Every plater is faced at one time or another with the problem of repairing or replacing the floor in his or her plating room. The plater wants to do it as quickly as possible so as to get back into production with the least downtime, yet to make a repair that will last. This is particularly important where there is automatic machinery—where plating racks are lowered, timed, and raised in an automatic cycle, and deterioration of the floor can make a tank tilt out of alignment and cause the rack to hang up on a tank wall. In the past, small plating shops have made do at the start with an existing floor in a converted residential building where the floor is often of wood. Consider the problem that may exist with the heavy standing load of liquid-filled tankage on floors that were designed to support people and their furniture. The first thing to do is to check the beams and supports to be certain that their design is adequate and condition sound. A local contractor or engineer friend can do this for you at minimum expense and it is of key importance to your success. The engineer should consider inadequate any floor that will deflect visibly under the load that you expect to place on it. It is acceptable to feel movement as long as you cannot see it.
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