Just wondering whether there are any structural engineers out there who would like to face a small design challenge? The basis would be Dexion pallet racking to make two small mezzanine floors. Or possibly one mezzanine floor.
I have two vintage trucks that are 1.5 ton or 30 CWT capacity that are both tray backs. I would like to make a mini-mezzanine floor above each truck. I have seen a couple of variations of much larger mezzanine floors that have been made with Dexion Pallet Racking. I have approached Dexion and a couple of other companies that design these pallet racking based mezzanine floors. According to each company my job is too small for them to be interested in. To use the exact wording... "the floors size you are enquiring about are outside our standard scope of works we do now".
The Task:
I would like the mezzanine floors to be a free span platform directly over each of my truck's trays that feature the following dimensions:
Truck 1 Chevrolet = 3658 mm long by 2340 mm wide and a clearance height between the bottom of the pallet rail to the ground of 1500 mm.
Truck 2 REO Speed Wagon = 3353 mm long by 2200mm wide and clearance height of 1500 mm.
Available width for the two mezzanine spans to fit within is 5640 mm - with some wiggle room to go a bit wider - but not much more.
Also for the pallet racking frame to extend above the floor to allow a perimeter safety rail to be fixed to the structure.
Purpose: I want to be able to put a layer of yellow tongue, or specific type of recommended flooring, so that I can use the floor space to stand a sheet metal brake, English wheel, bead roller and pneumatic planishing hammer on. Then be able to drive the trucks from out under the clear span mezzanine floor. The trucks are in a shed with a concrete floor.
I have attached a couple of photographs to show how larger mezzanine floors have been made out of pallet racking. This is the readily available components that I would like to use. The second photograph is one of the trucks in nestled within their current environment.
No pun intended - I want to be able to use materials that are off the shelf - pallet rack frames and pallet rack beams. From watching a couple of overseas based YouTube videos, I would have to buy lengths of rectangular hollow section steel to form floor joists that provide the centre spacing for the recommended flooring. In the case of the the pallet racking the beams represent the floor bearers and the rectangular hollow section is spaced across it to form the floor joist that the flooring is attached to. See video, accessed 1st of May 2023 from, Rack Supported Mezzanine - IA Racking Solutions Singapore - YouTube.
Yes, if you could provide a quote for your design I would reimburse you for your efforts. I had originally asked for mechanical engineers - DiscoDB put me on the straight and narrow and educated me that I should have written structural - so I changed it to the correct term. Thank you DiscoDB.
Couple of things whilst I am thinking Lionel, your shed should have load bearing roof trusses, so some support for the mezzanine can come from above , .....and that yellow tongue is good but very heavy.
Lionelgee- it is actually a Structural Engineer you need, and being in QLD they need to be a Registered Engineer.
However, there are plenty of firms that will design and supply a free standing mezzanine floor in kit form. They will use their own software to design and ensure it complies with the relevant building codes, and will issue a design certificate.
You will need to specify the overall dimensions and the required floor loading (kg/m2).
I would google search Mezzanine Floor Kits QLD and ring around.
Thank you for pointing out the correct type of engineers. I have edited the original post to set the record straight. I did contact a crew in North Queensland who specialise in pallet racking based mezzanine floors. They were the ones I quoted. The no jobs are too big people. What a small job - not interested! Economies of scale I suppose.
Without including my substantial mass, the total weight in Kilograms 375.5 for all the sheet metal machines I have.
Lionel, that weight won't be spread over the entire surface of the floor. Think along the lines of walking on soft turf with clogs, compared to stiletto heels. I realise some imagination will have to be employed, as l am confident you have never worn the aforementioned footwear.
Also consider the extra mass (per square foot) the machines will create whilst being operated.
Hi Lionel,
If you need a designed solution you might try talking to Mecano Sheds in Gympie, they do a mezzanine floor product and might eliminate some uncertainty for you. I believe they deliver up your way as well.
I've just put up a 3.6 x 7.2 m shed and went with them because they were the only mob who would do a suspended floor. My floor is singled spanned over the 3.6m, is about 200mm x 1.5mm C section
I've got a wood lathe, table saw, band saw, drill press, tig welder etc etc and the floor does not bounce.
Colby is also another brand that does the same stuff as Dexion
The Dexion stuff is all pretty much pre-designed as per weight and the installers usually have access to software that approves the design.
It's been a while since I had to do anything involving racking, but the cross members come standard in a set of widths. From memory the widths of the beams are for 1,2 or 3 pallets so around 2.6m for the 2 pallet stuff.
and the standard weigh is around 1 tonne per pallet for the "standard" duty beam.
The beams come in a couple of weights, again from memory , light, standard and heavy.
The uprights are pretty standard but again come in a couple of weight classes.
I assume you are looking to get the racking 2nd hand, when I was looking (neigh on 20 years ago) the best bet was to contact the installers who tended to be on top of all of the 2nd hand stuff and they can give you an idea on the design capacity.
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