Two sheets, both fluted, both roughly the same thickness. One costs more than the other. The question we get asked most often is whether the cheaper one will do, and the honest answer is that it depends entirely on how long the job runs and what is going to be on top of it.
Corflute
Corflute is the general purpose sheet. It is light, it cuts with a knife, and it is cheap enough that nobody minds trimming it to fit or throwing a piece away. It is the right choice for:
- Benchtops, glazing, door faces and stair treads
- Short jobs where the covering goes down and comes up within a few weeks
- Anywhere you need an odd shape cut on site
What it is not built for is sustained heavy traffic. Under a loaded trolley run, day after day, the flutes crush and the sheet stops spreading load the way it should.
Protection board
Rigid protection board is heavier, stiffer and made to stay down for the length of a program. It takes trestles, trolleys, dropped tools and the occasional wheelbarrow, and it keeps spreading the load rather than crushing under it.
Use board on the routes that get hammered: the entry, the main hallway, the run between the door and wherever the work is happening. It costs more per square metre and it earns that back the first time something heavy goes over it.
A simple way to decide
Ask two questions about the area you are covering.
- How long does it need to stay down? Weeks, corflute is fine. Months, use board.
- What is going over it? People only, corflute is fine. Anything with wheels, legs or weight, use board.
Most jobs end up using both. Board on the traffic routes and work zones, corflute everywhere else and for the odd shapes. There is no rule that says one house gets one product.
Laying either one
Butt the sheets and tape the joins flat. An untaped join is a trip hazard and it lets grit work its way underneath, which defeats the point. Run the sheeting right to the skirting rather than leaving a border of exposed floor at the edges, because the edges are where the vacuum, the ladder feet and the paint tin all end up.
If you are pricing a job and you are not sure how to split it, tell us the square metres and the program length and we will work it out with you.
