Marquee flooring can make or break the quality of your marquee hire and greatly influence the price: so which flooring system should you go for?
Aside from Galas, a select number of festivals and hard standing structures; the majority of our marquees require some form of flooring system. Imagine a garden party for an anniversary or birthday party. Ladies heels sinking into grass; muddy boots trailing dirt over the newly laid carpet; and gents falling bottom first into the mud when the dance moves inevitably go wrong! Particularly in Scotland, where considerations relating to heavy rainfall, high water table levels, and dampness is heightened; flooring becomes a critical element of any marquee hire. But choose the wrong floor and your marquee hire could become a disaster. Whilst the majority of quality marquee hirers stock similar structures in terms of framework from a select number of manufacturers, there is a large variation in the different types of flooring systems employed within Scotland alone. At Crown Marquee Hire, we've invested heavily in our flooring systems and can safely say that we offer the correct solution, and in some instances the only solution, for almost any type of terrain.
Direct Lay or Raised Flooring?
Generally, the type of flooring can be categorised as either 'Direct Lay' or 'Raised Floor', with the former sometimes being the sole system used by some hirers and start-ups. As the term direct lay suggests, these flooring systems are installed with direct contact onto underlying surface. As such, the finished floor will follow the camber of the ground upon which it is situated. If possible, we would recommend an even, flat surface upon which you can install your marquee. In this case, a direct lay floor is absolutely fine. However, in many cases, some may wish to install a marquee on uneven ground or across multiple levels. In this scenario, a raised floor is required. This will enable your installer to create a perfectly flat surface upon which the marquee is then erected. Benefits of the system include the ability to accomodate marquees in restricted spaces, were ground levels are often uneven, on different levels, or even afford the hirer to raise the marquee so that guest mat appreciate a particular view or landsacpe.
Direct Lay Flooring Systems
As mentioned previously, these floors are the most common and cost effective way of flooring a large space but, as we also suggested, the type of direct lay flooring used by a marquee company provides several advantages and disadvantages which should be considered.
Coco, Coconut or Coir Matting
Let's start with the cheapest of these options which is Coir Matting - sometimes referred to as coco or coconut matting. If you read our earlier blog post [- NEWS5]The Jargon Buster HSE Guidelines, Types of Marquees and What to Look out For[/], - then you'll find that what we stated is cheap is generally cheap for a reason? In this case, there is multiple reasons not to opt for this type of flooring, particularly in Scotland! Granted ,there is some advantages for using coco matting other than the fact that it is cheap. To list a some: this matting is thick and provides an impenetrable membrane for high heels. It allows for undulating ground without any protruding corners often associated with wooden ply floors. And it even provides soft texture/ attractive finish, assuming your matting is well maintained and clean. But herein lies the problem. In Scotland, it is practically impossible to maintain a clean stock of coco matting and believe us we've tried. That being said, Coco matting serves a purpose and shouldn't be discounted in warmer, dry climates.
Wooden Ply Flooring
Traditionally, this is the most common type of flooring used by most marquee companies owing to its durability when treated correctly. The typical wooden plywood system works by treating 15 mm thick boards and placing upon wooden batons which are nailed to the underneath of the board. If treated properly, regularly cleaned, dried and stored indoors then this flooring is rightfully an effective option. However, maintenance presents and issue for most companies as, if the floor is left uncleaned between hires or stored outdoors, a slimy mould membrane can develop producing an engrained surface which is often slippy. To mitigate this problem, many event organisers will place a foam backed carpet on-top of the wooden ply. In our opinion, this is perfectly acceptable. However, where there is a slight undulation in the underlying lawn - then the boards should be properly packed to avoid any protruding corners which may present a trip hazard.
Plastic 'Interlocking' Flooring Systems
Our preferred choice of direct lay system consists of a 16mm thick plastic interlocking tile system. Whilst there is many different manufacturers of plastic interlocking floors and trackways, we've adopted the system which is designed specifically for marquees and is manufactured by GT TRAXX. This flooring is manufactured from reprocessed polyprop co-polymer, which offers a durable and thick high impact resistance, provides an anti-slip surface in accordance with BS certification for anti-slip, and (in our opinion) offers the best finish in undulating ground due to the interlocking 'tile' design which enables us to join adjacent panels without any protruding corners. In addition, the corrugated underside of these panels enables us to safely run wires and cables beneath, as well as create weather resistant walkways from your site venue to your marquee. Optional carpet can be laid on top as is the case for Wooden Ply Flooring.
Raised or Suspended Floors
Similar to a suspended floor commonly found in uneven construction sites, these flooring systems utilise a steel 'sub' frame to elevate the marquee structure and the finished floor from ground level. The benefit here is clearly the ability to raise the whole marquee above any uneven/ sloping ground in order to create a perfectly flat floor inside your marquee. However, there is limitations to certain sub structures as we will discuss below.
Steel Sub-floor Suspended 'or packed' on Timber Blocks
In essence, the construction of a steel sub frame provides a weighted and structurally sound platform upon which to erect your marquee. The construction of this steel frame is of a similar process conducted during the build of your actual marquee and, once the steel beams and sub-floor joists are positioned, the floor will be raised and levelled by way of 'timber blocks' which are stacked to the required level. Once levelled, plates are positioned at every three meters, through which steel anchors are driven into the ground to prop up the entire structure and stop the timber blocks from moving laterally. The finished floor is often softwood timber boards that are engineered to fit on top of the subframe. Theser are always polished to provide a finished softwood timber floor of a high standard. When the ground level or slope from end to end of your marquee is above 0.3 m then the use of timber blocks to raise the subframe is insufficient and an alternative system should be considered.
Our Floor Stak System - Steel Subfloor Suspended on Floor Stack Hydraulic Jacks
To our knowledge, we are the only Marquee Company in Scotland to offer the market leading "Floorstack" system. This is the name assigned to the flooring system which enables Crown Marquees to alleviate ground level slopes or multiple garden levels which exceed 0.3m from one side of your desired marquee position to the other. In fact, our Floorstak system enables us to raise the height of the floor level inside your marquee upto 2m above ground level. To do this, we use specially engineered hydraulic jacks which act as structural columbus underneath the foundations or subfloor to your marquee. Each column acts as a 'riser', positioned at every three meters, similar to the wooden blocks discussed previously. The added advantage is that each jack can be safely calibrated up-to 2m and re-calibrated in order to compensate for subsidence in 'swapy' saturated soils, commonly found in gardens and next to coastal regions such as those situated on some of Scotland's finest Lochs.
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