Your floors want special protection when undergoing remodeling, during new construction, moving heavy furniture or equipment, and for other 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 price thousands of dollars in replacement and repair costs. This article describes surface protection products for floors to be able to make knowledgeable selections on the 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 embody widespread adhesive films, rolled paper products and rolled textile protection. Protective supplies purchased by the roll are commonly measured in thickness by mils (e.g., 2.5 mils thick as much as 48 mils thick).
(2) Products by the sheet: These embrace corrugated plastic, masonite, and different inflexible protection. Protective supplies purchased by the sheet are commonly measured in thickness by the inch (e.g., 1/four-inch thick) and normally come as 4 ft by 8 feet.
Type of Flooring Protection:
Paper
Paper protection is suitable for all hard surfaces and resilient surfaces but does not work well to protect carpets as it can tear when flexing under footsteps. Paper products are breathable so that glue fumes and cement curing vapors can escape. One disadvantage to paper products as they require tapes to secure them to flooring and tapes can often depart adhesive residue when removed. Widespread paper protection products include:
· Kraft paper is a lightweight brown paper that is cheap but does not afford any impact protection and can easily tear
· Scrim paper may incorporate coatings or reinforcements to make them water-resistant as well as scrim threads to reinforce the paper and stop tearing. These improved papers are longer lasting than regular Kraft paper or rosin paper however they are 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 9.0 to 11.5 mils thick. The huge drawback of using Rosin paper is that it may cause a permanent stain if the paper gets wet. Rosin paper may rip easily so it not normally advisable to be used
· Corrugated cardboard rolls or sheets will also be used to protect flooring. Corrugate provides impact protection nevertheless it shouldn’t be coated with a waterproof finish and should be kept dry at all times so that it does not disintegrate. Cardboard products are additionally 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 2.0 as much as 3.5 mils in thickness. They trap any moisture from escaping in order that they should not be used on any floors that are curing. Two of the good 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 offer any impact protection and are normally rated for brief time period use of 30 to ninety days only. Polyethylene films are designed for one-time use and don’t use recycled materials making them a poor selection in maintainable protection. Protection films are available in quite a lot of adhesion “tack”. Hard surface protection films could have a lower tack and colour than carpet protection which needs a more aggressive glue to hold onto carpet fibers successfully.
Wood Products
Plywood and Masonite are commonly used as protection on commercial projects with numerous 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 usual size of four toes by 8 toes and are more expensive 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 three/four inch thick. Both products provide impact protection on quite a lot of floor types and provide adequate protection against heavy equipment use or furniture moving. Each plywood and Masonite are breathable and reusable nevertheless they’re bulky to carry and store. These wood sheets must be used on top of a softer protection akin to a rolled textile as they easily scratch flooring. These sheets work well to protect carpet as they forestall wrinkles when rolling heavy loads over the carpet. Plywood and Masonite don’t offer moisture protection and might be harder to chop to dimension than other protection types.
Textile Products
Textile products are commonly manufactured from recycled cloth. In addition, these rolled protection products usually have added benefits comparable to skid resistant backings or breathable plastic liners. For wood floors, these specialty textile rolls are highly advisable as they’re breathable, skid resistant, reusable, often leakproof and easy to chop to size.
With a view to obtain the total benefits of utilizing surface protection, proper application is a must. The floors ought to be clean (vacuumed or swept) previous to covering with the protection products. The proper choice of protection ought to be made so that moisture shouldn’t be trapped on floors that are nonetheless curing. Trapping moisture can cause a full product failure and can invalidate a wood floor producer’s warranty. For heavy visitors or loads, a number of protection layers may be needed.
In abstract, there are numerous choices in temporary floor protection available today. When choosing a protection product, it is wise to consider the price, length needed, breathability and potential to reuse the product. Profitable floor protection additionally consists of proper set up and preparation of the floor. Always follow the manufacturer’s advice to be used so the potential for adhesive switch is avoided. Protecting valuable floors is a smart investment in time and money. Surface protection consultants are also available that can assist you choose one of the best floor protection to your needs.
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