Expanded steel mesh good for wood shed flooring?

[glenlloyd]

Going to be building a new woodshed in the very near future and was wondering if expanded steel would be good for the floor. It would allow for good ventilation from below...but maybe too good.

Anyone else gone this route? Reasons not to?

Thx

Steve

 

[bogydave]

Should work if it's strong enough.
Can't think of any reason not to use it.

 

[glenlloyd]

Should work if it's strong enough.
Can't think of any reason not to use it.

Same stuff used on trailer gates and floors, seems to work fine there. I wouldn't think there would be too much weight. There's a guy selling some panels on CL locally. It's more expensive than a wood floor but it's also less of an infestation problem and would ventilate well I think.

thanks

steve

 

[xrayman]

wouldn't rot out as qwick as wood keep it painted. how much is he selling it for? might be interested i'm from marshalltown and i need some for a welding project coming up

 

[glenlloyd]

wouldn't rot out as qwick as wood keep it painted. how much is he selling it for? might be interested i'm from marshalltown and i need some for a welding project coming up

Says he's got sheets in 5'x6' for $30. I should be able to do shed floor with two of these. I have an old trailer gate from a trailer that someone stole from my back yard years back. First thought about using that but it's not big enough to make a decent shed. He says it's a good price but don't know since I have no experience with this product.

thanks
steve

 

[Danno77]

That sounds like a good idea and a good price.

 

[mywaynow]

Those sheets will have no structural value on their own. You will need to build a frame to support spans, just like plywood or sheetrock. They can be slippery to walk on too. Just a couple of downsides.

 

[onetracker]

thanks for posting this question cuz i too have been considering it for my woodshed floor.

i look forward to anyone else sharing their opinions and experience with this.

 

[glenlloyd]

Those sheets will have no structural value on their own. You will need to build a frame to support spans, just like plywood or sheetrock. They can be slippery to walk on too. Just a couple of downsides.

Duly noted. I think it's pretty much understood that it's not structural. I hadn't thought much about the slippery aspect but I don't plan on walking on it too much.

The one concern I have is that it may ventilate too well. As we know cars that sit in a yard (bad example but...) tend to rust from moisture coming out of the ground if left long enough, so maybe this is going to allow more moisture than one would like?

Not sure at this point but worth considering as a flooring product. Perhaps if there's enough air space between the ground and the framing it'll be less likely to happen.

I'm just trying to come up with ways to 1) aid the drying process and 2) make the woodshed less susceptible to munching bugs.

thanks for the input

steve

 

[Danno77]

Put down a good gravel base, allow for air flow under the structure. It should be fine.

 

[xman23]

Wood laying on the ground is the worst. My pallets are rotted on the bottom after a few years. I'm sure doing anything on top of an elevated bed of gravel would be much better. I was looking for plastic pallets, but they are hard to find. To keep the wood off the ground I use schedule 40 PVC drain pipes.

 

[Hass]

when I had pictured this, I honestly saw a raised wood shed 2' off teh ground with a metal frame.
Now that I realize we all can't weld... I'm thinking expanded metal with regular framing... still raised 1-2' off the ground.
Drive a bunch of 4x4 or 6x6s in, cement them down and build off of those guys.
Sure the 4x4s will rot, but not in your lifetime.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Going to be building a new woodshed in the very near future and was wondering if expanded steel would be good for the floor. It would allow for good ventilation from below...but maybe too good.

Anyone else gone this route? Reasons not to?

Thx

Steve

Too much ventilation? I do not know how this could be. Consider that we simply lay down some sapling poles that we cut in the woods and lay them about 12" apart and then stack the wood on those poles. We do nothing special to the ground before laying down the poles and stacking wood. We do not even spray the grass as it will die from lack of sunlight anyway. It is very common for our wood to be stacked this way for 5-6 years or much longer. I would not hesitate to stack wood like this for 10 years and then burn the wood in the stove. For covering said wood, we use old galvanized roofing and never cover the sides or ends; only the top.

With this in mind, except for going in there with snow on your boots, which might cause some slippery, it should be no problem so long as you support it. Let us know how you turn out with this.