Looking at buying my first wall tent and I’m stuck with going with or without a floor. This last deer season I stayed in one in Idaho without a floor and it wasn’t a problem even when it rained, but I plan to use it a couple times in campgrounds where squirrels have lost all fear of man (the wife wants a floor to keep out squirrels, field mice and bugs; I want to save $180 and go without).

What you guys have/use? Especially any outfitters/guides here that use them all year long.

Motel with a floor.

I would go with a floor, and with zippered closures across the bottom of the doors.

It keeps out snakes too.

Alsoif you can carry the extra weight/bulk, get 2 good quality tarps the size of the floor.

Put one under the tent to protect the outsid of the floor and put one inside the tent to protect the inside of the floor.

If you have a few days of bad weather, when it clears up it is a lot easier to remove the tarp from inside the tent, dry and sweep it off, and then put it back in, that to try and clean the inside of the real floor of the tent.

I have a 12x14, sod cloth and zipper door. No floor, I always have a wood stove in it and don't want to burn a hole in the floor.

I would go without a floor. My group has a 14'x16'. The sod cloth will keep out squirrels.

To my mind the floor is just going to pick-up a bunch of dirt which will then get the rest of the tent dirty when it is rolled-up.

My tent has a floor and I like it.
I think its easier to set up, faster not having to dig the trench and bury sod flap.
I roll out a canvas painters tarp in mine. Mice still get in where we zip the floor out that is under the wood stove but running a little mouse trap line in the tent is kinda fun.

don't know if I would have a sewn bottom but believe it would just be more of a nuisance in cleaning. I use a 10x12 zippered canvas w/mosq netting, throw down a tarp and roll out the nite bag. not worried about snakes tho' moreso the possible chance of a grizz or blackie sticking its head in the door.

I use a outdoor carpet for a floor in my wall tents.

I don't know how well my comments will apply to your question but..
We have an Arctic Oven custom made umbrella style tent that's made locally. These are well known and used by numerous people including dog mushers. It's 10" square, has a floor and we use a wood buring stove inside. It will easily accomodate 2 people with cots. The concern about burning a hole in the floor is, of course valid but it can easily be done by placing a scrap piece of canvas on the floor and putting a standared size cookie sheet on top of that. Our stove is small enough that the legs will sit inside the cookie sheet. I should think you could do the same thing or something similar.
Only you can decide the conditions in which you will be using it - doesn't sound as if it'll be in the Arctic in the fall/winter but...
We also take a small broom with us for sweeping the floor and usually, we take off our boots before entering.
All of the concerns raised in the previous responses can be adequately addressed and over come. BTW, our tent, excluding the stove, cots, etc. weighs in the neighborhood of 55 lbs. Very usable if you're flying into the bush on a Beaver.
Decide what your personal requirements are, then proceed. Good luck.
Bear in Fairbanks

Don't mean to hijack the thread but Tjay, how does that indoor outdoor carpet work for you in the cold weather? Thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by Bear in Fairbanks:
Our stove is small enough that the legs will sit inside the cookie sheet. I should think you could do the same thing or something similar.
Bear in Fairbanks

Solved the situation for a larger stove in my cook tent with astro-turf for flooring years ago. Buy one of those metal drip pans used under a vehicle to prevent oil from staining the driveway.

Now.. whether to add a real floor or not in a sleeping tent. Short anecdote...

Here in AZ, all sorts of critters wander about the ground during the night...

One time on a fishing excursion we pitched our floorless wall tent about 50 yds. from the shore of Saguaro Lake. We simply tossed our sleeping bags on a couple of air mattresses.

The next morning I went outside, set up the Coleman stove on a small table and proceeded to remove the frying pan from a brown paper sack that had been stored in one corner of the tent.

As I set the pan on the flames, the large brown scorpion was making frantic circles inside, obviously really, really upset. I ignored him until he was a bit more than well done.

Moral: he could have just as easily tried to sleep with one of us.

So unless you always use cots, I would suggest a tent with a sewn in floor and zippered door in places where nasty critters lurk. A tarp under and tarp/carpet above will keep the floor quite clean.

Outdoor Writer my friends and I had a similar experience when we went camping many many years ago. We just threw our sleeping bags on the ground and slept that way (lots of alcohol involved). When I woke up in the morning to relieve myself there was a Rattle snake stretched out sunning himself less that a foot from my friends sleeping bag. Pretty tense couple of moments until we could get my friend moved so we could get rid of the snake. Since then I haven't slept under the stars on the ground since.

Nothing like waking up to a skunk looking you right in the eye!!
Floors can be handy at times for sure.

I remember many years ago my brother and I were camping during the summer in California. The sky was crystal clear and there were a zillion stars out, so we decided to put our sleeping bags on the ground and fall asleep looking at the stars. No grizzlies, skunks or scorpions, but we did both wake up with a few hundred flea bites each. Tent with a floor for me!