Screed

This is a mixture of sand and cement that is laid on concrete surface to serve as
a backing to receive the floor finish. It can be laid directly on a recently cast
concrete floor that dried-up. When laying on dried concrete, the concrete
surface must be made rough, and free from dust, wetting and spread with
cement ground.

It should consist of little amount of cement and water to avoid drying shrinkage
and it can be of different thickness base on the surface to be applied.

Floor Finish

Traditionally stone slabs, brick, clay tiles or raised timber floors were used as
floor finish but later the use of solid floor as a barrier for damp rising provide a
solid level surface which variety of materials can be applied as floor finish.

Floor finish for concrete Floors.

Floor finish should be level, resistance to wear and easily clean, others should
be non-slip, smooth, resistance to liquids, acid, e.t.c and good for hygiene and
sanitation. Other are used for appearance purpose/ decoration.

Floor finishes can be classified into the following:

a. Jointless
b. Flexible thin sheet and tiles
c. Rigid tiles and stone slabs
d. Wood and wood based.

A JOINTLESS FLOOR FINISH

This contain cement and resin base screed and mastic asphalt. They didn’t have
any joint unless movement joint where necessary.

Page 1 of 8 ARCH-304
 1. Cement screed.

This contain cement and sand, it is a low-cost and use in small areas such as
room, garage and stores. It can be reinforce with polymer fibre to resist drying,
shrinking and cracking, it resistance to wear can be increase by spreading
titanium powder on wet surface of the screed and trowelled.

2. Granolithic Paving

This is used where greater resistance to wear is required; it is a mixture of

carefully crushed granite that were graded from course to fine particles which
when mixed will be very dense.

The concrete base on which it should be applied must be adequate prepared to

avoid drying shrinkage of the paving and it can also be applied on recently cast
over site concrete, it can be also be harden by chemicals.

3. Anhydrite floor finish

Anhydrite is obtained by burning gypsum. The materials can be mixed with

sand and water and then applied. It doesn’t shrink and crack as it dry.

4. Resin base floor finish

These are used where resistance to chemical and hygiene are required e.g
hospitals laboratories and food factories. It contain epoxy resin, cement, quartz
and pigment.

5. Polymer resin floor finish

These provide an easy clean surface that is resistance to water, acids, oils and
alkaline, it can be polyester, epoxy or poly-urethane.

 Polyester- this provide high resistance and can be 2-3 mm thick

 Epoxy Resin – this is less resistance and can be 2-6 mm thick
 Polyurethane – These have moderate resistance and can be 2-10mm thick.

Page 2 of 8 ARCH-304
 6. Mostic asphalt

This is made from limestone aggregate, natural rock or block pitch mastic. Its
serve both as floor finish and dpm. It’s smooth, hard wearing and dust free
finish which is easy to clean. It can be light duty, medium grade or heavy duty.

B. FLEXIBLE THIN SHEET AND TILES

1. Linoleum

This is use as a smooth easy cleaned finish to both timber and solid floors it is
made from linseed, oil, rosin, cork or wood flour filters and pigment. It can be
in sheets and tiles forms.

2. Flexible vinyl sheet and tiles

These are sheets and tiles made from PVC, pigments and plasticisers. Their
resistance to wear and flexibility vary with the vinyl content. The better the
wear and the poorer the flexibility. It has moderate resistance to wear; it is
cheap and can easily clean. It can be used both in residential buildings and
offices.

C. RIGID TILES AND STONES

1. Clay tiles.

These are hard and durable finish, made by Moulding and burning of clay

2. Floor quarries

These are made by grounding and mixing of natural plastic clay with water and
then moulded. The moulded clay tile is then burn in a kiln. They are hard, dense
and have good wear resistance, they are usually graded base on their hardness
shape and colour and they are of various sizes.

3. Plain colours

Page 3 of 8 ARCH-304
These are made by grounding, mixing of clays selected for their purity with
water and the subsequent moulding and burning.

There is very little shrinking during burning of the tiles and the finished tiles are
uniform in shape and size and have smooth faces.

They are resistance to wear and have a smooth non-gloss surface. They are used
in kitchen and bath rooms.

4. Vitreous floor tiles

The two types of vitreous tiles (glass like) are vitreous and fully vitreous tiles.
They are made from feldspar or other materials that melts when the tiles is burnt
to give hard, smooth, glass like (semi-gloss) to surface which is impervious to
water. Fully vitreous tiles contain higher proportion of the verifying agent either
in itself or as a surface finish. They have uniform shape and smooth surface that
is easy to clean. They can also be made with a textured finish to providing
moderate non-slip surface.

Laying floor tiles

Consideration for chosen method of laying floor tiles

a. Provision of materials to accommodate variation in tiles thickness

b. Good adhesion or boarding between the tiles and the base.
c. Accommodating of differential movement between the tiles and the base.
i. Direct bedding

This is a traditional method of laying tiles where they are laid on a bed of wet
cement and sand spread over a concrete floor. It is use for most areas but a
larger area may require a movement joints. The thickness of the screeded bed
vary with the type and the thickness of the tiles to be laid. The screaded should
not be mixed with too much water and cement as this will leads to drying
shrinkage. Joints between the tiles allow for variation in shape and can be filled

Page 4 of 8 ARCH-304
with cement and sand and finished level with the floor surface, or just below the
surface, to emphasize the individual tiles.

ii. Separating layer method

Sometimes tiles in the centre of floor rise above their bed in the form of shallow
arch. This is cause by expansion of the tiles relative to their bed or contraction
of the bed relative to the tiles. It can also be cause by thermal shrinkage of the
concrete base where arching is expected, the Tiles will be laid on a bed spread
over a separating layer so that movement of either tiles or the base will not
affect the floor finish. The separation layer may be of water impermeable
materials such as polythene film, or bitumen felt. The layer may also be of dry
sand or crushed stones.

iii. Thin bed adhesive method.

Thin layer of adhesive such as rubber latex cement, bitumen emulsion, sand and
epoxy resin, over floors are used as a bed for thin vitreous tiles. The adhesive
are usually 3-5mm thick and the tiles pressed and levelled in position on.

5. Concrete Tiles

These are made from cement and sand that was pressed hydraulically. They
may be pigmented or finished to exposed aggregate. Their density and
resistance to wear depend on the quality control during production and quality
of the materials.

6. Stone slabs

Tiles generally refer to square or rectangular units, thin relative to their length
or width of burned clay use as flour or wall finish while slab refer to natural
stone in units that are larger than tiles such as those used for out-door paving
(paviours). A small slab could also be refer to as a tile when used for flooring.
stone slabs such as the hard granite and less dense marble are used as floor

Page 5 of 8 ARCH-304
finish. They are selected primarily for their decorative colour, variation in
colour, grain and polished finished that is possible and durability and freedom
from dusting. The method of bedding varies with thickness, size, nature and
anticipated wear.

Joints

The width of joints of tiles or slab used as floor finish is determine by the
uniformity of shape and the material used. For tiles it can be up to 12mm while
for slabs it may be only 1mm.

Materials used for joints should have some density, resistance to wear and ease
of cleaning as the floor finish.

Movement of joint

Joint accommodate some movement between the floor finish and the bedding
and the concrete floor. Joints may slightly crack or crushed in large structures a
movement joint is introduced to accommodate structural moisture and thermal
movement. These flexible joints should be continued through the rigid floor
finishes a flexible joints.

These joints are made with elastic joint sealers and can be at the perimeter of
the floors or at different bays or areas of the floor.

Wooden tiles

This involves boards, strips and blocks. They have an advantage of variety of
colour, grain and texture but they are difficult to clean and maintain their natural
appearance and they can easily damage or wear.

Floor boards

They are use as floor surface and finish for concrete floors. The boards are
nailed to batten set in screed with floor clips.

Page 6 of 8 ARCH-304
Wood strip flooring

Narrow strips of wood are cut and use as floor finish so as to minimise loss of
width and shape of board due to drying and shrinkage.

They are also nail to the batten embedded in screed or nail to a clip secure in the
floor; they are usually joint by tongue and grove joint. The strip joint can also
be fixed by thin bed adhesive method were an adhesive such as epoxy resin are
spread over a true level and the strips are laid and pressed.

Wood block floor finish

These are thick and are use where resistance to heavy wear is required e.g. halls
corridors and schools. They are laid in brick pattern, square, basket or
herringbone pattern. They are laid on a thin layer of hot bitumen over the
surface of the screed. Their lower edges are cut with half dovetail incision so
that when the blocks are pressed in to the bitumen some bitumen squeezes up
and filled these dovetail cut and so assist in biding the blocks in the bitumen.

Paint
They are applied in the form of liquid which, on drying, form a thin film on the
pointed surfaces they provide protection, decoration, sanitation and improve
illumination. It consists of the solid pigment and the liquid, vehicle.

Constituents of oil point.

a. Base
b. Inert Filler
c. colouring pigment
d. vehicle
e. solvent or thinner
f. drier

Page 7 of 8 ARCH-304
 A. BASE
This is a powder pigment which make an opaque coating to hide the
surface to be painted. It also make the film resistance to abrasion and
prevent cracks due to shrinkage during drying of the film
B. INERT FILLER OR EXTANDER
This is a cheap pigment added to a point to reduce it cost. It also makes
the paint more durable
C. COLOURING PIGMENT
This is the pigment mixed in a paint to get the desire colour
D. VEHICLE
This is the liquid which acts as a binder to for the various pigments.
E. SOLVENT OR THINER
This is a liquid which thins the consistency of the paint and evaporates
after the pointed film has been applied. It enhance paint smoothness, flow
and brush ability.
F. DRIER
These are material use to accelerate the rate of drying of paint film. They
are usually applied in small quantities.

CHARACTERISTIC OF GOOD POINT

1. it should stack well to the surface and be able to seal porous substrate
2. the consistency should be able to provide easy workability
3. the thickness of the film should be able to provide good protection and
decoration of the surface
4. this film should dry rapidly
5. it must withstand adverse effect of weather for a long time
6. it should be able to provide resistance to failure by checking cracking and
flaking.
7. it should be moisture resistance
8. the paint should not fade with passage of time

Page 8 of 8 ARCH-304