Chapter – 7

● The floor provides a level surface which supports the movement of occupants residing in the
building and loads of the furniture and fixtures, equipment and other materials stored, including
internal partitions, if any. The floors should have required strength and stability, provide
resistance to dampness and fire and insulation against both sound and heat.

Floors
 Flooring

● Flooring is the general term for a permanent covering of a floor, or

for the work of installing such a floor covering.
● There are various types of flooring materials used in building
construction and their selection depends on applications,
aesthetics and choice of user.
● A floor in building construction is a leveled surface which can
support the objects, occupants etc. Different flooring types
are there based on different factors.
● The flooring material is chosen as per requirement of the
user and based on applications which provides the most
satisfying results for objective, either it may be economically
or durability wise.
 Types of flooring
● Cement or lime concrete
● Mud and murram
● Bricks
● Wood
● Flagstones
● Cork
● Marble
● Linoleum
● Glass
● Asphalt
● Ceramic
● Rubber
● Plastic
 Cement Concrete Flooring
Cement Concrete mix of 1:3:6 to 1:5:10 or lime concrete with 40% 1:2 lime sand mortar and 60% coarse aggregate is
used as base course. After hardening, 1:2:4 cement concrete mix with 40 mm thick layer is laid as topping.

Concrete is most commonly used flooring material. It is suitable for

any type of construction and is cheaper than others and durable.
Cement Concrete mix of 1:3:6 to 1:5:10 or lime concrete with 40% 1:2
lime sand mortar and 60% coarse aggregate is used as base course.
After hardening, 1:2:4 cement concrete mix with 40 mm thick layer is
laid as topping.
In industrial buildings, granolithic finish is provided to obtain hard
wearing surface. Granolithic finish can be obtained from rich concrete
with tough quality coarse aggregate mix.
Cement Concrete Flooring
● Following are the advantages of concrete floors:

● They are hard & Durable

● Provide a smooth & non absorbent surface

● They are more fire resistant

● They provide more sanitary surface as they can be cleaned & washed easily.

● They are economical as they require negligible maintenance cost.

● They can be finished with a pleasing appearance.

Bricks Flooring
Herrringbone pattern
The floor whose topping is of brick. These
are easy to construct and repair. but the
surface resulting from these is not smooth
and is rough, hence, easily absorbs and
retains moisture which may cause
dampness in the building.
 Brick Flooring

● For constructing a brick floor, the top surface of earth or murram

filling is properly consolidated. Over this compacted earth, a layer of
clean sand about 10 cm thick is evenly spread. Then a layer of lime
concrete (1:4:8) or lean cement concrete (1:4:16) is laid, compacted
and cured. Over this base concrete well soaked bricks are laid in
cement mortar (1:4) in any suitable bond.

● In case pointing is to be done, the minimum

thickness of joints should not exceed 2 mm and and
the mortar in joints is struck off with a trowel. When
the pointing is to be done, the minimum thickness of
joints is kept 6mm and the pointing may be done.
 Flagstone flooring

agstone is a type of sedimentary rock which is obtained by splitting

Fl

along bed planes. It consists silica, calcite and iron oxide. Flag stone is
used to manufacture tiles of different sizes in different shapes.
 Flagstone flooring
● The stone slabs used here may not be of the same size but
should not be more than 75 cm length and not less than 35
cm in width and 3.8 cm in thickness. The slabs are soaked well
in water at least one hour before laying. They should be evenly
and firmly bedded in mortar. The thickness of joints should not
exceed 4 mm and they should be struck off with a trowel
while laying.
Marble flooring
Glass Flooring
Ceremic flooring
Plastic Flooring
 Mud and Murram Flooring

Mud is nothing but moist earth which is being used

as flooring material in since olden days. It has good
thermal insulation property. Chopped straw is
added to mud to prevent it from the cracking.
Sometimes cow dung is also used in this mixture.
Wooden flooring
Cork Flooring
Linoleum Flooring
 Asphalt Flooring

Asphalt is highly viscous liquid form of petroleum. Asphalt is used as

flooring material in different ways.
If asphalt and sand are mixed in 1:2 proportion then it is called asphalt
mastic which is poured on concrete base as flooring cover. If sand is
replaced by marble chips then it is called as asphalt mosaic. Asphalt tiles
are also available which are prepared from the asphalt fibers, inert
materials and mineral pigments.
Rubber Flooring
Factors Affecting Selection of Flooring Material

● Initial cost
● Durability
● Hardness
● Smoothness
● Cleanliness
● Appearance
● Sound insulation
● Thermal insulation
● Damp proof
● Fire resistance
● Maintenance
 Concrete Flooring

● The concrete flooring can be constructed either

(i) Monolithically i.e. base layer is laid and then immediately a concrete topping is provided.

(ii) Non –Monolithically i.e. the topping is laid after the base has set.
Concrete flooring
 Steps:
1. First properly compact the earth in the plinth. While compacting, care has to be taken that a proper
slope as required for the floor is provided.

2. Over this compacted earth filling, uniformly spread a layer of clean coarse sand about 10 to 15 cm thick.

3. A base concrete of grade M10 (1 cement : 3 sand : 6 coarse aggregate) is then laid over the sand layer in
the required slope and tamped properly. The thickness of base concrete is generally 100 mm.

4. Level the top of the base concrete and left it to set and harden.
5. Thoroughly clean the surface upon hardening.

6. Divide the top of the floor into panels, rectangular or square in shape, by using glass or other strips. The
area of the panels should preferably less than 2 square meters.

7. After completion of the panelling, moist the top of the base concrete and apply cement slurry on it.

8. Over this cement slurry, provide a layer of cement concrete of grade M15 (1 cement : 2 sand : 4 coarse
aggregate) of required thickness (say 40 mm).

9. Tamp the top surface thoroughly to compact it and use wooden floats to obtain a smooth surface. The
surface so obtained is cured for about 10 days before putting it to use.
 Terrazo Floors

● Terrazzo flooring consists of

(1) Concrete bed,

(2) Mortar bed, 1 cm of cement mortar (cement sand mixture 1:3),

(3) Metal strips,

(4) Marble chips 3 to 6mm.

Terrazo Floors
 Terrazo flooring
Composition
● The floor consists of an under layer of cement concrete in ratio of 1:2:4(1 part of cement: 2 parts of
coarse sand: 4 parts of graded stone aggregate 12.5 mm nominal size). Its thickness depends on size of
marble chips used.
Under Layer
● Cement concrete mixture should be used for under layer. The panels should be of uniform size. In
exposed situations, length of any side of the panel should not be more than 1.25m.
Fixing Strips
● 4 mm thick glass strips, 1.6 mm thick aluminum strips or 2mm thick PVC strips should be fixed with
their top at proper level to get required slope.
Top Layer

● The mixture for topping should consist of cement with or without pigments, marble powder, marble
chips and water. The cement and marble powder should be mixed in ratio of 3:1 by weight.

Marble chips

● The chips should be white or pink Makrana, Black Bhainslana, Chittor black, Jaisalmer Yellow, Dehradun
White quality etc.

● They are hard, solid, dense and uniform in texture and have hard/coarse granular particles.
Steps
● Attractive Terrazzo floors and panels are created by exposing marble chips and other fine aggregates on
the surface of finished concrete.

● Terrazzo floor requires three layers of materials. First, 3 to 4 inches base concrete and 1-inch layer of
cement concrete.

● Before this layer sets, metal divider strips are partially embedded in concrete wherever a joint or change
of color in terrazzo is desired.
● For final layer, each panel is blended and placed with a fine marble chip mixture that may be color-
pigmented.

● Light weight roller is rolled over entire surface.

● When the terrazzo is thoroughly dry, grind it with a terrazzo grinder which is somewhat like a floor
polisher.

● Slight depressions left by grinding are filled with a matching grout material and a uniform and smooth
surface is made with trowel.

● Then clean, polish, and seal the dry surface for a shining finish.
Grinding and Polishing
● Grinding may be done either by hand or by machine. Machine grinding should be done after 4 or 5 days
of laying the floor.
First Grinding
● The surface should be watered and ground with machine with grit block i.e. ‘Carborundum’ stones of
coarse grade No. 60 till marble chips are evenly exposed and the floor becomes smooth. After first
grinding the surface is thoroughly washed to remove ground mud and grout of cement and pigment if
required to be done on topping to fill in the pinholes and curing is made for 3 to 4 days.
Second Grinding
● Second grinding is done with machine fitted with ‘carborundum’ stone No. 120. The surface is again
washed, cleaned and repaired like before. It should be allowed to cure for 3 days.
Third Grinding
● Third grinding is done with fine carborundum stone No. 320 to get even smooth surface.
Finishing and Polishing

● After final grinding, the surface is washed and cleaned. Oxalic acid powder is sprinkled on the surface
and is wet with water; dried and rubbed with clean cotton waste. After that, wax polish is applied with
soft cloth on clean and dry surface. This should then be rubbed with clean cotton waste and wooden
saw dust.
Checklist for Terrazzo Flooring

● When the floor is ready for use, you should check it on the following grounds.

● Proper cement concrete ratio under layer is provided in cement concrete flooring.
Marble chips match with size and specification.
Thickness of flooring is good.
Sizes of panels are right.
There is uniformity of chips and colors.
There are no cracks in the floor.
There is no hollow sound when trapped.
There is proper workmanship-polish, smoothness, lines and levels.