Plastic sheeting

Buy best value plastic sheeting and covers from an extensive range of polythene rolls.

Plastic sheeting is...

• A great solution for protecting floors, large surfaces and furniture from paint, dust or debris created during building or decorating work
• Often referred to as ‘builders’ rolls’, due to the fact that it is popular in the building and construction industry
• A favourite of tradespeople, including painters and decorators, plasterers and carpenters
• Also referred to as wide sheeting, as it comes in wide sheets capable of covering large areas
• Sold on the roll, usually 1m wide, and folds out into a sheet 2m wide (single fold) or 4m wide (multi-fold)
• Available in clear polythene or black polythene as standard
• Available in medium duty (100 micron / 400 gauge) or heavy duty (200 micron / 800 gauge) polythene
• Strong, tough, waterproof, durable and reusable
• Suitable for use as a waterproof membrane
• Suitable for use as temporary roofing
• Also manufactured as damp proof membrane (extra thick 250 micron polythene) or specialist flame-retardant polythene (also 250 micron)

Plastic sheeting - the painter’s friend

Somewhere near the top of a painter’s inventory list - just after paintbrushes and paint - is the builders’ roll. These plastic sheets are so popular with painters and decorators that they could easily be called ‘painters’ rolls’.

Plastic sheeting allows painters to get on with their job with complete peace of mind. All it takes is a bit of preparation time to unfold the plastic sheeting and cover floors, carpets, furniture or other items that need protecting, before they can then concentrate fully on their painting without worrying about excess paint dripping onto the surfaces in question.

At the end of the working day or when the job has been completed, the painter can simply pick up the roll, fold it or roll it back up for use on the next job.

Painters don’t have the monopoly on plastic sheeting, however. Other tradespeople also use the protective covering, including carpenters and plasters, for the very same reasons as painters - to give them a simple and quick solution to protecting surfaces during their work, leaving them to concentrate on the job.

How much plastic sheeting do I need?

The amount of plastic sheeting you require to cover an area in preparation for a job will depend on a number of factors:

1. The overall size of the floor area that needs covering
2. The amount and size of other items that need covering (e.g. furniture)
3. How many times you want to lay your plastic sheeting during the job
4. How contained the mess created will be to the working area

Obviously, the bigger the surface area you have to cover (point 1) and the more furniture items you have to cover (point 2), the more plastic sheeting you will need, unless you are happy to move your plastic sheeting around during the job (point 3).

One other important thing to consider is that dust may easily blow away from the immediate working area so some jobs, such as sanding or drilling, are likely to need a wider area covered around the work zone than others, such as painting (point 4).

Plastic sheeting - measuring up

Once you have decided how big an area you need to cover in one go, you need to work out how many sheets you need. Remember that plastic sheeting is traditionally sold on 1m rolls that fold out to either 2m-wide ‘single-fold’ sheets or 4m-wide ‘multi-fold’ sheets.

So, if you need to cover an area that's 3m x 10m, you’ll either need one 10m long section of a 4m multi-fold sheet, or two 10m long sections of a 2m single-fold sheet, which you’ll then place alongside each other, with some overlap, to cover the required area.

When purchasing your plastic sheeting, don’t forget that 4m-wide multi-fold sheets will, in general, be sold on a roll half the length of a 2m-wide single-fold sheet, as there is twice as much plastic being wrapped around the roll.

Both single-fold rolls and multi-fold rolls will, as standard, contain 200m² of plastic sheeting and will weigh the same (100 micron ‘medium duty’ clear polythene x 200m² = 18kg). The single fold roll will measure 2m x 100m, while the multi-fold roll will measure 4m x 50m.

Heavy or medium duty polythene?

Another important factor to consider when choosing the plastic sheeting you need for a job is the sort of debris you are protecting your floors, surfaces and objects from.

If you are only likely to create a light covering of debris, such as dripping paint or dust from sanding, then the chances are you will only require a medium duty plastic sheet, which comes in 100 micron (400 gauge) clear polythene.

If you’re working in a more ‘heavy duty’ environment, such as on a building site or in the garden, then you may find prefer to use 200 micron (800 gauge) heavy duty plastic sheeting, which will offer more protection to the surfaces from bumps, scratches or scrapes.

Extra thick plastic membrane

Even more durable and robust than standard heavy duty plastic sheeting is damp proof membrane - an extra thick sheet of polythene, weighing in at a minimum of 250 microns (1000 gauge) thick.

Usually made from black or blue recycled polythene, damp proof membrane (DPM) can be used as part of a damp proof course (DPC) to prevent the onset of rising damp in building work, or for other heavy duty waterproofing.

A good damp proof course is fundamental to preventing unwanted moisture from entering the interior space of a building. For this reason, damp proof membrane is quality controlled by the British Board of Agreement (BBA), such keep an eye out for their approval on the product before you buy.

Black plastic sheeting

Black plastic sheeting can be used in the same way as clear plastic sheeting, to protect surfaces during building or renovation work, or as a waterproof membrane. One advantage that black sheeting has over clear sheeting is that it also provides a light-proof cover and so can be useful for both absorbing heat and covering items when security is important.

Where to buy plastic sheeting

Plastic sheeting manufacturers and suppliers include:

Layflat Tubing
The number one layflat tubing website on the internet. Layflat Tubing stock a huge range of poly tubing and heat sealers at fantastic wholesale prices, with simple online ordering and free UK delivery. The only layflat tubing website you'll need.
www.layflat-tubing.co.uk

Polythene Sheeting
Poly Sheets is the website to visit for all of your polythene sheeting needs. Containing loads of useful information on poly sheeting, also known as builders rolls, plus builders bags and damp proof membrane, with details of where to buy them.
www.polysheets.co.uk

Polythene Rolls
If you're looking to buy polythene rolls, layflat tubing, shrink covers, stretch wrap or damp proof sheeting, then this is the website for you. Featuring loads of useful information on polythene sheeting and a list of the best online stockists.
www.polythenerolls.com

Polythene Tubing
A brilliant online resource for anyone interested in buying polythene tubing, also known as layflat tubing. Find out all you need to know about poly tubing, how it is made and what it is used for, with a detailed buying guide for you to get the best discount prices.
www.discountlayflattubing.co.uk

Rubble Bags
The number one website on rubble bags - the super-strong waste sacks that are essential for every building site and ideal for heavy duty work in the garden, DIY projects at home or transporting heavy rubble or rubbish to the tip.
www.rubblebags.org

Builders Rolls
Builders Rolls is the go-to website for the builders, painters and decorators looking to buy wide-fold plastic sheeting, often referred to as builders rolls. With lots of information on what to look for and where to buy builders rolls at the best prices.
www.buildersrolls.com

Research & Resources

For more information on plastic sheeting or builders rolls, including details of how it is manufactured and the range of protective polythene sheeting available, please visit:

PlasticBags.uk.com: The UK's premier polythene packaging online directory. Retailers can submit items for listing and customers can browse a selection of plastic sheeting websites.

PackagingKnowledge: The online polythene packaging encyclopedia, featuring a wide range of articles and a huge amount of information on plastic sheeting.

Goldstork: Free online directory listing the best of the web, featuring carefully selected information and specialist plastic sheeting websites.

Plastic rolls or polythene rolls?

What is the difference between plastic rolls and polythene rolls? These terms and others like them - including plastic sheeting, builders rolls, poly rolls or polythene film - are often mixed and matched to describe a variety of polythene products. The one thing all of the terms have in common is that they refer to a sheet of plastic - or polythene - that is wound around a central roll and dispensed by unwinding the roll until you have as large a sheet as you need.

Whilst the terms may be interchanged by some people, by and large, in the building trade the term 'plastic rolls' is used to describe plastic sheeting, also known as builders rolls, which is widely used by builders, painters and decorators to protect large areas or objects such as furniture from dust, dirt, stray paint and so on. Damp proof membrane, used to provide a damp proof layer for buildings, is also included in the 'plastic rolls' family.

The term 'polythene rolls' on the other hand, is most often used to describe rolls of polythene film that are used for packaging or wrapping items. These include single layers of film, such as shrink wrap pallet covers, PVC clear wrapping and glossy clear polypropylene wrapping, as well as polythene tubing - also known as layflat tubing - which is used to wrap objects of awkwards shapes and sizes and comes in regular or anti-static polythene.

Interesting information about plastic sheeting

Black sheeting tends to be mentioned as though it were a generic site consumable; in practice, performance hinges on rather above colour and nominal gauge. A decent grade is built around stable polymer architecture and controlled melt-flow consistency, because the contrast between a sheet that drapes cleanly above awkward stock and one that springs back at the corners is often found in extrusion discipline rather than thickness alone. The black pigmentation has a technical role beyond appearanceit suppresses light transmission, masks uneven loads and, in certain warehouse applications, mitigates product degradation where UV exposure amid staging is a nuisance. On the floor, the proper friction points are less glamorous: static select-up attracting dust to the surface, poor pallet stability when rolls telescope below handling, and needless tare weight creeping into outbound consignments when operatours above-specify micron. That is where engineered finishes and tighter gauging earn their retain; a textured surface can improve grip amid secondary bagging and wrapping, while a well-held caliper reduces material use without compromising puncture resistance. There is also a circular economy dimension that separates commodity film from properly specified stockmono-material polythene suppliers streams are far easier to recover, reprocess and return to useful service than laminated formats, provided pollution is kept in check. The arithmetic is straightforward enough: less excess resin, better volumetric efficiency in storage, less roll changes at the select-face, and a lower amortised energy burden above the life of the consignment unit.

Clear sheeting occupies a deceptively technical corner of the roofing trade: specified casually as a means of bringing daylight into a bay, yet governed in practice by gauge tolerance, impact resistance, UV stabilisation and the awkward business of making translucent runs sit cleanly alongside profiled metal or fibre-cement sheets. Polycarbonate variants tend to be favoured where hail strike, yard traffic and repeated fixing cycles would punish thinner material; the better sheets grasp their form because the polymer matrix resists brittle fracture, while co-extruded protective layers slow yellowing and surface crazing below prolonged exposure. On the logistics side, the trade-off is less romantic nevertheless only as material long, light packs improve tare weight and volumetric efficiency, although poor banding or uneven stillage assist can introduce bowing before the consignment reaches the select-face. Fitters notice that immediately. A sheet with inconsistent profile depth or marginally loose cover width will telegraph problems into lap alignment, washer compression and water dash-off, particularly where secondary flashing has been manufactured to tight tolerances. The circular economy argument is also becoming less theoretical: mono-material polycarbonate or polythene suppliers-based rooflight sheets are easier to segregate at stop of life than laminated assemblies, provided pollution from sealants, fixings and site debris is controlled. In a mature stockholding operation, transparent sheeting is so not merely a transparent roofing accessory; it is a gauged, UV-managed component whose performance depends as much on melt-flow consistency, pack discipline and installation sequencing as on light transmission figures printed on a data sheet.

Protective sheeting in low-cost agricultural structures tends to be treated as a commodity line, when in practice it is the element that determines service life, thermal behaviour and the maintenance burden of the all assembly. The contrast lies in polymer formulation: a polythene suppliers film with competent UV stabilisation, controlled melt-flow consistency and sensible micron-specific gauging will tolerate seasonal cycling far better than thin-gauge stock that embrittles at fold lines and around fixings. On the ground, that matters because premature cracking rarely fails neatly; it introduces draught paths, drives secondary bagging and repair work, and steadily degrades the enclosure's heat retention. There is also a logistical angle that seldom appears in headline costingsroll width, tare weight impact and pallet stability all affect inward handling and site deployment, particularly where labour is informal and lifting gear absent. A lighter mono-material sheeting system can facilitate simpler recovery at stop of life, though recyclability still relies on pollution levels and whether tapes, scrim or mixed-polymer laminations have been introduced for short-term durability. In other words, the apparent thrift of protective sheeting is not merely a matter of cost-effective cover; it is an engineering compromise between surface longevity, handling practicality and the amortised energy bound up in replacing failed film before the structure itself has reached mid-life.

Medium Duty Access Mats

Medium-duty ground mats occupy a rather specific niche on site: robust enough to take repeated trafficking from pedestrian flows, light plant and service carts, yet not so above-engineered that handling becomes a nuisance in the yard or at the select-face. When formed from recycled HDPE, the performance hinges on polymer-chain stability and melt-flow consistency; if the reprocessed feedstock is poorly controlled, the board will telegraph it through inconsistent flex below point loading and a tendency to dish at the edges after repeated use. Kept within sensible micron-specific gauging and sheet-density tolerances, though, a 36kg mat remains a practical propositionlow enough in tare weight to ease secondary handling and consignment density, heavy enough to sit with efficient pallet stability in mixed stock. That balance is what suits medium-duty deployment across civils, groundwork and temporary event infrastructure: a panel that mitigates rutting and surface disturbance above both short hire cycles and longer installations, while retaining the circular-economy advantage of mono-material recyclability and comparatively favourable amortised energy when the mat is turned repeatedly through service, recovery and reprocessing.

Wide sheeting is rarely only a matter of making polythene suppliers broader; once the web transports beyond normal layflat widths, the tolerances become unforgiving, with micron-specific gauging, edge wander and roll tension all determining whether the material behaves cleanly on the converting line or becomes a origin of creasing, telescoping and secondary waste. The better grades rely on disciplined melt-flow consistency and well-managed polymer orientation, since high-density polymer chains can transport puncture resistance without piling on unnecessary tare weight, while slip and anti-static packages have to be balanced carefully so that sheets separate on the warehouse floor nevertheless do not lose pallet stability in transit. In practice, the commercial case often sits in the unglamorous details: less connects on big covers, improved volumetric efficiency in enclosed stock, reduced select-face disruption and less secondary bagging when awkward consignments can be enclosed in a single pull. Circularity complicates the specification rather than weakening it; mono-material polythene suppliers wide sheeting, particularly where recycled feedstock can be held to a predictable melt index, is far easier to reclaim than laminated alternatives, though careless downgauging merely transfers the burden into splits, returns and contaminated waste streams.

Visqueen High Performance Damp Proof Membrane

A high-performance damp proof membrane is not simply a sheet of yellow polythene suppliers laid below a slab; it is a controlled extrusion whose value sits in the balance between gauge, tear resistance and long-term impermeability. At a nominal half-millimetre thickness, the material must retain enough stiffness to resist creasing amid placement while still draping properly across compacted hardcore, service penetrations and shutter edges. Co-polymer thermoplastic grades are often specified because their polymer chains give a more forgiving puncture profile than brittle monolayer alternatives, provided melt-flow consistency is properly managed at extrusion. On site, that translates into less accidental breaches amid reinforcement fixing, reduced secondary patching and a more proper barrier against capillary moisture migration.

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Light duty polythene suppliers sheeting - 1m/4m 200 gauge also on offer in 25m or 50m roll lengths

Builders Rolls - Wide Sheeting are on offer from Polybags, please occupy out the enquiry form, visit their website or call them directly on our telephone

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