Timber Flooring

Lesson 20 : Ground Floors

Common Flooring And Their Construction

Timber Flooring

Timber flooring is used for carpentry halls, dancing halls, auditoriums, etc. They are not commonly used in residential buildings in India, because timber flooring is quite costlier. But today use of wooden flooring in residential building is becoming popular. However, in hilly areas, where timber is cheaply and readily available, and where temperature drops very low, timber flooring is quite common. One of the major problems in timber flooring is the damp prevention. This can be done by introducing D.P.C layer below the flooring.

Timber floors can either be of ‘suspended type’ (i.e. supported above the ground) or ‘solid type’ (fully supported on the ground). The suspended type timber flooring is shown in Figure 11.6. An alternative sketch of ‘suspended’ or ‘supported’ timber flooring is sown in Figure 7. The hollow space between the flooring and over site concrete is kept dry and well ventilated by providing air bricks in the outer walls, and voids in the sleeper wall. The flooring consists of boarding supported on bridging or floor joists of timber, which are nailed to the wall plates at their ends. Sleeper walls are not spaced more than 1.8 to 2 m.

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Where the problems of dampness is not acute, timber floors may be supported on the ground all along. For this type of construction, base concrete is first laid in 15 to 20 cm thickness. Over it, a layer of mastic asphalt is applied. Wooden block flooring is then laid over it, as shown in figure 7. Wooden blocks are short but thick (with sizes 20 X 8 cm to 30 X 8cm and thickness 2 to 4 cm) and are laid in suitable designs. In order to fix the wooden floor on concrete slabs, longitudinal nailing strips, with beveled section, are embedded in concrete at suitable interval. Sometimes, special concrete, called nailing concrete may be used as an alternative to the nailing strips. Special flooring nails are used for nailing down the flooring.

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Last modified: Friday, 20 April 2012, 11:23 AM