Platform on uneven ground

[Allentown]

Use a long level. I believe you might be able to even rent an 8 footer at Home Depot. You can span several tiles on once. Level is also a straight-edge if you get what I'm saying. You'll see the gaps.

Evan a 4ft one would probably be enough.

[mbasic]

Most 'people' these days don't have either I'm guessing .
...that is a level over 12" long, if they have one at all.
....probably just a shitty little torpedo level or something for picture frames.

So if you were to rent or barrow one, the longest one possible would be great.

[Allentown]

True. And honestly, I've never used mine for anything besides trying to level my platform.

[timelinex]

Most 'people' these days don't have either I'm guessing .
...that is a level over 12" long, if they have one at all.
....probably just a shitty little torpedo level or something for picture frames.

So if you were to rent or barrow one, the longest one possible would be great.

I've got a 3 or 4 foot one at my house. But it is in fact a torpedo leveler

[throwinshapes]

Use a long level. I believe you might be able to even rent an 8 footer at Home Depot. You can span several tiles on once. Level is also a straight-edge if you get what I'm saying. You'll see the gaps.

I bought the cheapest, thinnest boards I could find at home depot, cut them into 1ft squares. Figured that was enough "resolution" over a 4x8 platform. Used these with a 4ft level to even out the basement floor under my platform in both directions.

I think it would have worked pretty well, but I found out after that platform itself was also warped a bit into a halfpipe shape (direction following the plate shape, so not a big deal). Needs another layer.

The other problem I have is the horse stall have the half domes on the bottom side. These eventually get beat in and the bar has certain resting spots that aren't parallel to the platform. Drives the OCD side of me nuts.

[timelinex]

I just wanted to update you guys on my solution.

I got rid of most of the bounciness by having heavy dumbells on the back 2 corners and then shims on the outside edge. The primary issue with this solution is it left the platform sloped enough to have the bar roll on deadlifts. It's extremely annoying and I hate using blocks. I don't know how someone can without messing their shins up or having to reset between reps.

After alot of experimenting I found a ghetto fix that is very simple and it works. I put a single shim on the lower side under the top layer of mat. That's it. It sounds dumb, but it worked great. Nothing rolls and all I have is a small bump in an area that I don't use (its to the side and right past the rack). It pulls up the mat just enough for the bar not to roll at all.

[Wilhelm]

[cwd]

(Thrall vid on making an 8'x8' wedge from pressboard)

This looks like a better method than the one I used (leveling cement).

[mbasic]

That's 3/4"OSB, not plywood.

8" torpedo level? laying on its side? for a 8' span of OSB that's likely sagging?

At 3:49, seems .... bad that the OSB is sitting on the stairstep portion of the "wedge" .... there would be little 5mm air gaps under the OSB in spots.
Seems like it would crush, or create divots.

Almost seems like you flip the wedge, and put the stairsteps facing down, the edges of each stairstep would crush or flatten out over time.
At least the wedge would be flat-up-against the OSB.

[rjharris]

Checking into this thread because I am finally thinking about building a new platform in my new (to me) garage, now that I have all this free time and at home all the time.

I have a large garage, and I want to build an 8x8 platform. The issue for me is (1) the garage slopes, (2) the slope changes, (3) it slopes in both the N/S and E/W directions. I figure that only the slope in direction can be taken care of; having the slope in the other would be like having a slightly elevated heel, which would be fine. I found the Thrall/Coyne video. Would this work for me? As far as I can tell, the slope doesn't vary too crazily, it's just that once you cross a N/S line, the slope in the E/W direction changes a bit. Link to shitty drawing showing the drops as a function of position here.

The solution in the video could be adapted for my use case I guess by just making the spacing different once you cross that N/S line. I'm marginally worried about the empty spacing and things being loud, although I can deal with loud noises. Has anyone tried this with success?

[omaniphil]

With a more complex drop like that, have you considered using self leveling cement? 3/4" drop is not that big of a deal. If you're worried about being making sure its not permanent, you could put plastic sheeting underneath it which would allow you to break it up and throw it away if/when you move. I think @Manveer did something similar to that.

[rjharris]

I did consider it, but I have heard mixed things about whether or not it has sufficient strength to deal with the abuse that would be put on it, plus it seems to be the more expensive option. I'd certainly like to hear from people who have used it successfully (or not).

[mbasic]

maybe this helps, a different way of doing it

https://www.catalystathletics.com/artic ... n-a-Slope/

sorry ... I have not tried it myself.

[rjharris]

Thanks for that link; I did see that. The issue I can see is that, I know the guy says that you could do it with a circular saw, but I really think that to cut the timbers straight enough you'd really want a table saw. I don't have one of those.

Maybe I'm being too fussy...

[Manveer]

I did consider it, but I have heard mixed things about whether or not it has sufficient strength to deal with the abuse that would be put on it, plus it seems to be the more expensive option. I'd certainly like to hear from people who have used it successfully (or not).

Self-leveling cement isn't cheap, but it did hold up for me for several years until I had to move (and take everything apart). Here are some pictures from demo:

[rjharris]

Self-leveling cement isn't cheap, but it did hold up for me for several years until I had to move (and take everything apart). Here are some pictures from demo:

Thanks for the link. I may end up going that route, I'm not sure yet.

[rjharris]

Okay, After reading these posts and mulling it over and re-remeasuring everything, I've convinced myself that the self-leveling is the way to go given my situation. Just to kind of think this through...

I basically want to copy @Manveer's design because I don't want to permanently alter the garage. The plan is to frame off an 8 x8 area with 2x4 and then line the interior/sides with plastic. Because the slope changes, I'll need to cut the 2x4s in half to actually make sure that all of the wood lies flush against the floor. I'm thinking something like 6 mil thick polyethylene between the concrete on the floor and the self-leveler. My understanding is that a 50 lb bag will yield in the ballpark of 4 gal of self-leveler. Given my estimates, I think that comes out to me needing roughly 5+change bags, so I'd probably just go ahead and get 6. I would need a mixer thing for my drill (I guess my normal cordless one would be fine for this?), a trowel, and a bucket. Am I forgetting anything? Is any of this obviously dumb?

[Manveer]

That sounds about right. Get more self-leveler than you think you’ll need and return the unused bags afterwards, if that’s an option. I was about 1 bag short.

Make sure you have a spare battery charged for your drill in addition to the main battery being fully charged. I didn’t even own a drill before I made this, so I got a corded one. It would suck to run out of juice in the middle.

[rjharris]

Alright, thanks for the tips, that's what I'll do then whenever I get around to either going to the store or ordering online.

[5hout]

Push broom if you want a textured surface or you mix a bit wet and need to get some water off the top?