New House - New Darkroom - Protecting Floors?

[Graybeard]

Whatever you use on your floor, give some serious consideration to anti-fatigue mats in front of the enlarger and sink. These mats can make all the difference between an enjoyable printing session and quitting early due to back problems.

[Fragomeni]

Cut a piece of linoleum to the exact size and set it on the floor. No glue. I did this in my present darkroom, altho it is concrete slab. I used real linoleum instead of vinyl. It is a wonderful surface. Depending on the size of you DR, you may be able to get a remnant.

I'll look into cutting linoleum as another option.

Whatever you use on your floor, give some serious consideration to anti-fatigue mats in front of the enlarger and sink. These mats can make all the difference between an enjoyable printing session and quitting early due to back problems.

I'm definitely interested in using anti-fatigue matts. My current darkroom has concrete floors which are great for cleaning but I sometimes spend up to 18 hours non-stop in the darkroom when I'm working on a project and I've had a few situations where I could barely walk the next day from the back pain. So the anti-fatigue matts are definitely going to happen!

[Andrew O'Neill]

On top of that, any spills would just be soaked up my the carpet and then collected underneath and I don't see that doing much to protect the floor underneath.

No.The carpet that I put in resisted spills and didn't collect dust. When I pulled it up after 7 years, the carpet underneath was as good as new.

[lenser]

Re anti-fatigue mats. The best I've ever found came from a beauty salon that was going out of business. The mat's they use around the chairs are fantastic and last forever. At this going out of business sale, I popped for two of them at $10.00 per. They had ones with a recess for the round chair base as well as the whole rectangular area as a continuous pad. The latter is what I got for obvious reasons.

[Michael Clark]

I used those foam flooring squares,they warped out of shape and would not stay locked together and if water was spilled it would run under the squares making them unexpectedly slide from under your feet.

I do have a concrete floor and also a stool that may have squished a few squares out of shape. But in general do'nt think they are worth using.

Mike

[Frank Petronio]

Ditto we made a work-out area - yoga space - with those softer rubber square interlocking pieces and they cupped over time, plus absorbed some impossible to clean stains. You want the heavier industrial grade rubber.

[Allen in Montreal]

What about inter-locking rubber tiles.......

That is what I use, one dollar a sq ft and it softens the blow of being on your feet all night.
I have never had a spill, so that is not something I worry about. I have seen larger, thicker versions of these, but if you don't spill, these are fine (the floor seen in the attached picture has been in place for about 16 years).

[Chuck Kimmerle]

If protection of the floor is priority number one, then I think that you'd do best sticking with sheet vinyl rather than interlocking or square tiles, which will be susceptible to leaks at the joints.

To make sheet flooring more comfortable, you can first set down a layer of hardwood floor underlay, which is a moisture-proof membrane that is slightly padded (unless you get the cheapest stuff), then laying glue-less vinyl on top. The glue-less vinyl has a slightly padded feel as well, and combined with the moisture-barrier underlayment, may be more than comfortable (and waterproof) enough. Also, as it's far more flexible than glued vinyl or linoleum, it's much easier to work. You can get both the underlayment and the sheet vinyl at any home improvement store's flooring dept.

I used this combination on top of a cracked basement floor in a former darkroom, and it worked flawlessly and comfortably.

[John Koehrer]

+ another on lineoleum. shouldn't be any need to put plastic under it but it wouldn't hurt either. One piece, no seams, no leaks.
It's also easy to take up if you needed. Using a stick down tile on any subfloor is not a good idea, It will leak sooner or later. I'm not sure how it would work over a plastic sheet.

[Jeff Bannow]

I used those foam flooring squares,they warped out of shape and would not stay locked together and if water was spilled it would run under the squares making them unexpectedly slide from under your feet.

Same problem here - I'll be replacing mine soon with something better.