Case Studes:
Mezzanine Floors - Bad Jobs Made Good
Project 1:
Retail Mezzanine Floor - Teesside
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| Main beams different sizes greatly affect the alignment | The above image shows the result of badly drilled joists | Hole centres should be 50mm from each side and 35m from the ends |
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| Jagged ends - unsafe to handle | Only ½ hole showing | This is the result of a badly cut beam section - gap will cause problems when aligning joists |
Project with a Challenge
A recent call, on Tuesday 1st May 2007, from a second hand racking and mezzanine floor company in Kent, took the interest of our Contracts Manager. Apparently, this company’s installation team had a ‘car crash’ on the way to site and they badly needed a team of mezzanine installers to build 175 m² by Friday 4th May 2007. Our remit being: build the mezzanine floor out of part second-hand and part new materials. Fork-lift will be on site along with 2 towers for installation.
Our Contracts manager explained that it was too big a job at short notice to do in only 3 days but agreed to put 2 men on site to help out rather than turn down the job totally, stating that 5 days is a realistic time scale for that size of floor.
Problems to Overcome
Wednesday 2 nd May 2007 - we arrived on site and looked at the drawing. Incredibly the orange ‘blobs’ were the columns, the green ‘lines’ were the beams and there was no joist detail and no datum marked. We think the ‘coffee stain’ may have denoted the decking area.
Time to build - fork-lift did not work, 2 towers were only 1½ towers and far too wide to use. Time to check the materials - all the new materials appeared to have changed to second hand overnight - sorry, our apologies! THE BOLTS WERE NEW (WRONG SIZE BUT NEW) AND THE DECKING WAS NEW.
The following day another fork-lift arrived along with the correct towers - we can now start building. No we cannot! Even after the first bay was built we realized that the joists had been drilled incorrectly, cut the wrong length, the ends were jagged and the drill holes were burred. In a nutshell, we had to drill every joist - all 120 of them, of which 60% had to be re-drilled both ends.
We set the datum as verbally instructed and built the mezzanine only to find the datum incorrect. Not a problem you might think, accept that, after being told that the mezzanine floor was ‘precision engineered’, we now knew that we would require every tool on the planet to rectify. Thankfully, we are very well equipped, more to the point our installers have the patience of a saint. We also realized the mezzanine was over 200m² and not the 175m² already stated.
Our Solution
We basically re-fabricated a mezzanine floor and made it look that good that once the ceiling and column cladding was fitted, you would not notice it was secondhand. For 8 days we were asked for progress reports by the end user. We were very thankful that they realized they had been given a bad deal and they were very sympathetic towards our installers.
Throughout the duration of the installation the supplier's Contracts Manager never once called to see how we were progressing.
The end user however has praised our work and thanked us for not walking away from the job.
MEZZ-RACK SYSTEMS will undertake any type of job / project either for the trade or the public. The above case study is an example of the type of work we will ‘no longer undertake’. Only approach Mezz-Rack Systems if you want a first class job done.
Project 2:
2 Tier Stores Mezzanine Floor - Teesside
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| Unirack shelving ground floor showing lighting 2 hr column protection and ceilings | Ground floor lost and stolen property area for larger items | 1st floor storage area for lost property showing uni-rack shelving, column protection and suspended ceiling |
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| 2nd floor storage showing Uni-rack shelving | Light goods Micro-lift servicing all 3 floors | Open staircase showing perimeter handrail |
Project with a Challenge
When one of the largest building companies in the UK show an interest in your Company it goes without saying you will do anything to impress. This is what we did when asked to design and tender for a 2 tier mezzanine floor for a stores department for a new Police Headquarters in Teesside. The Company had previously placed an order with a company based in the Newcastle upon Tyne that had called in the receivers. They had to come up with a quick plan solution and Mezz-Rack Systems was the Company to resolve the situation.
Our designs and costs were accepted and an order placed for the procurement, supply, installation and Project Management of a Storage Solution to the following specification.
- 2 Tier mezzanine floor total area 684m/2.
- 2 hr fire rated ceilings to mezzanine ground and first floor.
- 2 hr fire rated column cladding to mezzanine supports
- 1 no. Dumb Waiter Lift Shaft.
- 282 no. bays of Uni-Rack shelving on 3 floor levels.
- Stud partition walls.
- 2 hr Staircase enclosure.
Problems to Overcome
After a site visit by our M.D. and on receiving verbal confirmation on no less than 2 occasions that the site was clear ready for Mezz-Rack Systems to commence installation, we arrived on site under the guise that the following would be in place.
- Building totally clear of contractors equipment and materials.
- Area outside totally clear of contractors equipment and materials.
- Area outside stores to be left totally clear for the off-loading and storage of our materials.
- Cladding and roof to be on the building.
- Solid ramp built for access to the building for fork-lifts and scissors lifts.
2 men arrived on site to off-load with 4 men on their way to help get the materials into the building and start the installation process and to speed up the installation.
Our 2 men completed their induction and were amazed at what confronted them. None of the above had been actioned and the site was probably twice as busy and cluttered as on the day of the site survey. In brief, no attempt had been made to clear up. This was made worse by the fact that our ‘standard’ wheel fork-lift, had been delivered and dropped off in the middle of the building site and could not be moved. Our scissors lift had been dropped off outside the stores but we could not move it inside because there was ‘no ramp’ built. If you think, by now, that life could not get any worse then you might imagine what goes through our installers' minds when they realize that the materials have already been off-loaded 400 yards away at the other end of the site with no means of transporting the materials to the build area.
How do we resolve this major problem? The simple answer is walk away and return when the contractor has cleared the area for you. This would work in the real world, but we had to take into account that it could be weeks before this happened and that our installers were heading for a very heavy installation programme which could not be amended.
Our Solution
We decided that the materials had to be inside the building a.s.a.p. (steel would rust, timber decking and plasterboard would ruin). We had to change our method statements and risk assessments to suit manual labour using up to 9 installers on a day-to-day basis. We needed to take into account that our installers were also working in deep snow and driving rain. We had nearly finished the mezzanine installation when we were held up by other contractors - we had to leave site and return 3 weeks later.
On our return we concluded the rest of the installation, completed the shelving and stud partition works - our ceiling installers were regularly held up by other contractors but amazingly we finished the job only 6 weeks later than scheduled.
As you would expect from a main contractor, they took no responsibility for the numerous mishaps and delays which would have driven most companies to despair. However, Mezz–Rack Systems persevered and completed the contract.
This case study is proof of the hard-work and tenacity that goes into all Mezz-Rack Projects.
Please refer to our installation section for further information on this project.
All shelving and racking systems - mezzanine floors - office partitions - suspended ceilings - fit-outs - projects / installations, large or small are carried out by our own experienced and efficient installation engineers.
By offering a multi product, turn key service Mezz-Rack Systems could well be the only Storage Equipment Company that you may ever need.
Mezz-Rack Systems are specialists in the design, supply and installation of storage systems, please refer to our consultation & advice section if you require or are looking for a complete project design, procurement, installation and projects management package.
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