Temporary Floor Protection - A Product Guide
Your floors need particular protection when undergoing remodeling, throughout new building, moving heavy furniture or equipment, and for different events beyond day-to-day use. Protecting flooring makes sense and saves money. A spill of paint, the drop of a hammer, a scratch from heavy furniture can value hundreds of dollars in replacement and repair costs. This article describes surface protection products for floors in an effort to make informed decisions on the very best product to use on your needs.
Types of Protection Packaging:
Floor protection products are commonly packaged as either:
(1) Products by the roll: These include frequent adhesive films, rolled paper products and rolled textile protection. Protective materials bought by the roll are commonly measured in thickness by mils (e.g., 2.5 mils thick up to 48 mils thick).
(2) Products by the sheet: These embody corrugated plastic, masonite, and different rigid protection. Protective supplies purchased by the sheet are commonly measured in thickness by the inch (e.g., 1/four-inch thick) and usually come as four toes by eight feet.
Type of Flooring Protection:
Paper
Paper protection is suitable for all hard surfaces and resilient surfaces however does not work well to protect carpets as it can tear when flexing under footsteps. Paper products are breathable in order that glue fumes and cement curing vapors can escape. One disadvantage to paper products as they require tapes to safe them to flooring and tapes can typically go away adhesive residue when removed. Widespread paper protection products embody:
· A coated compressed paper board 38 mils thick that's breathable, water-proof and made from recycled paper.
· Kraft paper is a lightweight brown paper that is cheap but doesn't afford any impact protection and might easily tear
· Scrim paper could incorporate coatings or reinforcements to make them waterproof as well as scrim threads to strengthen the paper and forestall tearing. These improved papers are longer lasting than regular Kraft paper or rosin paper however they're additionally too thin to offer a lot impact protection.
· Rosin paper is thicker than Kraft paper and is very low cost. Rosin paper is recycled, felt paper that ranges from 9.zero to 11.5 mils thick. The massive drawback of using Rosin paper is that it might cause a everlasting stain if the paper gets wet. Rosin paper also can rip simply so it not normally recommended to be used
· Corrugated cardboard rolls or sheets may also be used to protect flooring. Corrugate provides impact protection nonetheless it isn't coated with a water-proof end and must be kept dry always in order that it doesn't disintegrate. Cardboard products are also available as single-, double-, and triple-walled corrugated cardboard sheets or as a fan-folded stack.
Polyethylene Film
Polyethylene (PE) films are sold as self adhesive rolled films varying from 2.zero up to 3.5 mils in thickness. They trap any moisture from escaping so they should not be used on any floors that are curing. Two of the great benefits of polyethylene films are that films will flex and contour to allow them to be used on carpets as well as hard surfaces. These films don't supply any impact protection and are normally rated for short term use of 30 to 90 days only. Polyethylene films are designed for one-time use and don't use recycled supplies making them a poor selection in maintainable protection. Protection films are available in quite a lot of adhesion "tack". Hard surface protection films can have a lower tack and colour than carpet protection which wants a more aggressive glue to hold onto carpet fibers successfully.
Wood Products
Plywood and Masonite are commonly used as protection on commercial projects with a number of foot traffic. Masonite is a wood product made from wood fibers unlike plywood which is an actual sheet of thin wood. Both plywood and Masonite are sold in the standard dimension of four ft by eight toes and are more costly per square foot than paper or polyethylene products. Masonite is commonly 1/eight or 1/four inch thick. Plywood is commonly 1/four inch to 3/four inch thick. Both products provide impact protection on a wide range of floor types and provide adequate protection towards heavy equipment use or furniture moving. Each plywood and Masonite are breathable and reusable nonetheless they're bulky to carry and store. These wood sheets should be used on top of a softer protection akin to a rolled textile as they simply scratch flooring. These sheets work well to protect carpet as they prevent wrinkles when rolling heavy loads over the carpet. Plywood and Masonite don't supply moisture protection and might be harder to chop to dimension than different protection types.
Types of Protection Packaging:
Floor protection products are commonly packaged as either:
(1) Products by the roll: These include frequent adhesive films, rolled paper products and rolled textile protection. Protective materials bought by the roll are commonly measured in thickness by mils (e.g., 2.5 mils thick up to 48 mils thick).
(2) Products by the sheet: These embody corrugated plastic, masonite, and different rigid protection. Protective supplies purchased by the sheet are commonly measured in thickness by the inch (e.g., 1/four-inch thick) and usually come as four toes by eight feet.
Type of Flooring Protection:
Paper
Paper protection is suitable for all hard surfaces and resilient surfaces however does not work well to protect carpets as it can tear when flexing under footsteps. Paper products are breathable in order that glue fumes and cement curing vapors can escape. One disadvantage to paper products as they require tapes to safe them to flooring and tapes can typically go away adhesive residue when removed. Widespread paper protection products embody:
· A coated compressed paper board 38 mils thick that's breathable, water-proof and made from recycled paper.
· Kraft paper is a lightweight brown paper that is cheap but doesn't afford any impact protection and might easily tear
· Scrim paper could incorporate coatings or reinforcements to make them waterproof as well as scrim threads to strengthen the paper and forestall tearing. These improved papers are longer lasting than regular Kraft paper or rosin paper however they're additionally too thin to offer a lot impact protection.
· Rosin paper is thicker than Kraft paper and is very low cost. Rosin paper is recycled, felt paper that ranges from 9.zero to 11.5 mils thick. The massive drawback of using Rosin paper is that it might cause a everlasting stain if the paper gets wet. Rosin paper also can rip simply so it not normally recommended to be used
· Corrugated cardboard rolls or sheets may also be used to protect flooring. Corrugate provides impact protection nonetheless it isn't coated with a water-proof end and must be kept dry always in order that it doesn't disintegrate. Cardboard products are also available as single-, double-, and triple-walled corrugated cardboard sheets or as a fan-folded stack.
Polyethylene Film
Polyethylene (PE) films are sold as self adhesive rolled films varying from 2.zero up to 3.5 mils in thickness. They trap any moisture from escaping so they should not be used on any floors that are curing. Two of the great benefits of polyethylene films are that films will flex and contour to allow them to be used on carpets as well as hard surfaces. These films don't supply any impact protection and are normally rated for short term use of 30 to 90 days only. Polyethylene films are designed for one-time use and don't use recycled supplies making them a poor selection in maintainable protection. Protection films are available in quite a lot of adhesion "tack". Hard surface protection films can have a lower tack and colour than carpet protection which wants a more aggressive glue to hold onto carpet fibers successfully.
Wood Products
Plywood and Masonite are commonly used as protection on commercial projects with a number of foot traffic. Masonite is a wood product made from wood fibers unlike plywood which is an actual sheet of thin wood. Both plywood and Masonite are sold in the standard dimension of four ft by eight toes and are more costly per square foot than paper or polyethylene products. Masonite is commonly 1/eight or 1/four inch thick. Plywood is commonly 1/four inch to 3/four inch thick. Both products provide impact protection on a wide range of floor types and provide adequate protection towards heavy equipment use or furniture moving. Each plywood and Masonite are breathable and reusable nonetheless they're bulky to carry and store. These wood sheets should be used on top of a softer protection akin to a rolled textile as they simply scratch flooring. These sheets work well to protect carpet as they prevent wrinkles when rolling heavy loads over the carpet. Plywood and Masonite don't supply moisture protection and might be harder to chop to dimension than different protection types.