ESD flooring – material, installation, marking and earthing

The use of ESD flooring elements made of vinyl is particularly recommended as a material for ESD flooring. Vinyl is the plastic PVC (polyvinyl chloride).

ESD floor elements made of vinyl have the following advantages:

• Easy handling during installation
• Uncomplicated care
• Only little material remains after installation
• Can usually be installed without major preparations
• Rapid improvement of worn or poor subfloors

• Without “bumps” due to puzzle installation
• Elements can be removed quickly and at any time (without leaving any residue)
• Elements are reusable
• Elements (also individually) are interchangeable
• As a rule, the elements are particularly thick, which also allows the use of trolleys and chairs on the ESD floor covering, for example
• Unevenness can be corrected
• Relocation also possible during ongoing operation
• Laying around obstacles possible

ESD vinyl flooring elements can also be used to quickly lay large areas. The subfloor does not require extensive preparation as long as the subfloor is relatively level. This makes ESD floor elements a quick solution for covering worn or poor subfloors and making the area in question suitable for ESD applications. The vinyl elements can be laid on all hard surfaces, but also on carpets.

The ESD flooring elements are laid loosely on the floor and then fixed in place with their special interlocking system. All you need to lay them is a rubber mallet. No other tools are required. Thanks to the modular design, operations do not have to be interrupted while the ESD floor elements are being laid.

When laying the vinyl elements, care must be taken not to impair the functionality of fire doors, which is particularly the case if a fire door can no longer be opened inwards due to the height of the floor elements.

At the sides, the area created by the installed ESD vinyl flooring elements can be bordered with ramp elements. On the one hand, these ramp elements serve to ensure that no high edges remain at the edge of the ESD floor covering. This means that transport trolleys can be pushed over the ramp elements onto the raised floor covering without any problems. On the other hand, the ramp elements have a marking function in relation to the ESD floor covering. Ideally, one yellow and one black ramp element should always be attached alternately to the edge of the floor covering in order to achieve the best possible signaling effect.

Ideally, one yellow and one black ramp element should always be placed alternately at the edge of the floor covering in order to achieve the best possible signaling effect.

For corners without a wall connection, i.e. so-called “open corners”, you need two ramp elements per corner so that they can be mitred, i.e. cut at an angle. In this way, you can achieve the required angle and clean finish at the corner.

When buying ramp elements, you not only have to pay attention to the different colors, but also to the different toothing. There is one ramp element with positive teeth and one with negative teeth. With the positive toothing, the teeth protrude.

These ramp elements are used to terminate floor elements with negative toothing, where no teeth protrude, but recesses are provided on the edge below the elements, into which the teeth of elements with positive toothing engage.

The installed ESD floor elements, i.e. the ESD floor puzzle, should be earthed in at least two different places. Earthing modules, copper strips and connecting cables are required to carry out this earthing.

A copper strip should be laid under the floor elements every five meters to ground the floor covering. This copper strip should then be connected to earth via a 1 MOhm resistor.

The copper strip can be attached to the covering using a push button and then the whole thing can be connected to an earthing module via a connecting cable and earthed in this way.

Earthing modules are available for the socket outlet. There are also press studs on these earthing blocks, to which one end of the connecting cable is attached. The other end of the connecting cable is attached to the push button that is attached to the floor covering.

You can order ESD floor coverings online from the abovo online store. In addition to ESD vinyl flooring elements, you can also buy ramp elements, earthing modules, earthing kits with copper strips for earthing the floor covering and connecting cables from abovo.

The experts at abovo will be happy to advise you free of charge and without obligation on which ESD flooring is best suited to your applications. Simply contact us by phone or e-mail.