A mezzanine is only as good as its design. Get the layout, access and load rating right and you gain a floor that works hard for years; get it wrong and you're boxed in. Here are practical mezzanine floor design ideas, and the details that make the difference.
Start with how you'll use it
Every good mezzanine design starts with the job it has to do. Storage, offices, retail and production each pull the design in a different direction - the load rating, the deck, the access and the finish all follow from the use.
Nail this first and everything else falls into place. Try to design a generic floor and you end up compromising on all of them.
Design ideas that work
- An open storage deck over your racking - the simplest, highest-value use of empty height
- An enclosed office pod above the floor, with glazing that keeps an eye on the operation below
- A retail or showroom level with clean balustrade and a feature staircase
- A split-level design - storage one end, offices or a lunchroom the other
- A production or kitting level that lifts light assembly off the main floor
Get the details right
- Put the stairs where the traffic actually flows, not where they're easiest to bolt on
- Plan for natural light and services (power, data, lighting) before the deck goes down
- Choose the edge to suit the setting - industrial guardrail for storage, aluminium balustrade for customer-facing spaces
- Match the load rating to the real use, with headroom for how it might change
Design for change
The smartest design decision is to keep your options open. A modular Altivo mezzanine bolts together and can be extended a bay at a time - so the floor you design today can grow, reconfigure or even relocate as the business does.