[jon]

We are looking at finishing our shop and wondering what guys are doing in terms of cement thickness? Thicker down the middle? Rebar grid spacing? Going with in floor heat. Any suggestions for floor drain? Types and positioning in shop ie: center or near door? Thanks for any advice.

 

[Grainline]

My floor is about 6 inch thick around the outside and 7 to 8 inches thick in the middle were the
Heavy loads are. Rebar is spaced 18 inch both ways. No floor heat use tube heater work well. I have a 250 gallon drain that the whole shop drains into floor is sloped to it have to pump it a couple times a year.

 

[shmiffy]

i went six inches, wish i went a little thicker at the over head door. 4'x2' sump in the centre of the shop with the drain going out the side of the shop. Last winter my drain froze off a few times. I got a hot water pressure washer this winter and wash my semi a couple times a month. The drain has been good. I have a sink at the side of the shop on the same drain as the sump.

 

[Duchek]

http://www.thecombineforum.com/forums/33-farm-shops-tools/45322-new-shop-construction.html

The above link is to a thread I started when we built our shop two years ago. There are pictures of the construction and also of our floor drain system we made ourselves.

 

[PlatoSask]

I have a friend who built a new shop a couple years ago, he used a floor drain that runs nearly the whole length of the shop and has a piece of pipe cut in half (so it makes a half circle like a trough) then has them sloped to centre sump. There is about a half inch opening with metal either side in the floor, then he has a clean out tool to match the profile and you just turn it side ways and stick it in and drag the drain for clean out. Pretty slick .... If that makes sense to you! Lol

 

[rcyung]

A good floor for a shop would be 8 inches thick and have 15M rebar at 16 inch centers both ways. If you have a grade beam be sure to attach your floor to it by drilling holes and pounding the rebar into them.

If you want to see overkill, here are pictures of a slab on grade shop we built a couple years ago. 8 inches thick with a 12 inch thickened edge, 4 inches of Styrofoam underneath. 2 mats of 10M rebar 12 inches on center.

 

[rcyung]

I'm having problems uploading more than one image. I'll add these so you don't think those ugly tarps were the shop!

 

[Duchek]

A good floor for a shop would be 8 inches thick and have 15M rebar at 16 inch centers both ways. If you have a grade beam be sure to attach your floor to it by drilling holes and pounding the rebar into them.

If you want to see overkill, here are pictures of a slab on grade shop we built a couple years ago. 8 inches thick with a 12 inch thickened edge, 4 inches of Styrofoam underneath. 2 mats of 10M rebar 12 inches on center.

What the heck are you driving in there that would require rebar like that?

 

[SouthernSK]

Rcyung that sure looks like a strong floor. With 4 inches of styrofoam has there been any settling with the styrofoam and did you tie the floor into the grade beam with the thicker styrofoam? Has the extra floor insulation helped with the heat cost?

 

[rcyung]

What the heck are you driving in there that would require rebar like that?

Let's just say we built it for a crown corporation and I did say overkill. The only piece of equipment I could see in the yard was a utility tractor.

 

[rcyung]

Rcyung that sure looks like a strong floor. With 4 inches of styrofoam has there been any settling with the styrofoam and did you tie the floor into the grade beam with the thicker styrofoam? Has the extra floor insulation helped with the heat cost?

The styrofoam was a very high density material for this purpose and the ground underneath was tested for compaction. This had no grade beam. I can't really comment on heat cost but I am sure the insulation helps.