Your floors want special protection when undergoing remodeling, throughout new development, moving heavy furniture or equipment, and for other occasions 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 cost 1000’s of dollars in replacement and repair costs. This article describes surface protection products for floors so that you could make knowledgeable choices on one of 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 include widespread adhesive films, rolled paper products and rolled textile protection. Protective materials purchased by the roll are commonly measured in thickness by mils (e.g., 2.5 mils thick as much as forty eight mils thick).
(2) Products by the sheet: These embody corrugated plastic, masonite, and other inflexible protection. Protective supplies bought by the sheet are commonly measured in thickness by the inch (e.g., 1/four-inch thick) and normally come as 4 ft 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 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 typically depart adhesive residue when removed. Frequent paper protection products embrace:
· Kraft paper is a lightweight brown paper that is cheap however doesn’t afford any impact protection and may simply tear
· Scrim paper could incorporate coatings or reinforcements to make them water resistant as well as scrim threads to reinforce the paper and forestall tearing. These improved papers are longer lasting than regular Kraft paper or rosin paper nonetheless they’re additionally too thin to offer much 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 large drawback of utilizing Rosin paper is that it may cause a permanent stain if the paper gets wet. Rosin paper can even rip simply so it not normally really helpful for use
· Corrugated cardboard rolls or sheets will also be used to protect flooring. Corrugate provides impact protection nevertheless it is not coated with a waterproof finish and needs to be kept dry always so that it does not 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 as much as 3.5 mils in thickness. They trap any moisture from escaping so that they shouldn’t be used on any floors which can be curing. Two of the great 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 brief term use of 30 to ninety 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 will 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 precise sheet of thin wood. Each plywood and Masonite are sold in the standard dimension of four feet by eight toes and are more costly per square foot than paper or polyethylene products. Masonite is commonly 1/8 or 1/4 inch thick. Plywood is commonly 1/4 inch to three/4 inch thick. Each products provide impact protection on quite a lot of floor types and provide adequate protection in opposition to 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 ought to be used on high of a softer protection comparable to a rolled textile as they simply scratch flooring. These sheets work well to protect carpet as they stop wrinkles when rolling heavy loads over the carpet. Plywood and Masonite do not supply moisture protection and will be harder to chop to measurement than different protection types.
Textile Products
Textile products are commonly manufactured from recycled cloth. In addition, these rolled protection products usually have added benefits equivalent 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, typically leakproof and straightforward to cut to size.
With the intention to get hold of the complete benefits of using surface protection, proper application is a must. The floors ought to be clean (vacuumed or swept) prior to covering with the protection products. The proper choice of protection needs to be made so that moisture is just not trapped on floors that are nonetheless curing. Trapping moisture can cause a full product failure and will invalidate a wood floor manufacturer’s warranty. For heavy site visitors or loads, a number of protection layers may be needed.
In summary, there are a lot of decisions in temporary floor protection available today. When selecting a protection product, it is wise to consider the price, length wanted, breathability and potential to reuse the product. Profitable floor protection additionally includes proper set up and preparation of the floor. Always comply with the manufacturer’s recommendation to be used so the potential for adhesive transfer is avoided. Protecting valuable floors is a clever funding in time and money. Surface protection experts are additionally available to help you select the best floor protection to your needs.
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