On some interior remodeling projects it feels like we spend more time protecting the existing home from the work being done than doing the actual work. And, of course, a big part of this set-up is protecting existing floors from demolition and construction traffic. We’ve tried all kinds of tricks to take the pain out of this tedious but crucial work: drop cloths, plumbing membranes, moving blankets, runners, cardboard, drywall. They all have their merits but Ram Board‘s purpose-built temporary floor protection has an edge for most of the work we encounter.
To give it a real run for its money we used Ram Board to protect pine floors on a plaster-demo and re-frame for a room rebuild. It stood up to about 3,000 pounds of plaster and lath falling on it chunk by chunk. It also shielded the floor from dragging ladders and scaffolds around. There is one major dent in the floor and I am not sure what caused this or what failed (we may have left a gap when we taped the Ram Board down; someone dropped a Stanley FUBAR point down?) and it leads me to believe this kind of all-out, hog-wild demo could be at the outside edge of what Ram Board can deal with flawlessly. But it also tells me that general construction traffic, material and tool storage and less intense demolition is well within the material’s core attributes. In other words, if you can mess up a floor under Ram Board during a typical kitchen reno, bath upfit, or molding install, you’ve got bigger problems than any product can solve.
What we also like is that you can re-use it. Buy it once and max it out. Also, it guards against spills (ideal for painting) and once you lay it, there’s none of that infuriating tangle-up typical of a fabric drop cloth. That alone is worth its weight in Ram Board.
Note: Be careful of the floor itself when taping. Tape sticks to Ram Board just fine (we used duct tape; Ram Board has proprietary tape) but tape also sticks to—and sometimes pulls up—old floor finishes. This isn’t Ram Board’s fault, it’s just something to be aware of.
Bottom line: Ram Board locked horns with all the demo we could throw at it and won.
