Welcome
My layout room floor is tile. This both looks good, is easy to clean and find small parts on. It makes the room look good, and if you really mess it up by spilling paint or glue, you can just wipe it up or replace some tiles if really bad. I would not recommend a finished wood floor. It will get too messed up, and carpet is worse. Once the layout is finished, you can put down carpet runners of carpet tile.
Elmer.
The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.
(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.
Welcome to the forum.
I have carpeting and I love it. It vacs up just fine. It does not show stains much and it is wonderful to walk on. I have a large "jewler's apron" to catch the small parts that I drop by the work bench. I have heard, and made, all the arguements againt carpeting, but now that I have it, I love it.
Sometime I too have to have a very short nap before continuing my search for very small parts!
I vote for carpeting if not in a basement and sometimes even then. I've had a few things dropped, that I was sure would break but the carpet pad provided enough bounce to save the day. Makes under the bench crawling much more comfortable but does preclude the use of a mechanic's roller unless you lay a small sheet of plywood down lst.
Slippery/smooth/hardwood floors may not inspire as much liability assurance for an insurance claim.
Paranoid but something to consider anyway.
Raised on the Erie Lackawanna Mainline- Supt. of the Black River Transfer & Terminal R.R.
PS:
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
Mine is on epoxy painted concrete, since it occupies a room that was designed to be a two car garage.
I recommend a smooth floor. There will be sawdust, plaster dust, and small parts that wind up on the floor. Dealing with that on carpet is a nightmare. You also don't want your bench work to change height unevenly as the carpet mattes down under the weight.
Concrete. I'm in the basement. At some point I'll paint it and after the benchwork is built I'll put down carpet runners in the aisles.
If you're going to build models in there, I recommend wood. Unless you have a very short nap, you won't find any small parts that wind up on the carpet..
Enjoy
Paul
We are building a new house and my wife has graciously granted me a train room, not in the basement but on the second floor near the guest bedrooms. The questions comes as to what will the flooring be in the train room. This will be my first large layout(last ones were on 4x8 plywood).
What flooring is under your layouts? Hardwood, carpet, tile, what??