now if you're anything like me when you hear Marshall Tufflex you probably think about
containment plastic trunking back boxes conduit and cable tray however in this video we're going
to look at something a little bit different because not only do they provide materials
to carry cables above ceilings they seem to have moved into the manufacture of the ceiling itself
we've all been there installing recessed lights or control points into suspended ceilings and of
course the ceiling tiles aren't strong enough to support the fitting or the accessory so
the traditional solution to this is to cut a square of plywood the same size as the ceiling
tile in question and then cut a hole in both the tile and the ply so off you'd go hunting for a
bit of plywood big enough to cut a 600 mil square in either having a look at what the chip he has
lying around while they're off on their break and hoping they won't notice or if you have you know a
healthy working relationship with them and a decent site manager then they could be persuaded
to cut them for you either way it's a pain and then you remember that the timber needs to be
about 595 mil square to drop in neatly and the corners never seem to want to go in properly and
then there's all the dust from cutting the wooden pattress with a hole saw or jigsaw and frankly
it's all a bit of a time-consuming dirty nuisance so with all that in mind Marshall Tufflex have
created the Tufflex tile and to be honest it's one of those things that you can't help but wonder why
it hasn't been done before it's just a sheet of material called correx which has all of these
square kind of hollow sections passing through it this lends the material strength while keeping
it really light so strong in fact that it's been weight tested up to five kilograms which
matches the requirement for fixing luminaires in regulation 559.5.2 because it is so light it's
easy to handle and move about sight and storage is really easy as well because it's so slimline in
fact you can pile boxes of these on top of each other but don't be tempted to stick them under
other items in the van as that could lead to them getting damaged if these internal ribs here get
crushed they'll lose their structural integrity and their strength as well another installation
related benefit to the Tufflex tile is how easy it is to cut you can turn to the hole saw that you
would have used on the plywood pattress or you can simply use a knife to slice through it and
this means that there's minimal to zero dust when cutting the hole in for the fitting or accessory
thus reducing the need for PPE when cutting and because it can so easily be cut without the use
of power tools that also means that you can cut in circular or rectangular boxes with the same
tool really easily as you can see here for a circular box and here for a square back box
then when it comes time to volley into the ceiling it's got these chamfered corners that you can see
here and this makes it so much easier to drop into place and it won't get hung up where the suspended
ceiling grid joins together again just a little thoughtful touch that makes installation life
so much easier now please don't make the mistake of thinking that this is a replacement for the
ceiling tile i've just popped it in here so you can actually see it the idea is it replaces the
wooden pattress used in the past so we'd cut the hole in the Tufflex tile and the ceiling tile as
you can see here those are not my arms by the way and then install them both into the ceiling to
support the fitting or accessory and not only is it a lot easier to install it also has advantages
for the ongoing operation of the building because the material is low smoke and fume it's flame
retardant and it's self-extinguishing so if you install this instead of a wooden pattress you're
removing a source of fuel from within the building which could help to reduce the spread of fire
all this means that use of a Tufflex tile in an installation can help the building to comply with
the proved document B of the building regulations which is all about fire safety particularly
in the design and construction of the property now of course there'll be people watching and
wondering if this isn't a step backwards in terms of sustainability because timber can be acquired
from sustainable sources and this is made of a plastic material well of course single-use plastic
is not ideal because it is pretty wasteful and often ends up in places that we don't want it to
but the use of long-term plastics is a little different because it's likely to be in situ for
a number of years and even if there's a refurb and the fittings get replaced or rearranged these
could be reused if the cutouts are the same size or larger for the new fittings and once they do
reach the end of their life for whatever reason they're totally recyclable so i don't think we
can summarize any better than Marshall Tufflex do on the product it's super lightweight easy to cut
handle and store pre-cut to exactly the right size for a full tile with pre-chamfered edges
it's strong enough to support five kilograms of weight is flame retardant and self-extinguishing
and there's no waste or dust when cutting with a knife reducing the need for PPE
which of course should always be the last resort when minimizing the risk a hazard produces
i think it's a really innovative yet simple piece of kit that makes electricians lives easier and
we really like that at eFIXX but as always we want to hear from you do you think that this
is going to be the next big thing in commercial and industrial installations can you think of
any jobs or applications coming up that it will be helpful for whatever your thoughts and questions
please leave them in the comments section below and as always thank you very much for watching