Evening Gary and All,

In the late 70's and early 80's I had the priveledge to work for
Caterpillar Tractor Company.  Their machine shops were vast, covering
20, 30 acres or more.  All of the production floors in the shops had
wood block endgrain floors.  In about 1980 they built about a 20 acre
addition to one of the shops, many dumptruck loads of blocks, about
4x6x4" thick were placed on top of the concrete floor.  Then a handful
of guys armed with only a hatchet started popping the blocks into
place.  A constant supply of blocks was always there provided by a
skidsteer, and a couple laborers with shovels.

By the machines that produced metal chips, used coolants or oils the
floors frequently got damaged.  They used a tool similar to a dent
puller, that screwed into a block, and backed one or more out,
allowing sections of floor to be removed and replaced.  Working on top
of wooden floors was certainly better than concrete.  Especially when
you are more or less confined to a very small work area.  If I
remember correctly, all the blocks were square edged, and creasote
treated.  No sand or fines was ever used to fill cracks.

IMHO, this will be no small task for you.  Endlessly cutting blocks
then on your hands and knees forever putting them into place.  Or look
at it this way,  a 10'x10' area has 14,400 sq inches.  A 2x4 block is
5.25 sq inches.  Dividing the lesser into the greater comes out to
2742 blocks + change.  I'll see ya when ya come up for air about this
time 2006.  :)

Humbly,

Roger
South of Chicago

Thinking sleepers and plywood would be a much less humbling endevour.

>
> He took ordinary 2x4s. Cut the timber into 2-inch blocks. The blocks
were
> laid down right over the concrete slab, with only  a 6 mil plastic
moisture
> barrier.
>
> The blocks are laid down as a parquet, end down, so the top view is
a 3.5x2
> inch matrix of wood. The depth is also 2". There is no need for
sleepers
> along the side, only some shimming to keep the assembly tightly
knit. No
> pressure treated lumber, no glue, no waves, no buckling or sagging
(that
> would be waves), no cold feet, no collapsing under the weight of
heavy
> machinery.
>

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