben suggested, I'd use masonite, it's cheaper than ply, stuff doesn't imbed in it easily and the smooth side is very easy to sweep. We used to use it all the time to protect the floor in telephone exchanges back when they were polished so you could see your face in them. We just made sure the floor was swept clean before putting it down then gaffer taped the joints and edges so nothing could get underneath.
Granted this was on vinyl tiles not polished timber but it worked very well.

On another note, I don't know if you are still looking for a small mill but this is in an upcoming auction in Melbourne.

DSCN6080
DSCN6081

I don't recognise the particular machine but it looks pretty nice. Probably need more than two blokes to lift it though.
Cheers,
Greg.