Your floors need special protection when undergoing remodeling, throughout new construction, 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 1000’s of dollars in replacement and repair costs. This article describes surface protection products for floors so to make informed choices on one of the best product to make use of to your needs.
Types of Protection Packaging:
Floor protection products are commonly packaged as either:
(1) Products by the roll: These embrace frequent adhesive films, rolled paper products and rolled textile protection. Protective supplies bought by the roll are commonly measured in thickness by mils (e.g., 2.5 mils thick up to forty eight mils thick).
(2) Products by the sheet: These embrace corrugated plastic, masonite, and different rigid protection. Protective materials bought by the sheet are commonly measured in thickness by the inch (e.g., 1/4-inch thick) and usually come as four toes by 8 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 so 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 usually leave adhesive residue when removed. Common paper protection products embrace:
· Kraft paper is a lightweight brown paper that’s cheap but does not afford any impact protection and can easily tear
· Scrim paper might incorporate coatings or reinforcements to make them waterproof as well as scrim threads to reinforce the paper and forestall tearing. These improved papers are longer lasting than common Kraft paper or rosin paper nevertheless they’re additionally too thin to offer a lot impact protection.
· Rosin paper is thicker than Kraft paper and may be very low cost. Rosin paper is recycled, felt paper that ranges from 9.zero to 11.5 mils thick. The large drawback of using Rosin paper is that it could cause a everlasting stain if the paper gets wet. Rosin paper also can rip simply so it not usually beneficial for use
· Corrugated cardboard rolls or sheets can be used to protect flooring. Corrugate provides impact protection nonetheless it will not be coated with a water resistant finish and ought to be kept dry always in order that it doesn’t 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 up to 3.5 mils in thickness. They trap any moisture from escaping so that they shouldn’t be used on any floors which are curing. Two of the good benefits of polyethylene films are that films will flex and contour so they can be used on carpets as well as hard surfaces. These films don’t supply any impact protection and are usually rated for short term use of 30 to 90 days only. Polyethylene films are designed for one-time use and do not use recycled materials making them a poor choice in maintainable protection. Protection films are available in a wide range of adhesion “tack”. Hard surface protection films could have a decrease tack and shade 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 lots of foot traffic. Masonite is a wood product made from wood fibers unlike plywood which is an actual sheet of thin wood. Each plywood and Masonite are sold in the standard size of 4 toes by eight ft and are more expensive per sq. 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. Each products provide impact protection on quite a lot of floor types and provide adequate protection towards heavy equipment use or furniture moving. Both plywood and Masonite are breathable and reusable nevertheless they are bulky to carry and store. These wood sheets ought to be used on prime of a softer protection equivalent 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 do not supply moisture protection and could be harder to chop to dimension than different protection types.
Textile Products
Textile products are commonly manufactured from recycled cloth. In addition, these rolled protection products often have added benefits corresponding to skid resistant backings or breathable plastic liners. For wood floors, these specialty textile rolls are highly really useful as they’re breathable, skid resistant, reusable, often leakproof and easy to cut to size.
With the intention to receive 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 alternative of protection should be made in order that moisture will not be trapped on floors that are still curing. Trapping moisture can cause a full product failure and will invalidate a wood floor manufacturer’s warranty. For heavy traffic or loads, several protection layers may be needed.
In abstract, there are lots of decisions in short-term floor protection available today. When selecting a protection product, it is sensible to consider the fee, period wanted, breathability and potential to reuse the product. Profitable floor protection also includes proper set up and preparation of the floor. Always observe the producer’s suggestion to be used so the potential for adhesive switch is avoided. Protecting valuable floors is a wise investment in time and money. Surface protection specialists are also available that can assist you select the very best floor protection in your needs.
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