The current economic pressures mean that smart purchasing decisions need to be made and to do this quantity surveyors, specificators and buyers need to understand the implications of buying inferior floor grating. Floor grating is an engineered product and should be manufactured in such a way so as to ensure that it has the appropriate load bearing capacity for optimum safety in any given application. Andrew Mentis has been producing Rectagrid RS40 floor grating for more than forty years and the product has been proven over years of application in the construction, infrastructure and mining sectors.

Using a unique compressive pressure locking system, pioneered by founder Andrew Mentis, the bearer bars and transversals of the Rectagrid RS40 form an exact pitch of 40 mm by 40 mm, with the bearer bars being perfectly upright and without any sideways lean. The locking method at the intersections utilises the full depth of the bearer bar ensuring absolute structural integrity and load bearing capacity.

Elaine van Rooyen, marketing manager at Andrew Mentis, explains that with this process close tolerances are maintained with the round transversal bar fitting tightly through the pierced bearer bar to achieve the superior structural integrity of the product.

“This is what customers have come to accept as the benchmark when it comes to quality and load bearing capacity with floor grating, and with our process there are no cracks or crevices at intersections thus eliminating the possibility of corrosion which could weaken the floor grating,” she says.

She adds that because the intersection locking is so positive and strong, it is not necessary to band the grating. Andrew Mentis has, however, gone a step further and it is possible for the panels to leave the rolling mill finished on half pitch all round. This means that panels can be laid adjacent to each other to maintain a perfectly patterned floor with no banding. This is known as the ‘open ended system’. The company, however, also offers customers banded grating and has the facilities to accommodate this.

Andrew Mentis has also extended its range of floor grating to include product with a pitch of 40 mm by 40 mm, 45 mm by 40 mm, 45 mm by 50 mm and a 80 mm by 40 mm pitch which is known as RS80. Panels are available in 2.4 metre by 1.2 metre for ease of installation.