With the global mezzanine floor market forecast to continue steady growth over the next 5 years, we look at how flooring is a critical but much-overlooked safety consideration.
The Covid-19 pandemic contributed to the recent growth of businesses using mezzanines as a solution to adapt quickly to a rapidly changing commercial landscape. The overnight rise in online shopping and direct-to-home deliveries required businesses to re-think their space usage. And fast.
Carrying more stock in warehouses, increasing productivity, or dealing with a transformed logistical model all contributed to available space being a key challenge. Changing operational processes is one thing, finding additional areas to facilitate the required changes is an entirely different animal.
Mezzanines were the go-to solution. And this trend is showing no signs of abating, and it’s easy to see why; the ability to potentially double available space. And with no planning considerations or the need to move or expand existing premises; industrial mezzanines simply offer increased storage areas with minimum cost, time, and disruption to operations.
Whether you are involved directly in the installation of mezzanines or not, there’s still ample opportunity to leverage sales from this growth industry. Starting from the floor up!
At Ecotile we’ve seen a marked increase in the number of businesses wanting industrial floor tiles installed on their mezzanines. And not just new mezzanine installations. We’re seeing older structures being refreshed and brought back to life too. These neglected elevated spaces are now deemed important assets once again in the scramble to meet the shifting commercial landscape and operational needs.
We’re seeing mezzanines being used as storage areas, returns handling areas, additional office space, and rest areas to name a few recent installations. Some of our customers' assembly areas, where they needed additional space, have also been relocating upwards.
Interestingly, the traditional use of wooden flooring on new and old mezzanines is stimulating enquiries for enhanced flooring. We’ve worked with customers with older wooden floors which are starting to show wear damage, to businesses looking to protect their new elevated investment. Both these instances can be solved with heavy-duty interlocking floor tiles, but with some additional and often-overlooked benefits for the end user too.
All Ecotile floor tiles offer fire retardance; they do not support combustion. They’re tested and certified to Bfl-S1 and achieve Class 1 spread of flame. Safety shouldn’t be overlooked when installing mezzanine floors, and we’re seeing plenty of opportunities for installing Ecotiles for this reason.
Employee comfort and wellbeing is another customer requirement we’re seeing as a driver for enquiries.
Noise levels on mezzanines is an interesting one. Whether increased noise for employees underneath the new structure, or noise for employees using it, both can be annoying, uncomfortable, and ultimately unpleasant for staff. And it’s often not considered by the end user until the elevated flooring has been installed and is in use.
Ecotiles are helping deaden noise, with dampening properties up to 46db. Their smooth finish with no gaps between tiles is also proving to be a popular and welcome benefit to customers, especially where trollies are being used. The repetitive banging of wheels where surfaces are not smooth shouldn’t be underestimated, for both the user and the employees underneath, or visitors simply in the vicinity.
An R10 slip rating means that employees are less likely to suffer slips and trips. And as interlocking floor tiles are made from PVC, they also have an element of give to them, increasing comfort for employees standing for long periods vs hard solid flooring.
Mezzanines are dusty spaces, often exacerbated by being located above other dust generating activities. Dust can be reduced by using floor tiles to cover wooden floors, they’re easier to wipe clean and contribute to a cleaner working environment.
We’ve found being able to mark out work zones and implement safety warnings with different coloured tiles or logo tiles proving popular for businesses looking to ensure their mezzanine is not only an asset to their operation but is a pleasant and safe environment for their team.
Helping you get the most out of offering floor tiles to your clients
If you have any clients with existing mezzanines, or you’re quoting for installing new elevated areas, add further value and margin to your pitch by adding Ecotile, whilst increasing your client’s operational safety.
For any advice on installing Ecotile 7mm or our ESD flooring solution to mezzanines, get in touch today, email us at enquiries@ecotileflooring.com, or call us on 01582 788232 and we can help you get the most out of offering Ecotile to your customers.
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