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Your floors need special protection when undergoing remodeling, during new construction, moving heavy furniture or equipment, and for other events beyond day-to-day use. Protecting flooring is smart and saves money. A spill of paint, the drop of a hammer, a scratch from heavy furniture may cost lots of money in replacement and repairs. This post describes surface protection products for floors so that you can make informed choices on the very best product to use for your requirements.

Types of Protection Packaging:

Floor protection goods are commonly packaged as either:

(1) Products from the roll: Included in this are common 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 up to 48 mils thick).

(2) Products with the sheet: Such as corrugated plastic, masonite, along with other rigid protection. Protective materials purchased through the sheet can be measured thick with the inch (e.g., 1/4-inch thick) and normally be 4 feet by 8 feet.

Form of Flooring Protection:

Paper

Paper protection is suitable for all hard surfaces and resilient surfaces but can not work well to guard carpets as it may tear when flexing under footsteps. Paper merchandise is breathable so that glue fumes and cement curing vapors can escape. One disadvantage in paper products while they require tapes to secure these to flooring and tapes may leave adhesive residue when removed. Common paper protection products include:

· Ramboard A coated compressed paper board 38 mils thick which is breathable, water resistant and made from recycled paper.

· Kraft paper is often a lightweight brown paper that is inexpensive but won’t afford any impact protection and can easily tear

· Scrim paper may incorporate coatings or reinforcements to make them water resistant along with scrim threads to strengthen the paper and stop tearing. These improved papers are much more than regular Kraft paper or rosin paper however they are also 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 enormous disadvantage of using Rosin paper is that it may cause a permanent stain if the paper gets wet. Rosin paper could also rip easily in order that it not normally suitable for use

· Corrugated cardboard rolls or sheets may also be used to protect flooring. Corrugate provides impact protection however it’s not coated using a waterproof finish and should be kept dry constantly so it won’t disintegrate. Cardboard merchandise is made available as single-, double-, and triple-walled corrugated cardboard sheets or being a fan-folded stack.

Polyethylene Film

Polyethylene (PE) films can be bought as self adhesive rolled films varying from 2.0 as much as 3.5 mils in depth. They trap any moisture from escaping so they really should not be utilized on any floors that are curing. Two great benefits of polyethylene films are that films will flex and contour to allow them to supply on carpets and also hard surfaces. These films do not offer any impact protection and therefore are normally rated abbreviated term utilization of 30 to 3 months only. Polyethylene films are designed for one-time use , nor use recycled materials causing them to be an inadequate choice in sustainable protection. Protection films can be found in many different adhesion “tack”. Hard surface protection films will have a lower tack and color than carpet protection which requires a more aggressive glue to support onto carpet successfully.

Wood Products

Wood Merchandise is popular as protection on commercial projects with lots of foot traffic generating from wood fibers or actual sheets of thin wood. Wood Goods are purchased in the typical sized 4 feet by 8 feet and therefore are higher priced per square feet than paper or polyethylene products. Wood Products provide impact protection over a number of floor types and offer adequate protection against heavy equipment use or furniture moving. Wood Products are breathable and reusable however are bulky to transport and store. These wood sheets ought to be used on surface of a softer protection like a rolled textile while they easily scratch flooring. These sheets work well to shield carpet while they prevent wrinkles when rolling heavy loads in the carpet. Wood Products usually do not offer moisture protection and can be harder to slice to size than other protection types.

Textile Products

Textile items are commonly produced from recycled cloth. In addition, these rolled protection products will have added benefits for example skid resistant backings or breathable plastic liners. For wooden floors, these specialty textile rolls are recommended since they are breathable, skid resistant, reusable, often leakproof and easy to slice to size.

Using the Surface Protection

As a way to have the full-benefits utilizing surface protection, proper application is essential. The floors should be clean (vacuumed or swept) before covering with all the protection products. The right range of protection should be made to ensure that moisture is not trapped on floors which might be still curing. Trapping moisture may cause a full product failure and can invalidate a wood floor manufacturer’s warranty. For heavy traffic or loads, several protection layers may be required.

In summary, there are many choices in temporary floor protection currently available. When scouting for a protection product, it is wise to take into consideration the cost, duration needed, breathability and possibility to reuse the merchandise. Successful floor protection includes proper installation and preparation in the floor. Always follow the manufacturer’s recommendation to use therefore the prospect of adhesive transfer is avoided. Protecting valuable floors is a wise investment in money and time. Surface protection experts are offered also to help you pick the right floor protection to meet your needs.

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