Worldwide Shipping
Trade Prices
Next Day UK Delivery
Excellent Customer Rating
Buying Guides
We’ve distilled years of hands-on experience into clear advice on selecting the best shrink wrap products for your project.
Shrink Wrap Doors and Access Points: Which Type Do You Need?
Need access into a shrink wrap enclosure? This guide explains step-through zipper doors, roll-up doors and inspection hatches, including where each type works best and what to consider before installing.
Shrink Wrap Training: Do You Need It, What It Covers, and How to Get the Most From It
Thinking about bringing shrink wrapping in-house? This guide explains when training makes commercial sense, what a good course should cover, and how to get the most from shrink wrap training for scaffold, industrial and modular building work.
Shrink Wrap Tape: Buying Guide and How Many Rolls You Will Need
Shrink wrap patch tape is used for repairs, protrusions, roof joints and zipper access doors. This guide explains what to look for when buying tape and how to calculate how many rolls you need for a scaffold shrink wrap project.
Scaffold Shrink Wrap vs Traditional Sheeting: Which Is Right for Your Project?
Choosing between scaffold shrink wrap and traditional scaffold sheeting affects wind resistance, containment, appearance, installation and cost. This guide explains when each option is the right choice for your project.
LPS1207 & LPS1215 Certified Scaffold Shrink Wrap: How to Check Flame Retardant Compliance
Not all flame retardant scaffold shrink wrap is equal. This guide explains the difference between EN13501, LPS1207 and LPS1215, why certification matters, and how to check that your shrink wrap film is genuinely compliant before ordering.
Shrink Wrap Film Buying Guide: How to Choose the Right Film and How Much You Need
Much of the shrink wrap film sold for construction and industrial use is standard plastic sheeting. This guide explains how to choose the right shrink wrap film grade, what to check on a specification sheet, common failure problems, and how to calculate how many rolls you need.
What Is Printed Netting?
Printed debris netting is a fabric that has been specifically designed to be printed onto. It is a little heavier than standard debris netting and has a thicker filament to accept the print. It’s only available in white, but any background colour can be printed onto it. It comes in a variety of lengths and widths and is available as both Flame Retardant and standard material. Printing onto netting does rely heavily on the skill and experience of the printer along with needing the correct specialised equipment. WHO USES PRINTED NETTING? Initially the people buying printed debris netting were scaffolders who wanted to use the space to advertise their businesses, however, once it been seen on scaffold other types of businesses became interested. We have supplied printed debris netting to a variety of clients including; building contractors using the netting for Heras Fencing covers, sports clubs for fencing and practice nets, events management and even as art installations. We have clients who run a youth football team who use the netting around the pitch which is printed with the team name, logo and approved Football Association logos. HOW TO GET PRINTED NETTING The first step is to send us your artwork, either as a high-resolution pdf or a vector graphic file. These can usually be obtained from whoever designed your logos, set up your web site or from your marketing department. Whilst we are not in the business of creating artwork from scratch, we can often produce the required images from other sources. Let us know what dimensions of wrap you require. Some organisations have rules regarding the layout of their images and logos. We will do our best to abide by these requirements. Then, we create mock-ups and proofs of the design for your approval. We are happy to make changes and adjustments until you are happy with the design. On approval of the proofs and payment, the design is forwarded to the printer. The printed netting is usually delivered within ten days. ARE THERE ANY RESTRICTIONS ON WHAT CAN BE PRINTED? We will not print any derogatory images. We can only print designs that are the property of the client, although we can print logos of trade associations or third parties if their express permission has been obtained. Physically we cannot print on the first 2 meters and the last 2 meters of the netting. We can print a background of any colour. Fine lines, high details or photographs are not recommended as images because the detail can be lost due to the spaces in the netting. If high quality images are not available, we will try to recreate the required image as best as possible by design, cleaning images and matching fonts, etc. The final decision on the acceptance of the images via the proof is the responsibility of our client, but we endeavour offer advice and help. If you have any queries, or want to know more about printed debris netting, please do not hesitate to get in touch here or if you would like to purchase some printed debris netting, click here.
Shrink Wrap Scaffolding - How To Choose An Installer
Looking to shrink wrap scaffolding? You have two choices; Do it yourself or find a sub-contractor. Some companies are ‘shrink wrap specialists’, others such as scaffolding companies provide shrink wrapping as part of a range of services. Whichever you choose, here are 6 ways to help you find the right supplier for you. Where are they based? Most ‘specialist’ shrinkwrap companies in particular will claim to offer a ‘UK wide’ shrink wrap service but depending on their ‘base’ location, shrink wrap installation teams may have to travel significant distances. So what? Well, travelling costs in terms of the team’s time and fuel costs. They might also require hotels or overnight accomodation. The closer an installation company is, the fresher the team will be when they arrive and less likely to make mistakes. Location is also important if any issues develop with the shrink wrap sheeting that need a return visit. A company that is centrally located or located locally can return to site much faster. How can they prove their installers are competent? All scaffold shrink wrap installers should hold the general CSCS card that proves they have reached a basic standard of health & safety awareness, and additional cards such as IPAF for the use of MEWPS are also common. However, there is no nationally accredited dedicated ‘card sheme’ for the installation of shrink wrap sheeting. This means you must get proof that the company you are using has a proper induction scheme for new staff and written proof that each team member has been assessed as competent in all the elements of shrink wrap sheeting. Do they have flame retardant certification for their shrink wrap? Scaffolding shrink wrap must be flame retardant. In the UK there are two key ‘standards’ to be aware of – the basic European standard test (EN13501) which is referenced by building regulations and the much more extensive LPS1207 and LPS1215 standards which are managed by the BRE. The main difference between the LPS1207 / LPS1215 and EN13501 is that whilst EN13501 is a one off ‘test’, the LPS is a ‘scheme’ whereby the quality and flame retardant performance of a shrink wrap film is independently tested and verified by a third party company each year. Whichever film you are using, if the film is flame retardant, it should be clearly printed on the shrink film and you should obtain the flame retardant certification for the film and check it’s validity. Do thay have any testimonials? OK, we all know that testimonials can sometimes be a bit slick and ‘salesy’. However, why not do a bit of research on social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn? Hopefully you should find mentions by other customers of completed shrink wrap jobs (not just sales messages put out by the company you are considering!) Specialist or generalist? Many companies, mostly scaffolders, may offer shrink wrapping to their clients as part of a range of services. The benefits of using a scaffolding company to provide a shrink wrap service is that they are normally close to their clients and if they know how to shrink wrap, there is a good chance that they will set up the scaffolding in the best way possible (nice and flush structure for example) which should result in a great looking job. Specialist companies exclusively provide shrink wrap installation services. These teams will be carrying out shrink wrap installation work 24/7 which should lead to genuine mastery, however, as mentioned, if they are travelling long distances then costs may be higher. What do they do when something goes wrong? Follow points 1-5 above and you will certainly maximise your chance of a smooth job with no problems. However, as we all know, sometimes things go wrong and unfortunately the reaction of your shrink wrap supplier can be difficult to test in advance. Do they have a telephone that is answered by a human being outside of office hours? Do they have a senior management team who are ‘close to the action’ and understand construction problems? We have found from experience that the best way to deal with a problem is ‘head on’. Very often that means a supervisor or member of the management team getting out on to site to meet everyone involved and working out a resolution. For a more minor problem it certainly means a senior manager always being available on the telephone to talk to a customer. This article is designed to give you just a few pointers to help you choose a shrink wrap installation company. If you would like to discuss your requirements in more detail then why not give us a call on +44 (0)1477 53222 or email info@rhinoshrinkwrap.com. We look forward to hearing from you.
Buying Shrink Wrap Film - What Every Contractor Should Know
Much shrink wrap sheeting sold around the world is simply standard plastic shrink wrap sheeting that is being marketed and sold as ‘scaffold shrink wrap’. It is often produced by film manufacturers, who have little idea of the final use and the challenges faced by those that shrink wrap scaffolds day to day. Before you next buy shrink wrap sheeting, read this short guide and find out the 5 essential areas that affect the quality and appearance of your next shrink wrap job. 1. SHRINKAGE It may seem obvious, but an important factor in how well a shrink wrap sheeting will encapsulate a scaffolding is how well it shrinks. If a shrink wrap sheet shrinks well, it will fit tightly and it will not flap or ‘chafe’ in high winds. It will be strong. WHAT AFFECTS THE SHRINK RATIO? If you look at the specification sheet of a shrink wrap film you should see that the shrinkage, sometimes known as the ‘shrink ratio’, is described in two ways; Machine Direction (MD) and Transverse Direction (TD). A shrink wrap film should have balanced shrinkage, which means that the shrinkage in both the MD and TD should be similar. However, while most shrink-wrap films have a good shrink ratio % in the Machine Direction (MD) very few have good shrinkage in the Transverse Direction (TD). As well as making the installation process difficult for the shrink wrap installer / end user, a poor shrink ratio may also cause the shrink wrap film to loosen or become slack in the first few days after installation. So what affects the shrink ratio? It is mostly due to the size of the die from which the shrink wrap film is extruded. To make Rhino shrink wrap film we use a very small die from which the melted plastic polymers are blown into a large bubble of shrink film. This difference between the size of the die and size of bubble, (sometimes called the ‘blow up ratio’), is critical in achieving a powerful shrinkage because when the film is heat shrunk by the end user, around a scaffolding for example, the shrink wrap has a ‘memory’ and will try and return to it’s original size at the point of extrusion. However, to speed up the manufacturing process most shrink wrap manufacturers use a die that is much larger than we do to manufacture their shrink wrap film. (A larger die has a higher production rate / hour). Typically, a die will be 1800mm to 2000mm wide. This larger die, although making a machine more profitable for the manufacturer, will produce a shrink wrap film with a much poorer shrink ratio, particularly in the transverse direction (TD). So, although our film is a little bit slower to manufacture, by using a smaller die we ensure that our customers get a shrink wrap film that has a shrinkage of 45% in the transverse direction (compared with a typical figure of 10-15% for competitor films). The end result of this is that Verisafe® is much easier for our customers to install properly, even in tough weather conditions, and once fixed in place is much more resistant to high winds. 2. LAYERS Looking at the specification sheet should also tell you whether the shrink wrap film you are buying is a mono (1 layer) film or a multi layer film. In a similar way to ‘die size’above, it is generally more convenient for manufacturers (but not better for the end user) to supply a multi layered film as it is faster to manufacture and multi layered machines can produce a wide variety of products. However, it can enable unscrupulous manufacturers to ‘hide’ poor quality but cheaper regenerated plastic material within layers. At Verisafe we only produce a mono layer film. This is slower to manufacture but it means that any additives, such as flame retardancy, are contained throughout the whole film, and not just the outside layers, and it means we can only use premium resins. 3. DART DROP This is a very important measure of the basic mechanical strength of the film. It is a standard test procedure outlined in ISO7765-1/2. Compare between alternative films and try and buy a shrink wrap film with the best performance in this area. 4. SEAL RANGE Seal Range The seal range of Verisafe shrink wrap film is in the range of 95 to 125 Degrees Celsius. This is an important value because the lower temperature a film requires to seal, the easier it will be to heat weld by the end user. Again, the reason why some shrink wrap films are difficult to heat weld properly is that they have a much higher seal range and this is because many shrink wrap manufacturers add HDPE to their LDPE films, to speed up the production process and make each machine more profitable. However, an film with HDPE added will have a higher weld temperature and so be more difficult for the end user to weld, especially when weather conditions are challenging. 5. FLAME RETARDANCY There are many flame retardant standards in different countries. In the United Kingdom we tend to use the European EN13501 standard and the LPS1207/1215 scheme. For the purpose of this article you should ensure that you get a copy of the standards that apply to your country and be aware of the difference between a simple flame retardant ‘test’ (such as EN13501) and a more extensive third party verification ‘scheme’ (such as LPS1207). Once again, manufacturers have a vested interest that is different from the end user. As flame retardant is a highly expensive additive they want to use as little as possible and so it is up to the end user to check that they are meeting their health and safety requirements. 6. UV STABILITY Verisafe is specified as having a UV stability of 12 months in Northern Europe. You should be aware that films that if a flame retardant shrink wrap film claims to have a UV stability beyond this it is unlikely to also have enough flame retardancy added as these two additives ‘compete’ with each other. Some Final Thoughts Using a shrink wrap film for encapsulating scaffolding and large industrial projects is a demanding application which requires high performance shrink wrap sheeting. Most shrink wrap plastic film is made in a way that is most convenient for the manufacturer, even if makes life more difficult for the end user on site. We think it makes more sense to start with the end user and work backwards to make sure the whole manufacturing process is designed to create a film with the desired performance. Always ask your supplier for a specification sheet / data sheet and look closely at the figures for shrink ratio, dart drop and seal range. Ask your supplier to prove to you that the product they supply matches the specification sheet that they have given you. If you are buying a flame retardant film consider using a film that is part of a certification scheme such as LPS1207 and LPS1215 that includes an annual independent / third party audit of the product as this is the only way to prove that a product meets the required standard. In addition, always try and purchase from an ISO accredited supplier, as they will have the necessary quality controls in place to ensure consistency between batches. For further advice on shrink wrapping scaffolding and large industrial products call or email us on +44 (0)1477 532222 or email info@rhinoshrinkwrap.com