Knowledge

Regarding aluminum tread plate, there is a lot of misinformation about the thickness of the material and how it is measured. Most reputable aluminum suppliers and manufacturers will agree that when specifying the thickness of aluminum tread plate material the measurement should be taken from the flat area of the sheet, not from the raised checker pattern.

When manufacturing all factories have a small amount of tolerance in the sheet thickness, typically with a 2.5mm sheet you will get readings of around 2.35-2.5mm as can be seen in the photos our toolbox is reading at 2.44mm.

Unfortunately there are a lot of other companies out there mis-leading customers when specifying the thickness in their aluminium by including the raised portion. As you can see in the example photos if we are to measure from the raised profile it actually measures 3.61mm.

So in this instance it would be possible for a company to specify that their product is 2.5mm checker plate, when in fact it is only actually 1.5mm if measured from the flat area of the sheet.

Check out our other article the real difference in thickness of aluminium or watch the video and see the results when we we set out to demonstrate with practical testing just what thicknesses are available and what it means in real life situations.