Leveling with laser precision

Floors in buildings have increasingly higher flatness requirements. Initially it was only the large distribution centers, but nowadays large retail chains also demand a certain flatness of the floors. So says Herbert Nieuwenhuis, who with Nieuwenhuis Ondergrondvoorbereiding en Vloerafwerkingsbedrijf Egalizer pre-treats all kinds of substrates and, if desired, finishes them with laser precision. Both for new construction and renovation.

A flat floor has numerous advantages. According to Nieuwenhuis, it is therefore logical that more and more retail chains are making demands on the flatness of the floor. "Chains such as Primark, TK-Maxx and the high racking warehouses of Scania and Van Keulen benefit from a flat floor, because then they don't have to do any tricks to place their racks. The same applies in large distribution centers. A few millimeters of floor space in a high rack warehouse is not conducive to maneuvering a reach truck. Such floors are therefore delivered seamlessly with a flatness measurement, whereby the flatness is checked by an independent agency."

Total floor renovation

Nieuwenhuis.NL and Egalizer are two separate companies, but in many cases they do fly together on a project, especially when it comes to renovation projects. Nieuwenhuis: "With Egalizer we focus on the preparation of substrates within the set DIN, NEN and NOC*NSF (flatness) requirements and within often short lead times. Thanks to the combination with Nieuwenhuis we also keep all preparatory work in one hand. Think of activities such as blasting, sanding or planing (industrial) floors, bridges, steel (ship) decks, walls and facades. But also carrying out non-structural demolition work, such as the mechanical removal of tiles with our Terminator, is no problem at all. Thus, the client has only one point of contact from start to finish. In doing so, we make a thorough analysis of the work in advance in order to achieve the best possible end result. And we do this for projects in the Benelux and Germany."

Expertise

The advantage of the strict separation in activities is that Nieuwenhuis can also be called in by third parties and, in turn, Egalizer can fall back on the knowledge, skill and years of experience (since 1987) of the Nieuwenhuis group. "In the analysis we take into account the local situation," continues Nieuwenhuis. "For example, we can possibly apply a moisture barrier under the leveling layer to prevent rising damp. Consider situations where the floor is below ground level or where the first floor lies on an inadequately ventilated crawl space. The finish floor will fold out irrevocably if measures are not taken. We are also able to work with a thinner end thickness than usual in certain situations, up to sometimes 2 to 3 millimeters less. We have prepared floors for almost all common finishes, such as parquet, tiles, PVC coverings and sports floors with NOC*NSF standard. We do not shy away from any challenge and always come up with a technically feasible solution."

Both Nieuwenhuis and Egalizer are not affiliated with any particular (raw material) supplier. "For every situation we select the right products with the best value for money. In addition, we can carry out projects on site completely self-sufficiently with our own power supply as well as our own water buffer," concludes Herbert Nieuwenhuis.   

Text | Roel van Gils   Image | Nieuwenhuis.NL-Egalizer