A mezzanine floor can be an excellent way to increase the storage capacity of a warehouse. Whether you’re using the mezzanine as a raised storage area for shelving, racking, or just general storage, you’re effectively adding more floor space to your warehouse by going vertical. A mezzanine level is also an excellent way to regain lost store space created by plant equipment, manual handling equipment, and even indoor parking. Sometimes a mezzanine floor is just a good way to expand the storage of a warehouse and get more space out of it.
All of this is to say that there are a lot of reasons to install a mezzanine floor in a warehouse. A mezzanine floor is a versatile addition to any warehouse. The other benefit of a warehouse mezzanine floor is that they’re only semi-permanent. The floor itself can be relocated within the warehouse or even moved to a new site, ensuring that the warehouse is returned to its original state at the end of a lease.
All of this is because the base building doesn’t actually support the mezzanine. Instead, the mezzanine is supported by pallet racking, structural steel, or sigma section. There’s no need to actually use the base building at all.
Read on to find out how these support systems work and what the advantages of each system is.
Pallet Racking Supported Mezzanine Floors
A mezzanine floor supported by pallet racking is exactly what it sounds like. A racking supported mezzanine level either sits on top of pallet racking or a level midway up the pallet racking. In a system like this, the pallet racking needs to be designed to take whatever load will be on the actual mezzanine floor. However, if there’s additional pallet racking above the mezzanine floor, this racking is actually supported by the racking below, not the mezzanine floor itself.
Having a mezzanine floor supported by pallet racking has a number of advantages.
The biggest advantage is in a situation where the mezzanine sits on top of pallet racking This allows pallet racking that may need to be accessed with material handling equipment like forklifts to remain in place. Meanwhile, other items can be stored above the pallet racking without taking up valuable floor space. These items may be general warehouse items that don’t need to be used every day, shelving for storage of non-palletised items, or even a break area for warehouse workers. There are a number of possibilities.
Sigma Section Supported Mezzanine Floors
Mezzanine floors supported by sigma sections can be a great way to achieve a sturdy mezzanine floor with good spans, allowing for plenty of open space underneath the mezzanine floor itself. There’s almost no limit to how high a sigma section supported mezzanine floor can go. In fact, we here at Colby Dandenong have built sigma section supported mezzanine floors with two and even three levels.
The main advantage of sigma section supported mezzanine floors is that the sigma sections are highly modular. This means that mezzanine floors made with sigma sections can be erected quickly and relatively inexpensively compared to other methods.
However, although the modular system afforded by sigma sections can be great for many applications, and a lot of customisation can happen with sigma sections, there are limitations to how far the mezzanine floor can be customised.
Structural Steel Supported Pallet Racking
Although there are “standard” designs and parts for structural steel supported mezzanines, the biggest advantage is that structural steel allows for complete customisation of a mezzanine floor. Support systems for the mezzanine floor can be pre-fabricated off-site and put together relatively quickly onsite, however, since these components need to be fabricated, a completely customised structural steel mezzanine can take longer to create than other systems. With this in mind, a completely novel structural steel supported mezzanine is likely to be more expensive than other types of mezzanines because it’s a completely custom job.
All that being said, some unique storage situations may require a custom mezzanine be built and installed. These situations may include instances where the mezzanine needs to be an unusual shape due to the layout of the warehouse or a very specific height due to equipment needing to be stored under the mezzanine.
Mezzanines With A Combination Of Support Structures
A mezzanine floor doesn’t need to be constrained to a single type of support. There are a number of mezzanine floor designs that combine pallet racking support, sigma section support, and structural steel support. In this way, the mezzanine is designed and built for the exact needs of the warehouse. Furthermore, combining different support systems can be both cost and time saving because the more custom aspects of the design are minimised with more modular systems.
What’s Right For Your Warehouse?
The mezzanine floor design that’s right for your warehouse will depend on the exact situation and storage needs in your warehouse. Ultimately, there is always a mezzanine floor solution to suit specific needs. The mezzanine floor needed for your warehouse may be pallet racking supporting, sigma section supported, or a customised project made out of structural steel. Or it may be a combination of all three.
Contact us to discuss your mezzanine floor needs and how we can help.
