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FLOORS
Floors are the horizontal elements of a
building structure which divide the building
into different levels for the purpose of creating
more accommodation within a restricted
space one above the other and provide
support for the occupants, furniture and
equipment of a building.

Factors on which floor selection depends

The floor should be:
Durable
Easy to clean easy to clean
Noiseless
Good appearance
Free from dampness
Fire-resistance
Low maintenance cost
Economical

Types of flooring on basis of materials are,

1.

Mud flooring or muram flooring

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Tiled flooring

2.

Flag stone flooring or stone flooring

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Rubber flooring

3.

Brick on edge flooring

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Linoleum flooring

4.

Wooden block flooring

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Cork flooring

5.

Cement concrete flooring

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Magnesite flooring

6.

Mosaic flooring or china mosaic tile

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Glass flooring

flooring

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Marble flooring

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Terrazzo flooring

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Plastic flooring

8.

Granolithic flooring

17.

Asphalt or mosaic asphalt flooring

Mud flooring:
Used for un important works.
Cheap, impervious, easy
construction and good thermal
insulation.
25 cm thick layer of moist earth is
spread over the prepared bed and it
is rammed well to consolidate to
thickness of 15 cm.
To prevent cracks, chopped straw is
mixed with the moist earth before
ramming which act as a
reinforcement.
Flooring is maintained by giving a
wash of cement cow dung of 1: 2or
3.

Muram flooring:
Muram or disintegrated rock are used for flooring.
For floor construction, hard bed of 25 cm thick layer of hand picked rubble boulders
or brick bats are wetted and then rammed.
Upon this, a 15 cm thick layer of muram, with coarser piece at bottom and finer at
the top.
Over this layer, another 25 mm thick layer of powdered muram is spread.
Entire surface is watered and rammed. After ramming the surface is saturated with
a thin film of water of about 6mm.
Then the surface is rammed with wooden rammers called thapies for about 3 days.
After this the surface is smeared with thick paste of cow dung and rammed for 2
days.
Finally over the dry surface, a thin coat of cement cow dung plaster is applied and
wiped by hand.
To maintain cow dung plaster is used.

Merits:

Cheap in initial and maintenance cost.

Provide smooth, hard and fairly impervious surface.
Good insulation against heat.
Easy in construction.
Possess long life if properly maintained.
It is suitable for all climatic conditions

Demerits:

The maintenance of this flooring is quite difficult. Because, the surface

it has to be given cement cow-dung wash once or twice a week, which
is objectionable from sanitary consideration.
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Flag stone flooring:

This flooring consists of thin slabs of stones laid on concrete bedding.
Usual size of stone slabs are 30cmx30cm, 45cmx45cm, 60cmx60cm and 45x60cm and
their thickness varies from 2 cm to 4 cm.
After excavating, the earthen base is levelled, rammed and watered.
Above to it lime concrete of thickness 10 to 15 cm is laid.
Over this flag stones are laid and fixed with thin layer of mortar( 2.5cm).
A slope of 1 in 40 is provided in flag stone flooring for proper drainage.

Merits :
It provides hard, durable and wear resisting floor surface.
Easy in construction, repair and maintenance.
Can be used where stone availability is more.
Demerits:
Doesnt give pleasing and attractive appearance.
Bad in conductivity and poor in shock absorbing
Even surface can not be obtained.
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Brick flooring:
Suitable for cheap construction.
Brick flooring commonly used in alluvial places where stone is scarce.
The brick flooring may be laid with bricks laid flat, or on edge arrangement in herring bone
pattern or set at right angles to the walls.
Brick in edge is preferred to flat because the former being less liable to crack under pressure
Excavation is made about 40cm or below the intended surface.
The earth is then levelled, watered and rammed.
A subgrade made with 25 cm layer of rubble and covered with 10 to 15 cm thick layer lime
concrete.
Upon the prepared subgrade, the bricks are laid in desired shape and set in cement or lime
mortar.
Merits:
Offers a durable and sufficient hard floor surface.
Provides non slippery and fire resistant surface.
Cheaper in initial cost and easy to maintain.

Demerits: The flooring is absorbent.

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Timber flooring:
Use of timber floors is best suited in hill stations.
The entire area below the timber floor is covered with an impervious material. The material can
be cement concrete.
15 cm layer of concrete known as oversite concrete is placed and dpc courses are inserted
throughout the width of the wall.
Timber floor consist of boarding support called as bridging joist.
In case of large rooms, intermediate or dwarf walls are constructed.
Sleeper plates are fixed on top on sleeper walls.

Alternate ways,
Strip flooring: Made of narrow strip of timber joint together by tongue and
groove joint.
Planked flooring: Wider planks are used and joint by tongue and groove joint
Wood block flooring: Short but thicker wood blocks laid in suitable designs
over a concrete base.
Parquet flooring: This similar to block flooring except thin blocks are supported
on sub floors

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Concrete flooring:
Commonly used in all building typologies.
The following operation involved in concrete floor construction are,
1. Ground preparation
2. Formation of base course on sub grade.
3. Laying of the topping concrete
4. laying of weathering coat.
5. Grinding and polishing
6. Curing.

Ground preparation:
The ground should be leveled, watered and rammed.

Formation of base course:

15cm thk broken stones is evenly spread and consolidated.
A layer of lime concrete (1:2:4) about 15 cm thick is laid on the hard core.
Slope of 1 in 120 to 1 in 240 for inside floors and 1 in 36 to 1 in 40 for bathroom.

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Laying of the topping concrete:

Cement concrete is laid and rammed well.

Laying of weathering coat:

After an hour of laying the cement concrete, a weathering coat about 2 cm
thick, is laid. The finishes is of several types such as mortar finish, mosaic
finish, terrazzo finish etc.

Grinding and polishing:

Grinding is done after 3 to 4 days of laying concrete. Grinding produce smooth
Finish.

Curing:
After the flooring is completed, the whole surface is covered with wet socks or
Bags or with 5cm of wet sand.
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Merits:

Non absorbent, sufficient resistant to dampness.

High durability.
Provides smooth, hard, even and pleasing surface.
Easily cleaned and economical due to less maintenance.
Non combustible material.

Demerits:

The defects once developed in concrete cannot be easily rectified.

Flooring cannot be repaired by patch work.
Does not possess satisfactory insulation properties against sound and heat.

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Mosaic flooring:

Above concrete base 2 cm layer of cement mortar(1:2) is evenly laid.

Upon the bed of cement mortar small piece of broken tiles are arranged in
definite patterns.
After this cement or coloured cement is sprinkled at the top and surface is
rolled by light stone roller.
The surface is left for 24 hours to dry and then it is rubbed with pumice
stone to get a smooth and polished surface.
Polished surface is finally allowed to dry for about 2 weeks.

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Mosaic flooring

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Terrazzo flooring:

Marble chips are used as aggregates, and this concrete on polishing with
carborundum stone presents smooth surface.
Terrazzo finish is atleast 10 mm thick and comprises a mixture of desired
cement, marble powder and coarse aggregate such as chippings of
marble, quartzite, pearl, glass etc.. Of selected colours and of sizes
graded from 2 mm too 8 mm. terrazzo finish is installed all over the
concrete base.
Suitability: This type of flooring is suitable for hospitals, public buildings,
living room and bathroom of residential buildings etc.
Advantages: It provides an attractive, clean and durable surface.
Disadvantages: It is more expensive.

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In one method, the cement concrete base is covered with uniformly by a

6mm sand cushion, over which a tar paper is placed. On this paper, a layer
of rich mortar(1:3) about 30mm thick is deposited.
In another method, terrazzo finish is applied monolithically. Thin coat of
cement is spread over the wet concrete base and a layer of cement mortar
12 mm thick is evenly applied to it.
When the mortar bed is hardened, a terrazzo mixture(1 cement : 3 marble
chips), 6 to 12 mm thick.
The layer is rolled length wise as well as cross wise.
After curing, the surface is carefully polished by means of grinding machine
fitted with carborundum grinding stone.
Finally whole surface is washed with weak solution of soap in warm water.

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Granolithic flooring:
This flooring is a finishing coat over the concrete surface, which is used to
provide a hard wearing surface for the floors.
It consist of rich concrete made with very hard and tough quality coarse
aggregate, such as granite so that the surface will have the maximum
resistance to abrasive action.
The thickness should not be less than 35mm when laid over a hardened
base.
For light duty floors, the granolithic concrete consists of mix proportion as
1:2:3(1 cement : 2 sand : 3 well graded granite)
For heavy duty floors,1:1:2 ( 1 cement : 1: sand: 2 granite chips).
The sand can be replaced by crushed granite for better resistant.
Suitability: This type of flooring is mostly suitable for industrial floors.
Advantages: It is durable, cheap, resistance to abrasion and does not
wear easily.
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Tiled flooring:
Manufactured in different shapes. Method of laying tiles is similar to stone
flooring.
Receiving floor is levelled, watered and rammed. Lime concrete of 15 cm
thick is applied over the surface, over which lime sand mortar is laid.
it is allowed to harden for few hours and then a neat cement slurry is
spread over the surface.
At this stage tiles are laid on this surface, with thin paste of cement applied
on either sides.
After 2 to 3 days, the joints are well rubbed, with a carborundum stone and
levelled. polishing can be done with rubbing machine.
Merits:

Non absorbent, decorative and durable floor surface.

Quick installation and can be easily repaired in patches.

Demerits;

Costly in initial and maintenance cost.

It provides slippery surface.

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Rubber flooring:
Used large extent in public and industrial buildings because of good
wearing qualities and noise insulation
The flooring material is made of pure rubber mixed with fillers, such as
cotton fibres, granulated cork and the desired colouring pigments.
This type of flooring in manufactured in the form of sheets and tiles.
Thickness varies from 3 to 10 mm.
Base concrete is prepared and ensured it is water proofed properly.
Over which rubber tile is laid on cement base.
It is expensive yet provide durable wearing surface.
However oil, grease and gasoline make the floor slippery and difficult to
restore it in good condition.

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Linoleum flooring:
Linoleum material is lubricated by mixing oxidized linseed oil with gum,
resins, pigments, wood floor, cork dust and other filler materials.
It is available in printed rolls.
It is laid over wooden or concrete base.
Merits:
Attractive, resilient, durable and cheap.
Surface can be easily washed and cleaned.
Insulation against noise and heat.
Demerits:
Subjected to rotting.
Doesnt offer resistance against fire.
Covering applied over the wooden surface may torn.

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Cork flooring:
Cork is the outer bark of the cork oak tree which is used in flooring as tiles and
carpets.
It provides warm, noiseless, non slippery and resilient flooring and possess
good heat insulation qualities.
Cork flooring is generally used in case of libraries, churches, theatres etc..
On concrete base, sand cement screed of 3:1 or 4:1 is laid on which cork
flooring is done.
Magnesite flooring:
The flooring is made of patent flooring materials named as composition
flooring or jointless flooring.
Composition flooring consists of dry mixture of magnesium oxide, an inert
material such as asbestos, and a pigment, liquid magnesium chloride is
added to this powder.
The material is applied over concrete or wooden base and smoothed with
trowel.
This type of flooring is cheap.

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Glass flooring:
This flooring can be used for special purposes where it is desired to transmit
light from an upper floor to a lower floor.
The structural glass in the form of tiles, blocks, etc is fitted within frames of
various types.
It is available in varying thickness from 10 to 30mm.
Marble flooring:
Used for superior type of floor construction.
Construction same as mosaic flooring.
Suitability: Suitable for places of worship and for public buildings which
require rich appearance, kitchen, bathrooms, operation theatre of hospitals
etc.
Advantages: It is attractive and easily maintained
Disadvantages: It requires high initial cost.
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Asphalt flooring:
This type of flooring was disliked due to bad smell and ugly appearance
particularly, for indoors.
With recent development in technology, it is possible for an acid proof
asphalt flooring.
Various marketing forms available are,
- Asphalt tiles
- Asphalt terrazzo
- Mastic asphalt
- acid proof asphalt blocks.
Plastic flooring:
Recent development in floor construction and has been successfully used
as covering over the concrete floor base.
Flooring is done in similar way as cement tiles.

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Jack arch flooring:

These floors are formed by constructing brick or concrete arches,
called jack arches, on the lower flanges of mild steel joists.
The joist in turn are made to rest either on wall or on beam.
The floors bear the anticipated loads either from reinforcement or
by arch action. The joists are spaced at 80 to 120 cm
The floor is finished on the top with any kind of paving, such as
stone, cement, concrete, tile, etc.. And the underside of the floor is
plastered and white washed.
Drawbacks:
The ceiling of the floor is not plain from below.
The rolled steel joists, if embedded in lime concrete, are liable to
rust due to the action of lime.
The arch action of the floor exerts thrust on the side walls, which
require extra tie rods of mild steel in the end spans at intervals.

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