Garage Brewery Flooring Options

[FreddyMar3]

I need to commission the fine minds on HBT to help me with making a decision on flooring options for my homebrew pub.

A little background... my fiance and I just bought a 100 year old house (semi-fixer upper) and it has a stand alone garage (10'6" X 18'6"), which she approved as a dedicated homebrew pub. The problem is the floor is pretty beat up. There are areas where the concrete has sunken 3 to 4 inches and there are a fair amount of cracks throughout. I am moving my brewing equipment into the space in 10 days and I want to get the flooring situation figured out ASAP so that I am not dragging all my equipment back out to do it later.

With the home purchase and impending wedding, I am on a VERY tight budget and can only afford to do the floors at this point. Drywall, plumbing, and all that good stuff will have to happen later on. For now I will make do with Marine hoses and painted cinder block.

The two options I am debating are scoring and laying new concrete to level the surface again or framing the floor with 4x4s and plywood. My concern with the concrete is that I have zero experience with it and everyone I talk to has me thinking that I will have chronic cracking and chipping problems. Framing the floor is something I feel more comfortable doing but then I am losing 4 inches of head room and the garage will be awkwardly elevated.

What would you do? Keep in mind, this will be more of a work space than a pub but it will double as my "tasting room," if you will.

 

[ShinyBuddha]

I say to do it right the first time and lay concrete. If you have problems now and lay a frame on it, the situation may become worse later. At that point you'll have to pull up the frame...

The added benefit of laying new ground is that you can add drainage to it.

 

[brew_ny]

if you do concrete you thinking about just fixing the problems or replacing the whole floor?

if you break up the old floor and pour concrete on top of the rubble say three inches thick

you are going to need a couple of yards of concrete which is about 80 bags at 80 pounds per bag

so it is better to get it by truck and again it will raise up the floor or you need to dig it out

which is going to be a lot of work, so repairing maybe a better option

all the best

S_M

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

If the concrete floor became warped/cracked/etc, and you don't fix what's underneath, it will happen again over time.

It sounds to me (and I'm not concrete expert) that the previous owner/builder didn't reach the minimal depth for the frostline where you are.

MC

 

[brew_ny]

It sounds to me (and I'm not concrete expert) that the previous owner/builder didn't reach the minimal depth for the frostline where you are.

went through this when I bought my place the guy went cheap on concrete in a garage 20 by 40 and it sank, cracked and fell apart

ended up taking a jack hammer to it and poured a new floor

glad I did but it was a bunch of work and lots of concrete, but I did it once and did it right

happy I did

S_M

 

[BadNewsBrewery]

Saggy concrete could be bad / poor quality concrete, or poorly compacted subgrade, or probably a few other issues. Is the garage 100 years old, too?

You say you plan to do upgrades later, including plumbing and drainage... So save your time and money, move your stuff into the garage as is, and when you have the funds to do the work go ahead and do the floor at the same time. If you're running plumbing and drain lines, odds are you'll be tearing up the floor anyways. If the floor is REALLY bad, patch the areas with some quick-crete. Sure, it'll chip and flake over time and some sections may delaminate from the old concrete, but it's a temporary fix to get you by until you can do the whole floor the right way.

 

[mblanks2]

you say you plan to do upgrades later, including plumbing and drainage... So save your time and money, move your stuff into the garage as is, and when you have the funds to do the work go ahead and do the floor at the same time. If you're running plumbing and drain lines, odds are you'll be tearing up the floor anyways. If the floor is really bad, patch the areas with some quick-crete. Sure, it'll chip and flake over time and some sections may delaminate from the old concrete, but it's a temporary fix to get you by until you can do the whole floor the right way.

+1

 

[Eugenio]

I would recommend saving money now. Buy rubber tiles you can drop over the concrete or even cheap vinyl tiles as a quick fix to give you a floor with a bit more cushion/grip then save to redo the concrete. And yesm redo. If you just pour over, you will have water penetration, dilaminating of teh concrete and a ton of cracking. I would also recommend you look into sealed and polished concrete. Its a bit more of a cost, but it will give you a good surface you can hose.

 

[IslandLizard]

Saggy concrete could be bad / poor quality concrete, or poorly compacted subgrade, or probably a few other issues. Is the garage 100 years old, too?

You say you plan to do upgrades later, including plumbing and drainage... So save your time and money, move your stuff into the garage as is, and when you have the funds to do the work go ahead and do the floor at the same time. If you're running plumbing and drain lines, odds are you'll be tearing up the floor anyways. If the floor is REALLY bad, patch the areas with some quick-crete. Sure, it'll chip and flake over time and some sections may delaminate from the old concrete, but it's a temporary fix to get you by until you can do the whole floor the right way.

I'd vote for this one. Use it as is with some temporary repairs so you don't lose toes or a foot. You could plywood part of the floor if it is really bad. As you brew there a while you'll get a much better idea on layout and what's needed where, like drains, water supply, electricity, etc.

Over time design your brewpub. When you saved up enough money, do it right the first time.

80 bags? I poured a cement pad for my heat pump and at only 4'x5' I needed 20 80# bags of concrete. I bought a 3.5 ft3 HF cement mixer and got the job done. For larger projects, you're much better off getting a truck load or those pull behinds from the concrete yard. They hold 1-1.5 cubic yards, IIRC.

 

[ChuckO]

80 bags? I poured a cement pad for my heat pump and at only 4'x5' I needed 20 80# bags of concrete. I bought a 3.5 ft3 HF cement mixer and got the job done. For larger projects, you're much better off getting a truck load or those pull behinds from the concrete yard. They hold 1-1.5 cubic yards, IIRC.

Eighty bags of concrete sound about right, that's just the concrete, not the aggregate and sand to be mixed with it.

I agree with making the quickest temporary fix possible and then making a permanent fix after much planning.

 

[IslandLizard]

Eighty bags of concrete sound about right, that's just the concrete, not the aggregate and sand to be mixed with it....

Ah, 80 bags of cement, portland.

 

[FreddyMar3]

Thanks for all the input guys. You've helped me make my decision. I would upload images to show you what the floor looks like but I can't from work. I'm pretty sure the garage is much less than 100 years old. Must have been a later addition. I think there are enough good spots for me to park my keezer and my 1550 tippy dump on relatively level surfaces. That'll give me time to save up and plan on doing it once and doing it right.

 

[brew_ny]

Ah, 80 bags of cement, portland.

I was thinking more of Quikrete 5000 which is more like concrete in a bag

but you get the idea

all the best with your project

S_M

 

[Surly]

Last winter I finished the remodel of my 1916 edition. That, based on the Norwegian language newspapers found in the wall. The great grand daughter of the second generation gave me a picture of the home of around 1900.

The OP and I seem to be in the same circumstance.

Mine is an out building I want to convert to a dedicated brewery with the an addition becoming a workshop.

The concrete floor was poured and was reinforced with 4" X 4" wire mesh. It buckled, so another layer of concrete was poured over it. It has been buckled for a number of years.

I am tearing it all out and will replace with a wooden floating floor. That floor will sit upon 4X4" treated lumber that is positioned on gravel. That actually is the debris of the old floor. On top to that is treated plywood making up the floor.

Understand please, this is a ten year solution that I consider a good solution for my future brewing/shop plans.

To dig it all out, gravel it, and place sand, then pour concrete is beyond what I need. If I need to make adjustments I will do so easily.