Non permanent Floor Protection – A Product Guide

Your floors need special protection when undergoing remodeling, during new development, 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 value hundreds of dollars in replacement and repair costs. This article describes surface protection products for floors to be able to make informed decisions on the most effective product to use to 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 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 materials bought by the sheet are commonly measured in thickness by the inch (e.g., 1/four-inch thick) and normally come as four feet 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 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 usually 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 inexpensive however doesn’t afford any impact protection and might simply tear

· Scrim paper may incorporate coatings or reinforcements to make them water resistant as well as scrim threads to bolster the paper and stop tearing. These improved papers are longer lasting than common Kraft paper or rosin paper nevertheless they are additionally too thin to offer much impact protection.

· Rosin paper is thicker than Kraft paper and could be 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 may cause a permanent stain if the paper gets wet. Rosin paper can also rip easily so it not usually recommended to be used

· Corrugated cardboard rolls or sheets will also be used to protect flooring. Corrugate provides impact protection however it shouldn’t be coated with a water resistant end 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 2.0 up to 3.5 mils in thickness. They trap any moisture from escaping so that they shouldn’t be used on any floors which might be 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 do not supply any impact protection and are usually rated for brief time period 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 alternative in sustainable protection. Protection films are available in a variety 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 a number 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 usual measurement of 4 feet by 8 feet 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 three/four inch thick. Both products provide impact protection on a wide range of floor types and provide adequate protection in opposition to heavy equipment use or furniture moving. Each plywood and Masonite are breathable and reusable nonetheless they’re bulky to hold 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 don’t supply moisture protection and could be harder to chop to size than different protection types.

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