Welding inside my shed?

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Several years back I purchased a TuffShed which I've used to store my bike(s), and tools. I'd like to make it a workshop of sorts by moving out the bike into my drive and closing it up to work in. I have a/c, but no heat.What I'd like to do is weld inside it. Unfortunately as you can imagine, the wood construction of the shed would hinder that. I'm primarily concerned about the floor. Is there some type of covering I could use that would allow me to accomplish this? About the only flammable thing I keep in the shed is acetone which I could easily remove.  HF sells welding blankets.  I don't mind having those up on a temp basis if that would help.Or is this just a bad idea all around?Miller Diversion 165 TIGMillermatic 211/141 with Auto-SetHobart Stickmate LX235 AC/DC StickNorthern Tool 135 MIG & Dry Cut SawKlutch ST80i/ST200i Stick/TigGrizzly G9742 BandsawMilwaukee Circular Steel Saw/Portaband/SWAG Offroad Table
Reply:Originally Posted by SpEdOr is this just a bad idea all around?
Reply:When I was very young our shop on the farm was the old farm house. The welder was in what was the kitchen. It had wood floors and we welded in there all the time. It never did burn down, altho I don't know why not. Sometimes a spark would go through the floor and start somthing in the crawl space on fire and we would crawl around on the floor pouring water from a glass through the holes in the floor to put it out. Eventually dad built a pole shed and the shop moved there and we tore down the house. We also used it to store grain in the living room and upstairs bed room. Was what you would call a multi-use building. Yeah, I know, but it'll be ok!Lincoln Square wave 255Miller Vintage mig30a spoolgunThermal Dynamics Pacmaster 100xl plasmaSmith mc torchEllis 1600 band saw
Reply:Stick and MIG at the moment.  TIG eventually I hope.Miller Diversion 165 TIGMillermatic 211/141 with Auto-SetHobart Stickmate LX235 AC/DC StickNorthern Tool 135 MIG & Dry Cut SawKlutch ST80i/ST200i Stick/TigGrizzly G9742 BandsawMilwaukee Circular Steel Saw/Portaband/SWAG Offroad Table
Reply:With stick, I'd just weld outside - too many sparks and too much smoke for a little shed.But make a tarp canopy - out in the sun would suck where you are - I'd be in the shade as much as possible Dave J.Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance. ~George Bernard Shaw~ Syncro 350Invertec v250-sThermal Arc 161 and 300MM210DialarcTried being normal once, didn't take....I think it was a Tuesday.
Reply:Line it with cement board?
Reply:I wouldn't risk it.....Just a couple welders, big hammers, grinders, and torches.Work will free you.Men in dirty jeans built this country, while men in clean suits have destroyed it. Trump/Carson 2016-2024
Reply:I'd air on the side of caution with that. I've seen a nebiours house burn to the ground, not from welding, but the same results can happen. I know your already concernd about it so I'd recommend you do the right thing and either prep the floor correctly or not do it at all. Remember safety first. I can't stress that enough. On a side note: back in the day on a job the fire dept was called out hours later due to a employee that brazed to close to a brick wall. Hours later after he left it was smouldering hence the fire dept. call out. Be careful man. PidgeLincoln210mpHobart Handler 125...soldBoat battery and a couple coat hangers
Reply:I didn't think this would be a good idea, but I wanted to toss it out there to see if anyone had done it successfully in the past anyways.  I'll continue to weld outside on the drive as I have in the past and may consider an awning or something similar in the future.  I guess all the rain we've had, as well as the low temps during my first few weeks of retirement has gotten me anxious to start some projects.  I'll bide my time for now in anticipation of better weather coming up…I hope.  Thanks to everyone for your honest opinions.  They are truly appreciated.Miller Diversion 165 TIGMillermatic 211/141 with Auto-SetHobart Stickmate LX235 AC/DC StickNorthern Tool 135 MIG & Dry Cut SawKlutch ST80i/ST200i Stick/TigGrizzly G9742 BandsawMilwaukee Circular Steel Saw/Portaband/SWAG Offroad Table
Reply:I made a section of my wooden workbench safe for occasional use of a small torch.  I was concerned with sparks being a problem, so I simply screwed a thin sheet of galvanized steel to the top.   I mad sure to make a backsplash so no sparks would get through to the wood at the back.Hot BBs  from welding are hot enough to burn through leather and cloth, but are they still hot enough after dropping to the floor to melt through a piece of 20 ga sheet metal?  Do they have enough mass to heat the sheet metal to a dangerous point for the wood underneath?Dan----------------------------Measure twice.  Weld once.  Grind to size.MIG:  Lincoln SP100 TIG/STICK:  AHP Alphatig 200X
Reply:I am going to be the devils advocate. I weld in my garage all the time. Granted it has a concrete floor. but the walls are wood frame construction and it is a garage under the house situation. I think if you keep the area meticulously clean, have a good smoke detector, have a large fire extinguisher handy (mounted on the wall actually), and keep a good fire watch afterwards, you will be fine. I have a routine: after welding, I sit around for 15 minutes looking for fire, smoke, etc. Then I sweep out the garage. I go back in 30 minutes and again in 60 minutes to check that everything is OK. Could be I have been just plain lucky up to now, but it works for me.Miller Multimatic 255
Reply:We have done numerous stick welding jobs on wood gymnasium floors with no issues. Had a couple thousand feet of 6'' to run above the floor and prefabbed all of it right where it was going to be raised in position in long lengths. Entire floor was covered with plywood , masonite crisscrossed to cover seams, and welding blankets on top. No the best of welding conditions but we had no choice. Floor was not damaged at all. Important to protect and cover potential hazards , fire extinguishers, water hose connected , and 5 gallon buckets with water if needed. Post checking is a must .
Reply:I would not weld inside a shed. Fumes would fill up so easily in a small building, even with a fume extractor.Millermatic 200Miller Spectrum 2050
Reply:I think if you properly set up for it and use your head you will be fine. That is my disclaimer.One of the more important things to do is set a good amount of time between the last weld and the time you shut it down for the day.
Reply:I have welded outside on a gravel driveway for 45 years.You could put up a shelter like you see over picnic tables in state roadside  parks.Build it with steel frame and steel roofing.Run power underground with UF wire.I keep a pail of water handy when I weld.Those little fireballs can travel a long way.Welding smoke makes me sick so I weld outside.
Reply:The cement backerboard is 1/4'' thick.  That's tough enough to stand on/park a bike on?Miller Diversion 165 TIGMillermatic 211/141 with Auto-SetHobart Stickmate LX235 AC/DC StickNorthern Tool 135 MIG & Dry Cut SawKlutch ST80i/ST200i Stick/TigGrizzly G9742 BandsawMilwaukee Circular Steel Saw/Portaband/SWAG Offroad Table
Reply:Never thought about a gravel pad.  I bet it'd be much cheaper than getting cement poured.  Totally ignorant about this, what should I ask for when I'm researching gravel?It'd be easy to form up an area to any size I need.Miller Diversion 165 TIGMillermatic 211/141 with Auto-SetHobart Stickmate LX235 AC/DC StickNorthern Tool 135 MIG & Dry Cut SawKlutch ST80i/ST200i Stick/TigGrizzly G9742 BandsawMilwaukee Circular Steel Saw/Portaband/SWAG Offroad Table
Reply:Gravel will pack down hard with weight and time. I don't weld much inside(just inside the overhead door) do it mostly outside the door. Hot stuff does attempt to get back inside so typically I weld mornings, then work on other stuff the rest of the day. I have concrete floor with too much stuff and wooden walls. The other shop has wooden floors soaked in oil. I don't like even torch heating parts in there. though I do it occasionally.
Reply:Neighbor had a cement floor and frame building.Welded some stuff and then sprayed water around the barn, and spent 20-30 min picking his welding equipment up.Went and had lunch and halfway through his wife told him the barn was on fire.
Reply:Did you hear about the guy a few days ago that was driving down the interstate and dropped his cigarette which in turn caught his clothes of fire? He got out the car and 6 people stopped to put him out.The point maybe is is that some people are just that good.
Reply:I'd still feel confident about the cement board on the floor and walls. You could tape and mastic the seams too. If the floor is flat it would stand up to a bike. If you were rely worried you could through some cheep ceramic tile down.
Reply:I know what you mean with the uncooperative weather. I am in Houston, recently retired, and have been building bbq pits in my garage. I have to move stuff out of the garage in order to be able to work in it.I am about to flip a coin to decide on building a metal shed in the back yard, and renting some open space from my auto mechanic.For your base, instead of gravel, consider what I call caliche.Roll some pipe around on it, and it becomes very stable.
Reply:sheetrock the walls. piss on the floor before you start and about every hour, you should be fine.
Reply:Originally Posted by weldbeadsheetrock the walls. piss on the floor before you start and about every hour, you should be fine.
Reply:Originally Posted by weldbeadsheetrock the walls. piss on the floor before you start and about every hour, you should be fine.Originally Posted by SpEdThe cement backerboard is 1/4'' thick.  That's tough enough to stand on/park a bike on?
Reply:I'd thought about that as well but I think I'm going with the gravel/rock pad outside the shed.  I've found a place locally that sells gravel and I'm headed there on Monday morning.  In the meantime, I'll be welding on the driveway.Miller Diversion 165 TIGMillermatic 211/141 with Auto-SetHobart Stickmate LX235 AC/DC StickNorthern Tool 135 MIG & Dry Cut SawKlutch ST80i/ST200i Stick/TigGrizzly G9742 BandsawMilwaukee Circular Steel Saw/Portaband/SWAG Offroad Table
Reply:Hi, nothing like a cement floor, even for a tin garden shed.The time you want to weld something that has to be level and true you'll curse a gravel floor.Pouring a cement floor is easy peasy......first box the area in with narrow boards up to the height you want the floor and make them level......bag of cement, gravel and sand  mix in the 'barrow, water and mix well....pour and level with a long board across the boards you used to box the floor in.Ian.
Reply:My garage isn't heated most of the time. It's big so it takes a while to heat it up. Few projects are given all day. Usually it's a couple hours at a time. TIG welding in the cellar I do regularly. I have a project replacing posts under carrying beams, stick was too smoky, I moved in the MIG. I don't worry much about fire, I take precautions. I have certainly welded over plywood before in houses under construction. The odds are against fire, but it isn't out of the question. I'm more concerned about cutting than welding. Little beads of burning steel can roll across a floor dropping into any crevasse the broom couldn't get into. A sprinkle of water would give good protection, but wouldn't be good for your floor.I don't know, you are faced with a dilemma.An optimist is usually wrong, and when the unexpected happens is unprepared. A pessimist is usually right, when wrong, is delighted, and well prepared.
Reply:I got one danged good buddy out here in these woods. He too is retired military white headed old fart and still works at my last job as a professional welder and pipe fitter. That guy can weld a dick on a snow man and has breathed more flux smoke than air.Late last year he was out in his shop welding and stopped for lunch and went in the house and assembled the fixins for next days turd....As soon as he sat down to use his dentures to help his old colon smooth the lumps outa that turd, he looked up to see his shop on fire thru kitchen window....It was full ablaze...Burned to ground along with two tractors, two four wheeler, one semi truck tractor, ALL his tools and welding machines, two utility trailers, his chickens and hogs and even got started on his house.He got lucky and managed to wet house nuff it didn't suffer but some siding damage and a few curled roofing shingles, but the whole huge shop/barn and everything in and near it was crispy critter city.Next Monday at work I heard about it and asked how insurance company was treating him...He revealed he didn't have insurance because he lived so far out they wouldn't cover him.I gave him a key to my shop and loaded my almost new Hobart 235LX stick welder in his truck and knew he will never live long nuff to replace all he lost, and will never again be the same old fart that once dragged his azz home from work and retreated to his shop/barn and fed his chickens and hogs and fired up his welders and reached for the tools he amassed over his life time and inherited from his dad that built that shop/barn he where went to find his dad and discuss stuff with while he made sparks and hammered the same old anvil with the same old welding lightening flashes and sounds that punctuated the life lessons he learned growing up and carried into and upto the instant it all disappeared.I ain't seen him since....I kinda somedays want to go check on him, but hold back...I'm hoping he will get back up on his hind legs and visit me. I know he don't want me showin up while he is still standing in the ashes of what he was all about back when we had all that in common.Weld outside and suffer the weather, because young man, it sometimes rains harder indoors where as a Man, you are designed to take whatever the outdoors throw at you, but you need the indoors to remain standing even when the storm enters.
Reply:Great story wornoutoldwelder. Thank you!Sent from my iPad using TapatalkMiller Diversion 165 TIGMillermatic 211/141 with Auto-SetHobart Stickmate LX235 AC/DC StickNorthern Tool 135 MIG & Dry Cut SawKlutch ST80i/ST200i Stick/TigGrizzly G9742 BandsawMilwaukee Circular Steel Saw/Portaband/SWAG Offroad Table
Reply:Again, it can be done with a sheet metal liner. Bend a return at the walls and overlay OSB or drywall on the walls, but not directly on the floor, so no hots can smolder. Or, flood the floor with self leveling cement.  Anything can be done with care and planning
Reply:Originally Posted by K6090Again, it can be done with a sheet metal liner. Bend a return at the walls and overlay OSB or drywall on the walls, but not directly on the floor, so no hots can smolder. Or, flood the floor with self leveling cement.  Anything can be done with care and planning
Reply:Buy a bunch of those welding blankets at harbor freight, and staple them to the walls, just make sure there are no gaps where a spark can get behind the blankets. And then get a strong fan to remove the fumes.AHP AlphaTig 200x 3rd gen.Lincoln Power Mig 210MP
Reply:I'm pretty sure the HF welding blankets are simply fire resistant.  I bought one with the idea of making a welding booth in my garage.  Tested it the back yard first.  Any hot beads burned right through the blanket.  It did NOT catch fire.  Dan----------------------------Measure twice.  Weld once.  Grind to size.MIG:  Lincoln SP100 TIG/STICK:  AHP Alphatig 200X