[TheForge] Re: insulated shop floor

[Dann Johnson]

We always put "frost footings" under all our outbuildings, even on the edges 
of poured slabs.  We do this  to keep rodents, and digging animals like 
skunks & wood chucks from underminining  the concrete. I can understand 
styrofoam on the exterior of the footing, but not under the shop floor.  My 
50 cents, is that unless you are using the concrete floor as 75 degree temp, 
people- living space, that the heat loss through the floor won't be 
significant. 

I insulated & sheetrocked the walls of garage, and then blew a foot of 
insulation  in the attic.  Even in the unheated garage in a North Iowa 
winter, the floor never froze. (Provided that I remember to shut the garage 
doors).  Almost always before, we had ice on the garage floor from November 
to March, from water that dripped down off cars after parking in the garage. 
Past couple winters, after the insulation,  the water that dripped down off 
the cars, to the floor actually dried up, rather than froze. 

There may only be a few degrees different from the average ground temp, to 
the average shop temp.  I can't imagine heating a shop to shirt sleeve 
temps.  55 or 60 degrees is pretty confortable when you are working, 
especially when the forge gets up to temp. 


Dann Johnson