Is your warehouse facility running out of storage space? Are you looking to add office space to an existing facility without sacrificing your storage? Do you want to build up instead of out?
If you answered “yes” to any of the following questions, a mezzanine may be the solution for you.
For decades, Mazzella’s Warehouse Solutions Specialists have installed mezzanines at indoor and outdoor facilities in various industries nationwide. During that time, we have helped customers avoid building costly add-ons to their current facilities while increasing their space at reasonable costs. So, what is a mezzanine, and what benefits can it bring to your daily operations?
By the end of this article, you’ll learn the answers to the following questions:
What Is a Mezzanine?
Essentially, mezzanines are platforms built to get workers and storage space off the ground.
The size of a mezzanine can vary greatly: some can cover an entire floor; some can be as small as a work platform.
Sometimes, mezzanines can resemble catwalks that border large pieces of equipment. It’s common for them to be closed off too, allowing for office space in a manufacturing environment. Multi-level mezzanine floors are the most intricate design type, and they usually come with conveyors and lifts.
Mezzanines are usually made from steel, concrete, and wood and come with a set of steps for easy and safe access.
What are the Best Applications for Mezzanines?
When is it time for someone to consider a mezzanine?
Mezzanines are a great option for someone who needs versatile space in a compact environment. They have become commonplace in warehouses, storage facilities, and manufacturing plants nationwide.
But why wouldn’t you just purchase a warehouse rack? They are designed to maximize the vertical space at a facility. While warehouse racks are great for maximizing space, they may not be the best solution because the footprint of the new structure can’t be brought down over top of people who are working.
A mezzanine allows you to have a free span over first-floor workers and bridge the work area with space either for more storage or offices.
If your warehouse is landlocked, prices are too high to make adjustments, or you have a lease with several years remaining and still need more space, mezzanines are a way to increase capacity within your current structure.
If you need more space and can’t tear down a wall to modify the building, mezzanines will help you in a major way.
What Are the Benefits of Using a Mezzanine?
If you ended up purchasing a mezzanine, what benefits should your organization expect?
1. Increases Space
The most desired benefit of a mezzanine investment is increasing the space of existing facilities.
Depending on the mezzanine’s size, you can almost double the square footage of an existing warehouse.
2. Doubles as Fall Protection
We’ve built mezzanines in the past that function more like a catwalk, where they are used to work on or inspect a machine.
In fall production, you could use them to process the product and send that down a chute. Those processes used to be done utilizing a man lift, which created fall hazards. However, with a mezzanine, you have a permanent staircase and work platform.
Our specialists have built mezzanines spanning over the top of modular offices that don’t have loaded roofs that you can walk on. By building columns outside of the modular office’s perimeter, we’ve installed flooring on top and created more usable space.
3. Multi-Level Capability
We’ve seen it all and have even installed multi-level mezzanines.
These more closely resemble a catwalk system, where it’s a short platform leading to a tower-like structure needing to be accessed on several levels.
4. Easy Integration
Mezzanines will often be integrated with a flow lift for moving products to the new storage space safely and more dedicated.
You’re reducing your workers’ fall risk, and you’re not needing another piece of equipment (i.e. a forklift) to move your product.
If you’re worried about cost, installing a gate would be the way to go. It’s the cheaper way of moving products onto the mezzanine.
Modular offices, lifts and mezzanines are related because when you’re buying one, you often find yourself buying another, or at least two of the three. They work well with each other.
Also, it helps people relocate from the shop floor to create more usable space. Mezzanines with a modular office or lift to get product off the floor can help maximize your space.
5. More Versatility
Think of a mezzanine as an open dance floor with the ability to transform the space for multiple uses. Mezzanines offer flexibility and large open areas for diverse usage.
Mezzanines are also the most efficient way to create more square feet of space if you have the height to build upward.
6. Increased Durability
As far as the mezzanine itself is concerned, our suppliers are industry leaders and have engineers and staff in all 50 states. These engineers can pull up the standards of their states and make sure those mezzanines are installed to those specifications.
In states with higher levels of seismic activity, like California, the design will be more comprehensive
Mezzanines can go anywhere and everywhere because they’re not “industry specific” to need more room.
7. Outdoor and Indoor Use
Mezzanines can function in both indoor and outdoor environments. However, outdoor mezzanines will cost more money because the metal needs to be galvanized to withstand long exposure to weather.
The cost of galvanizing your mezzanine can range from several hundred to several thousand dollars. It depends on the size of the mezzanine and how extreme the environment is.
What Does a Mezzanine System Cost?
Our Warehouse Solutions Specialists will often quote a price and experience that “sticker shock” moment from end-users.
However, we urge you to look at it from another perspective. If you take the same square footage that the mezzanine’s footprint would cover, tear down a wall, pour a concrete slab and reframe the building with more walls, and call the permitting department, you’re talking about a significantly higher expense.
If you’re only looking to buy square footage for your facility, mezzanines are roughly half of the investment as adding to the footprint of your building.
Does Your Facility Need a Mezzanine?
If you are working in a limited space facility, have a tight budget, and need to limit downtime with the quick installation of pre-engineered systems, mezzanines should jump up your list of top investments.
While a simple product on the surface, mezzanines can help you:
- Add more space for offices/storage
- Limit downtime with a quick install of pre-engineered systems
- Increase safety for your workers
- Save money by avoiding costly building renovations
Mazzella’s warehouse solutions team has been a leader in inspecting and installing warehouse solutions for decades. Reach out to one of our specialists to learn more. Furthermore, dive into our other warehouse solutions articles, including one covering how often you should inspect your warehouse racks.
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