In the realm of industrialization and increased demands of space for industrial, commercial, or residential applications, mezzanine floors have been a blessing. They are used to improve the storage space by adding another level in between the floor and the ceiling. These floors are thus used widely in different applications to increase the storage or working space of the areas, therefore making it an easily accessible storage space. Thus, in this article we will delve deep into knowing what mezzanine floors are, what mezzanine floors do, the different types of mezzanine floors, and of course how are mezzanine floors built all under the same article.
What are Mezzanine Floors?
Mezzanine floors are those intermediate or extra floors that are added to the main floor of the building between their ceiling and ground, to add more space and working space in areas like industries, warehouses, residences, or even commercial shops. Some of the major points to be remembered about the mezzanine floors are as follows:
- Space Optimization: The mezzanine floors are an effective solution to increase the storage or workspace of an area where ground space is at a premium with high ceilings as it uses a lot of vertical space maximizing the easy workflow of the area.
- Versatility: These floors offer versatile options in many industries, warehouses, libraries, offices, commercial places, or even in residential buildings to increase the storage or workspace of the areas where space is very limited and requires an increment in the storage space.
- Durability: The robust nature of these floors that are constructed with concrete, wood, steel, or any other composite materials provides increased durability to the mezzanine floors for accommodating heavy loads as per the requirements and load-bearing capacities of these mezzanine floors.
- Customization: The flexibility of these floors has made them a better and first choice for enhanced spacing in different areas, as they can be easily modified into different shapes and designs as per the need of the area in which the mezzanine floor needs to be installed.
- Building Regulations: The mezzanine floors are necessary to meet the building codes and regulations to ensure the structural integrity and safety of the working environment in the buildings, which include the heights of the mezzanine floors, their columns, beams, and all other structural elements.
What do Mezzanine Floors do?
Mezzanine floors are the ones that provide multiple functions in all the different areas they are used in. Here’s a complete overview of their functions provided in different areas of installation:
- Additional Space: The mezzanine floors use the vertical space of the areas and thus double the original pace of the budding, by adding extra storage or workspace for the areas that are beneficial in many ways, like no hindrance to the blueprint of the building or no high cost is required as compared to the construction of new buildings.
- Increase Storage Space: In areas like industries, warehouses, offices, commercial places, or libraries these mezzanine floors can be installed to store extra items in the area. These floors not only increase the storage space but also provide a lot of load-bearing options to store different weights as per the needs.
- Enhanced Workspace: For offices, or libraries these mezzanine floors act as the extra workspace for the areas to enhance their easy workflow creating additional places for official meetings, reading rooms for libraries, and others in different official areas of installation.
- Cost-Efficient: In comparison to the new construction of the building to create increased storage or workspace for any of the above-mentioned applications, these mezzanine floors are ht cost-effective solutions as they are cheaper and can be easily installed and used without any complexity or running out of your bank.
- Load-Bearing: If you wish to accommodate heavy equipment or machinery for a longer period of time, or you wish to hold on to lighter weights for a temporary period, mezzanine floors allow everything in one space. This shows that the load-bearing capacity of the mezzanine floors is flexible depending upon the material of construction and the requirements of the user.
Types of Mezzanine Floors
The mezzanine floors offer different options for their use to be designed in a multiple way as per the needs and choice of the areas. Some of the major types of mezzanine floors used widely are as follows:
- Rack-Supported Mezzanine Floors: These floors are built using the support of pallet racks used to store different items in a row, making the business easy for industries or warehouses to make the workflow convenient.
- Shelving-Supported Mezzanine Floors: Like the rack-supported, these are supported by the shelving units that provide several shelves to easily store items and make their enhanced use, along with their accommodation, finding an easy arrangement in the shelves to make the productivity of the workspace increased.
- Free-Standing Mezzanine Floors: These are the modern framework that does not rely on the building structure and stand on their own basis, These floors are also known as modular mezzanine floors, adding to the flexibility, versatility, and overall appearance of the area.
- Concrete Mezzanine Floors: In order to have permanent options for storage or workspace that needs to accommodate heavy weights of equipment, machinery, or any other item in the industries or warehouses especially. These materials are the best option to increase the durability and load-bearing capacities of these floors.
- Steel Mezzanine Floors: One of the most widely used mezzanine floors in different areas of application like industries, warehouses, offices, or libraries. These materials are the best to accommodate heavier to milder weights for a longer period of time and are widely used in the areas of temporary or lighter weight areas of use.
How are Mezzanine Floors built?
The building of mezzanine floors involves several steps that need to be met in order to ensure the safe use of floors and maintain the structural integrity of the buildings. The steps of building mezzanine floors are thus as follows:
- Site Inspection: The first and major step in installing or constructing a mezzanine floor is the inspection of the site, like in which building or floor the mezzanine floors are to be installed and checking their building regulations and instructions which need to be commended on while the construction and installation of the mezzanine floors.
- Design: Keeping in mind the area of the building, its blueprint, and the requirements of the user, the design of mezzanine floors is prepared by the architects and given to the craftsman to construct the same designed mezzanine floors for installation in the respective area.
- Choice of Materials: The third most important step in mezzanine floor installation is the choice of materials. It completely depends upon the nature of use, period, and the requirements of the users. Some of the common materials of construction in mezzanine floors involve concrete, wood, steel, or composite materials of steel-concrete or steel-wood.
- Weight Calculations: The engineers in the installation and construction of the mezzanine floors then calculate and ensure the capacity of the mezzanine floors constructed to accommodate the desired weight and load of the specific area of installations.
- Fabrication: Once everything is constructed as per the requirements, designs, and width capacity of the floors they have now assembled off-site the installation area as per the design given by the architect to meet needs.
- Installations: the installation begins by assembling and connecting all the frames together in a row, followed by the accessibility frames like ladders, stairs, or any other safety equipment like railings, fire safety, and others to ensure their safe use.
- Testing: The last one comes for the testing of the floors, which ensures the design, weight capacity, manufacture, and installation of the floors are made to be correct for the longer intended use of the particular area.
FAQs on How are mezzanine floors built?
Q1: What are the key design considerations for a mezzanine floor?
Ans: The key factors to be considered while designing the mezzanine floors are their weight capacity, the structural integrity of the building, space optimization, and the maintenance of building codes and regulations.
Q2: How long does it typically take to build a mezzanine floor?
Ans: The construction time depends upon the design, dimension, and area of the installations however roughly it takes the time of around 4-8 weeks of construction and 1- 2 weeks for installation of the mezzanine floors.
Q3: What permits or regulations are required for installing a mezzanine floor?
Ans: The regulations of mezzanine floors installation includes the height limitation which should not exceed the one-third of the floor’s height, their beams, columns must match with the building codes and original blueprint of the area, and comply with the building codes and regulations.
In conclusion, mezzanine floors are one of the most important for areas that have limited space and a budget to construct new working or storage spaces. Thus, for further inquiries about the cost and installation of mezzanine floors in real time you can contact our customer support team at SimcoSteel.