When you have a business that is expanding faster than you had anticipated, you often run out of space for storage and operations, and may also find it economically difficult to hire out more space, or even shift to larger premises. At this time, you must look at the vertical spaces in the building you have, and look at the possibility of putting in a mezzanine. You can talk to these experts when it comes to mezzanine floors leeds and other storage solutions services.
Mezzanine floors can take advantage of any unused vertical space that you have when the floor area you have is not sufficient for the uses that you have for your space. A typical mezzanine floor is erected between the floor and ceiling in the same space. This then becomes an extra floor that you can put to any use that you can make from it.
One use, and often the most common, is to use the mezzanine floors for storage, and this is fairly common in retail shops that often need space to store goods that allow them to create the volume of inventory that is most suitable for their business. You can always rent out extra storage space, but this can make for a recurring expense, which you can avoid by going in for the capital expenditure that allows you to create your own storage space.
Mezzanine floors can often be used to create extra space for production units on a factory floor. Create the extra space and set up your production units close to the facilities that you already have so that you are always in control of things. When you create a mezzanine floor for production units, you will have to ensure that the floor is designed for the load that it will be required to carry, and may also need to look at noise levels and vibration, as the floor will add to the reflecting surfaces.
Offices and space for supervisors is often a problem in factories and production units, and siting them in other buildings can cause coordination and efficiency problems. Here is where a mezzanine floor can come handy, as it allows these people to be located within the factory or production area, and still segregated enough from them to provide any privacy or to address other concerns. Often such mezzanine offices are also just over the production area, and this allows them to be in close and often visual contact with the areas being supervised. Some mezzanines in factories are often used for quality control and assurance sections that may require the setting up of testing facilities and laboratories that are needed.
Installing a mezzanine floor can be highly cost-effective as you may require to spend much higher amounts to move to new places with more room. Most mezzanine floors are designed with steel members and made of a simple framework of columns and a supporting beam framework for the floor. Floors can be of steel, wood, or even concrete. Installation is also faster, and disruption to the existing floor minimal, and can even be restricted to weekends or holidays. Most of these steel structures can be fabricated offsite and brought in only when they are ready for erection. Proper provision needs to be made for foundations for the support columns.
When you need to design a mezzanine floor you need to take into account its use. This can help you decide the loads for which the supporting steel structure has to be designed for. Another important, and often the most important is the headroom that you will have both below and above the mezzanine floor. These headrooms must allow free movement and not allow the mezzanine floor structure to be a hindrance in any way for the work that is to be carried out. Another important aspect of mezzanine floor design is to provide easy access between floors. This can be in the form of staircases or even lifts which can help to save space and increase the utility of the mezzanine.
Mezzanine steel structures are easy to erect and even dismantle if you need to move them to other areas. With a little care, these structures can be aesthetically pleasing and often add to the value of the building. Mezzanine floors need to integrate seamlessly within an existing facility and create attractive, practical, and useful spaces that fully justify the cost of building them. In retail spaces, mezzanines give you more space to display your products and more space for the customers to move around. Add a mezzanine floor to your office, if the headroom is not a problem, as this can be done at the fraction of the cost that you many need for finding new space. It allows you to keep all your staff in one place, leading to better supervision and control while still expanding your business. Be careful to take care of lighting and ventilation problems that the provision of a mezzanine may create.
