pouring cement over treated floorboard

[greenthumb]

Here is the questions? Can you pour concrete over treated floorboards. I am looking at putting a cement floor in a small shed we have that I will be putting a small syrup evaporator in. I cant leave the floor wood with the wood fired arch and really don't want to construct a another building. My plan was to lay down three inches of cement or the other would be use those precast square pavers. the cost of cement would be much cheeper then pavers. the floor would be a pain to tear out and put in cement to the ground. any thoughts on this project?

 

[Anonymous Poster]

This is a guess, but I have a feeling you might end up with a lot of cracks because of the give of the boards. Unless the boards sit flush with the ground beneath, which I doubt.

It might work if you put some type of rigid iron grating inside the concrete as opposed to the wire mesh (?) that they usually use, I can't think what it's called.

If it was me, I would use the pavers, that way they can give where needed. You might be better off to go with another layer of say 3/4" plywood, something really rigid, and then get you some cheap 12 X 12 or 16 X 16 floor tiles?

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I'm no expert, but I think if you put down a layer of cement board first, over the floor boards, it would make it stable enough for cement. You could use Durarock or Wonder Board, but I'm a particular fan of HardiPanel - much more dense. Of course, more expensive and harder to work with, also.

Putting down 3" of cement over cement board or other cement is also an invitation to cracks - if the primary reason you are doing it is to get a non-combustible surface, you probably don't care about cracks. You could also use a mortar mix that is less prone to cracks.

If you only want non-combustibility and are not real concerned with appearance, what about laying out a lawyer of concrete blocks? While raising your evaporator 8" off the floor (which may not be good; I don't know what your syrup evaporator looks like), it also provides you with 8" of protection. To get a level surface, you could put a piece of cement board over top, and you could dress up the edges with something if appearance mattered.

Notice I'm talking only about the area under the evaporator and a hearth where you load the wood. That should work if it looks anything like the attachment.