Protecting garage gym platform from pooled water

[SquattersRights]

I recently built a lifting platform for my garage gym out of plywood and horse stall mats, and I’d like to protect the bottom plywood layer from water that occasionally pools in shallow puddles when the car is wet when I park it or when there’s condensation from the car’s A/C.

What’s the best way to do that? Thick weather stripping and caulking?

[Mark Rippetoe]

You park on top of your platform?

[SquattersRights]

Haha, not quite. The water sometimes trickles several feet away from the car into small, shallow pools.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Do you have a mop?

[SquattersRights]

Point taken. I’m probably overthinking it. Thanks, Rip!

[jfsully]

Haha, not quite. The water sometimes trickles several feet away from the car into small, shallow pools.

If the water does flow up against your platform, you will eventually have some sort of issue. I used 2 layers of cheap-ass OSB under a top layer of plywood and horse mat, and have my rack sitting on top of it. When I removed everything to move the platform across the garage, I noticed some warping, but the heavy rack bolted down seems to flatten it out nicely. I am in New England in a drafty garage. In the summer the cars' AC units leave puddles, and in the winter they drag in clumps of ice and slush, and year-round my dog and a family with wet shoes track water and mud all over the place, including across my precious platform. My platform is not pretty, but I plan to use it until it crumbles then toss it and replace it, at least the wood, as the horse mats will probably survive a nuclear attack.

I figure a platform's job isn't to look good, it's to keep you and your weights off the floor, and dirty wood with chipped edges seems to work just fine for me. So if I am a test case for garage gym platform neglect, we are OK at 2 years and counting so far.

But if the idea of wet wood really bothers you, you could put a layer of horse mat UNDER the wood, since the horse mat is fine with water. Or maybe some basic weatherstrip around the wood edges. Caulking the sides to the garage floor strikes me as excessive and will leave a mess you will regret when you move the platform someday.

[Oso Rojo]

If you really have trouble with water coming from the concrete there are a couple of flooring systems designed for use in basements. The last one I saw was a mesh of rigid plastic hexagons that was about 1/2" thick. That would raise your platform but if you are in an environment where water is common it might be worthwhile.