When buildings have high ceilings, it is easy to add an extra mezzanine floor in between the floor and the ceiling. These mezzanine floors cover a specific area of the floor and are not extended over the entire area of the floor.
Mezzanines maximize the use of the vertical space and can help to provide additional rooms and can even be built free of the existing structure. Mezzanine floors are quite commonly found in industrial settings and are largely used to provide office space for supervisory staff, for extra storage and others. Most mezzanines are free-standing structures and are typically constructed from steel.
A typical mezzanine will have columns that will bear the load of the entire floor and may require foundations to be dug into existing floors, or the use made of other arrangements to guarantee their structural stability. Primary beams that make the main support of the mezzanine will span across all the columns to form a strong structural grid. Purlins or joists will then bridge across these primary beams and be used as points for fixing any decking. The decking forms the main floors of the mezzanine and can be of timber, steel or even concrete if the structure is permanent.
When you design mezzanine floors it is essential to make provision for staircases or other arrangements to approach the higher level so created. It is also necessary to decide on covering the sides of this newly created space if it is to be used for offices or other functions that require any security. If no such requirement is found necessary, for reasons of safety, most mezzanine floors will be provided with handrails all along their perimeter.
Safety and fire protection measures must be applied in their design so that the mezzanine is safe for use. You will find mezzanines in many retail spaces, which are often used to store extra goods for sale. During their design, it is important to decide on their usage, so that floors and support structures can be designed for the loads that the use of the mezzanine will impose on it. Permissions from building regulation authorities are often necessary for the construction of mezzanines.
Mezzanine floors make for an extension of the usable space within a structure and greatly reduce costs while improving the utility of the building. It is a solution that must be looked at if the proper conditions of headroom for both areas below and above the mezzanine are available.