OK, I’ve seen it, thought about it, & now I’m about to do it using 2×2 adhesive carpet squares.
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Replies
Good lord. I can't imagine a crazier idea.
Going with a deep 70's shag?
I've never seen it, and I cringe when I think about it. Cleaning up at the end of a session should be tons of fun! Put a few down w/ double sided tape before you move everything...I'm guessing you'll change your mind.
I have/had 12x12 carpet squares in the "finished" half of my basement. Mostly wood and other storage now, but that's where my second bandsaw and router table stay.
If I could go back in time and stop them from putting those darn things in, I would. Horrible, horrible things. Some come up randomly, and I try to scrape the adhesive residue when they do. When enough in one area are gone, I scrape a few more, then put some floor paint on. The adhesive never comes all the way off, so what's left sucks a bunch of paint up.
It's an ugly patchwork, and I'd love it all gone, but it's too much work and too irritating to just do it all at once.
Don't do it. You really don't want my voice in your head, for the rest of your life, saying I told you so.
WHAT???!!!!!
One of the You Tubers has new industrial carpet on his shop floor. I'm not certain which one. It may be Nubs. I was shocked when I saw it but it looked great. I suppose saw dust comes up readily. Glue might be a stickler. Pardon the pun.
James (Stumpy Nubs) has carpet in his shop - he mentions it in a vlog
I could not find the video where he talks about it quickly - this one shows it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATBIhUvd1xQ
As I recall, the carpet was there anyway and he decided to keep it. Removal would lead to sticky residue that would then need to be covered with something else anyway.
I too think that carpet tiles in a shop are unwise. Rubber maybe, lino perhaps but carpet? Only from a solid roll.
If you don't need to move equipment around the readily available rubber interlocking floor tiles might be a better option, certainly easier to clean sawdust from and at least as soft underfoot. There are also transition strips available to smooth the areas between non padded flooring.
Took John's advice re: adhesive. I've found some interlocking carpeted anti-fatigue squares that look like a good possibility, and my be reversible I'm going to check on that.
You guys think I'm crazy but I first heard of this from a couple pretty prominent ww'ers I happen to respect. And I had the same response, until I gave it some more thought. I don't do major glue ups or assemblies in my bench room, only minor tasks. I've looked at the amount of glue on the floor around my bench and it is very minimal.
I get you, John, but the only voice I'm hearing in my head right now is "go for it". Last words heard before jumping off a cliff, right? :-D
I do most of my work in the basement. All powertool work is there, except breaking down sheet goods, which I do in the garage.
Then I have a hand tool space in a spare second floor bedroom. I do all my dovetails and other hand cut joinery there, along with carving and fine fitting of parts. It has hardwood floors. But I would still never consider any kind of carpet.
In fact, I got rid of the last carpeting in the house several years ago, and couldn't be happier. I have two cats who lose hair at an alarming rate, and I teach sawdust everywhere. Since getting rid of the carpets, I open the front door and use a Milwaukee blower to push dust and hair right outside. People look at me like I'm touched, but its a great way to clean.
I will never have carpet anywhere, ever again.
If you are dying to put something on the floor that can save a dropped plane or tool check out horse stall matting at tractor supply
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/4-ft-x-6-ft-x-3-4-in-thick-rubber-stall-mat?cm_vc=-10005
They use it at my gym and it is indestructible
I just got a couple similar mats at my local farm supply store. Mine are 1/2" thick x 36 x 48 and two of them end to end works perfect. They are made of recycled rubber particles.
It's your shop. Do what makes you happy. Between a shop vac and vacuum cleaner you should be able to clean it up.
In my previous house, my shop was in the basement in what had previously been a recreation room, complete with paneling and a very short pile wall to wall, glued down carpet. I debated about ripping it up, but since it was fairly worn anyway and had a big stain where the previous owner had spilled paint, I decided to leave and see what happened. It was OK, just OK. Very comfortable underfoot, and between the carpet and the fiberglass dropped ceiling it was quiet, well quieter anyway. Because it was glued down and low pile, there was no issue rolling machines and carts around. But it held dust. I would vacuum it fairly often with a big shop vac, but if you stamped your feet you could see little puffs of dust if the light was right. I was there close to 10 years and when I left it really didn't look any worse than when I moved in. I personally would not do it again, just because of the dust issue. I have rubber mats scattered around my current shop (concrete floor), placed where I tend to spend a lot of time standing, like in front of the bench and table saw and bandsaw. They are also comfortable to stand on and are much easier to clean. In my dream shop I would have wall to wall rubber matting like they have in workout rooms at the gym.
I have a about a 5x6 industrial carpet in front of my workbench. Its sweeps up just fine. I have rubber mats around too and those are nice. My rubber matts tend to creep though. The carpet doesn't for whatever reason. It was also free scrap and I treat it that way. It will get dumped sooner rather than later replacements are easy to find again.
Not sure I would carpet the whole thing but a small work area would not be terrible.
I have some heavy rubber mats in my workshop that are centered in front of the table saw, chop saw and band saw to provide anti-fatigue in high use areas. They are heavy and a pain to move, but worth it. I also use piece of thin carpet in front of an assembly area. It is a a dust and chip magnet and is a royal PITA to clean. It is there only because the shop vac has to roll across that area and the thick mats would obstruct that. It is cheap and when it gets really bad it can be pitched in the garbage. I wouldn't glue down permanent carpet in any workshop.
You'll definitely need to call the cleaning company.
Using carpeted anti fatigue mats. If something really bad happened, pop it out and replace it. Voila!
Having retired after 40 years as Technical Director for the world's largest carpet manufacturer, I can say without doubt, that this would be an insane idea.
Getting the sawdust out of the pile would be almost impossible.
I also have experience in indoor air quality, and that carpet immobilizes the fine particles and keeps them out of the breathing zone, far more than hard surface floors, so the fines would not be much of an issue.
I have 3' x 3' piece of cut pile carpet outside the shop door to trap dust from getting into the rest of the basement, in addition to a dust collecting door mat inside that door; I hit them with the shop vac every day.
I have epoxy in the shop.
This is not a crazy idea. I have had carpet on the floor of my shop for well over ten years and wouldn't change a thing. A couple of items though..
My carpet is the roll kind, not adhesive squares. I simply laid it down on the concrete floor and cut it around the immobile machinery. It doesn't shift around, it makes for much easier walking and standing on than the concrete, and it helps absorb noise and makes the floor a little less cold to stand on during the winter when the heat stratifies.
I got the carpet for free from a remodeling contractor friend after he had torn it out of a home he was remodeling. It is dense pile, was nearly new when I got it, and it is - gasp - nearly white in color. Its color actually helps reflect light better than the concrete, another advantage.
Does it get dirty? Yes. Of course. It's a shop where sawdust is created. I sweep up the big stuff and then once a year or so vacuum it with a shop vac. Surprisingly, it doesn't really look all that worse for wear after all this time and all the hours I have dumped stuff onto and dragged stuff over it.
Again, this is not a bad idea, but I would recommend using loose-laid roll carpet (preferably used, recycled and low-cost or free) rather than self-adhesive squares. In addition to all its advantages in my shop, I'm pleased that I kept a big hunk of carpet from being tossed into a landfill.
Zolton
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