A lot of old plants were built this way. The IBM mainframe factory in NY
still has 'em, too. Building codes were different back then and old
installs are grandfathered in. A friend of mine runs an auto repair
business out of an old building with wooden floors -- it is OK because it
was old - but when he added a new wing he had to comply with the new
building codes for the new construction.
In any case, it is only a 'wooden floor' if it is attached to the
building. There is nothing wrong with storing your lumber on the floor
and parking on top, any more than it is a problem to have wooden
furniture. Just don't nail it; see my other post on just laying old
planking down.
John
On Fri, 2 Jun 2000, Douglas Shook wrote:
>
> I do think the "wooden garage floor violates building code"
> assertion probably is valid and probably does make logical sense.
>
> However, when I was young, I worked for GM in Flint, Michigan in
> the motor plant (Plant #4 down by the Flint River on Chevrolet
> Avenue). It was an enormous old plant, several thousand workers,
> three eight hour shifts, an enormous amount of welding, engine
> test, heat treatment of parts, smoke etc. The entire plant had
> wood block floors that resembled the ends cut off from 4x6
> framing lumber. Just wooden block with all the machinery setting
> on top of it. I think they were treated with creosote, but they
> were so soaked with engine oil, hydraulic oil, grease, etc., it
> was impossible to tell.
>
> Again, I think the code against wooden floors makes sense, but in
> these huge plants, with oil oozing out of every machine, welding
> splatter and sparks flying everywhere, cigarettes by the thousand
> being flicked on the floor, left to burn, etc., there was never a
> problem with fires as far I know. It was standard practice in
> these huge GM plants for 50 years.
>
> regards,
>
> doug
>
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