Mezzanine Floors

Alternatives to mezzanine floors:

Pallet Racking Floors | Two tier shelving floors

What is a Mezzanine Floor?

A mezzanine floor is essentially a raised platform that is supported by steel columns and is totally independent of the host building. It allows you to create additional floorspace from wasted air space above your existing work and storage areas and can be used to create extra office, storage, production, or even retail space. This may double, or even triple, the amount of space available. They are probably the most cost-effective and efficient means of significantly increasing your floorspace and storage capacity and are a rapid alternative to relocation with minimal disruption.

Mezzanine floors can be as small as 2 m x 2 m or larger than 60 m x 40 m, and up to 6+ m tall. They can be one, two or three tiers high, have standard or special staircases, lifts or access gates, handrails or partitioning barriers. They can use wood or steel decking, be finished in special colours, and can be totally encased, if desired. In fact, almost any conceivable option can be incorporated!

There are no standard sizes of mezzanine, although the optimum grid size (distance between legs) is in multiples of 3.5 m x 4 m, with 2.4 m clear to the underside of the structure. The intended use of the floor will dictate the loading requirement. In practice it is usually based on a minimum of 70 lbs per ft2 for general office space, 100 lbs per ft2 for light to medium storage, and 150 lbs per ft2 for heavy duty storage or wheeled traffic. If required, your floor can be designed to accommodate much higher loadings.

Every mezzanine we supply is calculated and designed to meet your individual site and usage requirements. Because of the almost infinite heights, sizes, floor loadings and options available, the best course of action is to contact one of our specialist sales people and ask for a free no obligation site visit and quotation.

The main components of a mezzanine are shown in the diagram below.

• Cost-efficient increased space
• Fully demountable, so they can be relocated at a later date
• Increased potential storage space
• Avoids relocation costs by making use of available space
• Flexible design option, can be used for many purposes
• Excellent fire protection available
• Lightweight, economic steel structure
• Bespoke design to meet precise customer requirements
• Seamless integration within existing environment
• Fast-track construction, with minimum disruption
• High quality, powder coated ancillaries in a wide choice of colours

Mezzanine Components
Perimeter Handrail and Toeplate		Pallet Access Gate	Tongue & Groove Decking
Handrailing gives a bolt-free appearance and comprises powder coated, tubular hand and knee rails supported by rolled hollow section posts.	Toeplates give edge protection and comprises 100 mm high flat sided steel oval profile slots into the centre of the handrail posts.	Safety gates, designed to protect personnel at exposed opening points on the floor edge, safety gates may have a light weight, fail-safe, roll over operation or be of the sliding trombone type. They can accommodate standard sized pallets and require minimal maintenance.	Various types of material may be used as decking, including 38 mm high density particle board, including moisture resistant and fire retardant versions to BS 5268 and SEMA guideline 3; chequer and plain steel plate grade 43 to BS 4360; open mesh flooring grade 43 to BS 4360. Decking materials can be treated for Class O spread of flame for fire safety in accordance with part B of the Building Regulations.
Staircase	Main Support Beam	Floor Support Columns	Secondary Deck Beams
Comprises fully welded, powder coated, rolled hollow section stringers, treads of a choice of durbar steel plate, open mesh, hardwood or softwood and optional risers.	Main beams are of hot rolled, universal beams (grade 43), finished in a single coat paint.	Columns are of hot rolled, square hollow section or universal columns finished in a single coat paint.	Secondary beams are of cold formed, inward lipped channels, manufactured from pre-hot dipped, galvanised steel to BS EN 10147 grade S350, GD+Z coating G275.

There are cost effective alternatives to the mezzanine as long as you wish to store products on the ground floor and you know your layout requirements will remain constant, such as:-

Pallet racking floors are primarily used for heavier duty and large area storage applications that require two or more tiers in the height, called a 'two tier or three tier racking floor'.

They comprise of pallet racking frames set out in standard runs usually with aisles no wider than 1.2m, the floor decking is supported on timber or steel joists which in turn span across heavy duty 'floor beams' clipped into the pallet racking frames.

The ground floor then has shelf beams with chipboard, timber or mesh shelf panels added where required in the runs of racking.

The ground floor racking frames protrude through the decking level to form the racking on the first and or second floors and shelf beams / panels are added as and where needed.

The pallet racking floor system can also form a 'racking floor over' when the ground floor comprises the same as above but the middle frames finish just below the decking and the perimeter frames continue past the decking to create the edge handrails.
This leaves the entire first floor as one open space which is commonly used for bulk / block stacking of goods.

Independent racking can be used on the first floor of this type of structure BUT we must be notified prior to design stage as the ground floor loading MUST be designed to accommodate the 'punch loads' of first floor racks.

Shelving floors usually comprise of shelving frames set out in standard runs with aisles no wider than 1m, the floor decking is supported on steel joists fixed to steel angles bolted along the faces of the shelving runs / bays.

The ground floor then has standard steel shelves and accessories added where required in the runs of shelving.

The ground floor shelving frames protrude through the decking level to form the racking on the first floor in the same configuration as the ground floor and shelves are added as and where needed.

The shelving floor system can also form a 'shelving floor over' when the ground floor comprises of the shelving system as above but the middle frames finish just below the decking and the perimeter frames continue past the decking to create the edge handrails.

This leaves the entire first floor as one open space which is commonly used for bulk / block stacking of goods.

Independent shelving can be used on the first floor of this type of structure BUT we must be notified prior to design stage as the ground floor loading MUST be designed to accommodate the 'punch loads' of first floor shelves.

It is almost impossible to fire rate the floor -

• Which means they are not suitable for any other use than storage purposes.

The ground floor must always remain as racking / shelving -

• You can usually alter ground floor shelf levels but the entire frame and beam design forms the loading structure for the first floor.

If you may need to alter the shelving aisles, remove bays completely or possibly use the floor for anything other than storage purposes we would recommend a 'Mezzanine Floor' as this will provide more flexibility.

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