Workbench on a Dais

[Andy Kev.]

Good Morning All,

I'm going to be moving in the spring and it's likely that I'll have to set up my workshop in a room with a tiled floor. (Tiled as in shiny tiles that you get in bathrooms.)

I'm wary of this because a tiled floor can be slippery and if you drop things, you can chip the tiles. I can either get the room refloored with e.g. mock parquet or it occurs to me that I could build a dais about 3" / 75 mm high for the workbench out of wood. The size of it would be the bench (obviously) plus foot room for planing, joinery etc. One possible advantage I see is that if I had beams running back to front under the legs, I could stabilise the bench even more by connecting it to the beams with L brackets. My initial guess is that the size would be about 5 ft back to front and 8 ft wide.

I wouldn't envisage any problems with the rest of the room having bare tiles or should I consider some sort of anti-slip surface to lay on them?

What do you think?

 

[9fingers]

Maybe a sheet of the cheapest 18/22mm ply would do the trick?

Bob

 

[Argus]

Tiles and tools are notoriously fragile on impact....... my jury's out on a raised dias, but in my place I put down some of those thick, foam interlocking tiles, about 500mm square extending about 1-1/2 metres around the bench.

Never regretted that.

Pro:
Relatively inexpensive. Quick install.
Foot-comfortable.
A wee element of insulation.
Doesn't bust your cast tools on impact.

Con:
They wear out every few years. Need a few spares
They can collect dust. Lift up and clean now and then.
Not fire resistant if you play with fiery stuff.

good luck...

 

[Mike G]

I'd be cautious of having a step in the floor of a workshop, Andy. I can only see that leading to accidents.

Is this a permanent set-up? If so, could you make a floating floor work? It has implications for the door thresholds, but it would give you a flat floor protecting the tiles below. Either that, or maybe one of those heavy rubber tile products over the whole floor, possibly over ply if you are worried about the tiles.

 

[AndyP]

Sawdust on chipboard can be slippery I cannot image what it would be like on ceramic tiles. How precious is that floor? If it is flat and even I’d be tempted to put the something down even the cheapest laminate flooring.

 

[Woodbloke]

I'd be cautious of having a step in the floor of a workshop, Andy. I can only see that leading to accidents.

Over the last few months I've been busy outfitting SWIMBO's new 'lockdown' lapidary and stone carving workstation in our utility room. As all this sort of work requires the services of a sink and she does most of it sitting down, I had to build a raised dais for her chair:



I would agree that you do need to exercise caution; we've already each had a couple of close shaves! - Rob

 

[fiveeyes]

Agree w/Argus..I did same in my space. They are about 3/4" and definitely help at standing at the bench.

 

[Andy Kev.]

Thanks for the replies.

9fingers: I think a sheet of ply would be a good idea for an initial solution. It might even become long term if it worked well.

Argus: I like the idea of the interlocking plastic things. I'll look into those.

MikeG: The more I think about a step, the more I think you are right. It just needs one awkward movement. That said, a really large dais might be safe. If it were permanent (and it probably won't be as I might want to sell up one day) then a floating floor would be a good idea.

AndyP: One slightly more expensive solution is to get the tiles taken out and another flooring put down e.g. wood effect parquet.

My current thinking is that I like the idea of a big dais but for the safety reasons mentioned, it would have to be pretty big. The foamy plastic things sound like a must for any area where objects could be potentially dropped onto tiles. The idea of a sheet of ply plus foamy things is starting to grow on me.

Thanks again. Luckily there's no hurry for this and I'm thinking in advance of any move.

 

[sunnybob]

quickest, cheapest, longest lasting way is to lay ridged rubber flooring mat.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/c/5032718890?iid=131098218234

I have an 8ft x 4 ft section of this in front of my bench laid straight onto my stamped concrete floor. I "acquired" it in very second hand condition 8 years ago and it is in exactly the same state now.