Hey Larry.

I'll at least seal it to keep down the dust. I've been looking at a variety of coverings, but I don't think vinyl tile holds up very well. Those thicker, snap together tiles (e.g. Racedeck) look enticing, but are a bit spendy for my tastes, and I haven't gotten any feedback on how well they hold up to jack stands, floor jacks, cherry pickers, etc.

Actually, the DDES people were/are the easy ones to deal with for us. Once I finally got the initial permit from Health, the gal at DDES processed the general building permit in one day without charging the expedited fee! Their inspectors have been out within one day of inspection call in and haven't yanked us around at all. DDES's performance really makes the Health people look like clowns, although they do well enough at that on their own!

Regarding sprinklers.................don't give the jerks any ideas!