New House - New Darkroom - Protecting Floors?

[Fragomeni]

Hi all,

I need some help here and it's kind of time sensitive. My girlfriend and I may need to move into a new house soon and there may or may not be dedicated studio space with concrete floors like my current darkroom has. The house will likely be a 3 beedroom and I will turn one of the rooms into the darkroom. We're looking at houses with wooden and tile floors and I need to figure out how to protect the flooring in whatever room becomes the darkroom. I've heard about various types of floor coverings, some vinyl and other materials, that are cut to fit the room and then layed down over the existing floor (some with a removable adhesive). Can anyway offer any insight into these types of solutions or ideas on other options? Thank you!!

[Andrew O'Neill]

What about inter-locking rubber tiles or just a cheap carpet? I had a very cheap carpet in my darkroom in Japan (was a bedroom converted to darkroom). After seven years of use, it protected the "real" carpet underneath quite nicely.

[Fragomeni]

I definitely want to avoid carpet entirely (I hate carpet). 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. I'm trying to find a thick and durable vinyl covering of some sort.

[jp]

I've got tile in my darkroom, because I built it that way when the house was built.

Carpet would hold dust.

For a covering, google "Garage floor mats"; they are flexible plastic flooring that are meant to protect concrete from car liquids and melting ice/salt/sand.

[Fragomeni]

The idea about the inter-locking rubber tiles sounds interesting. I've seen these at Home Depot and from the looks of it I could place down a non-permeable plastic material over the floor and then install the inter-locking tiles. The tiles will inevitably absorb some liquid and whatever seeps through would be caught by the plastic underneath. Kind of a double saftey. I suppose garage mates could achieve the same end. I'll keep looking into these options. Thanks for the help! Any other ideas?

[J D Clark]

Francesco,
I turned a spare bedroom that had carpet into my darkroom. We took up the carpet and put down industrial linoleum in a single sheet. A little tougher than residential. If we have to turn it back into a bedroom, we'd just put carpet right over top of it.

On top of the linoleum we put the interlocking two foot squares designed for work areas to provide some cushioning for the standing, and main working areas. All works great!

J D Clark
www.johndclark.com

[Fragomeni]

Thanks J D Clark. I won't be able to remove the flooring that is there. I have to find a way to cover and protect it in a removable but still semi-permanent manner. Thats why I think a vinyl or other non-permeable covering is the way to go and then overlay that with the inter-locking tiles which would offer more protection and some absorption (although I'd prefer no absorption so that I can simply mop up any spills and not have to worry about anything getting underneath and still damaging the original floors). Geeze, I never really appreciated the concrete floors in my current darkroom until now!

[Jerry Bodine]

Off topic: Whatever you do to cover the floor, make sure ALL cabinets etc. have enough clearance under them to mop up spills. I made the mistake of making some benches that had no such space under them and immediately realized my error with the first minor water spill (the only spill so far). Floor is concrete, heavily painted and sealed, with 12x12" interlocking rubber fatigue mats that are 1" thick and have many 1" dia holes that fortunately trapped water that would have migrated under the cabinets.

[Brian Ellis]

Why not talk to a flooring company, explain what you're doing, see what they have to suggest.

[Eric Woodbury]

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.

[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.

[Eric Woodbury]

I have some shoes I wear when I have to stand all day. They aren't soft as those mats, but it makes me wonder if one could buy a 'springy' shoe for standing on hard floors.

[Frank Petronio]

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Eig1sZGzo4Q/SYkSSu9S6HI/AAAAAAAAEBM/ovPJpQLKv8E/s400/484x480-2009012400280.jpg

[Steve Smith]

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.

It also has antiseptic properties - good for bare feet!


Steve.