What Is A Mezzanine Floor?

A mezzanine floor is a raised platform built inside an existing building, using the empty height above the floor to create a second usable level. It sits between the ground floor and the roof, and in most cases it covers part of the building rather than all of it.

The structure usually stands on its own. It has its own columns on the concrete slab, its own beams and joists, and decking on top. That is the difference between a mezzanine and a second storey, which is part of the building itself.

Because it goes inside a building you already have, a mezzanine gives you more floor space without making the building any bigger.

The word is used in two ways. In an office block or a hotel, the mezzanine level is a partial floor that looks over the lobby. It usually sits between the ground floor and the first floor, which is why some lift panels show an M.

In a warehouse, workshop or shed, a mezzanine is built the same way but is made for work rather than looks. It is used for storage, pick and pack, a workshop or an office above the work area below.

When people call a builder about a mezzanine, they almost always mean the second kind.

Storage is the most common use, and usually the easiest to justify on cost. Slow moving stock goes upstairs, and the stock you move most often stays on the ground floor near the forklift aisles.

Other common uses are pick and pack areas, workshops, parts storage and offices. Moving the office upstairs is popular because it frees up ground floor space for forklifts.

In each case, the business has run out of floor space but still has height to spare. A mezzanine floor lets you use that height instead of moving to a bigger building.

Steel columns sit on the concrete slab and hold up the beams. Joists run between the beams, and decking goes over the joists to make the floor. You get up to it by a steel stair, and every open edge has a handrail, a mid rail and a kick rail, which is a low edge board that stops things sliding off.

The design work comes first. Before anything is built, we work out on a drawing where the columns can go without blocking your aisles, how much weight the floor has to carry, and how it will be certified.

The install itself is usually quicker than people expect. Most of the time goes into the engineering, the drawings and getting the steel.

A second storey is part of the building. It is held up by the building's own structure and changes the building itself, so it is a much bigger construction project.

A mezzanine stands inside the building on its own posts. The engineer decides whether it also needs to be fixed to the building's frame, and if nothing can be fixed to the building, it can stand completely on its own. That matters if you lease, because a free standing floor can be unbolted and taken out.

That is also why a mezzanine is much cheaper and quicker to build than a second storey.

You need enough headroom underneath, enough headroom on top, and room for the floor structure in between. Add those three together and that is the height your building needs.

Measure from the floor to the lowest thing under the roof, not to the peak of the roof. The steel frame where the walls meet the roof, ducting and sprinkler pipes are usually what limit the height, and buildings that look tall from outside often lose more height to them than people expect.

If you can tell us that one measurement, we can usually tell you on the phone whether you get a full level, a partial floor over one end, or storage only.