The Flooring Encyclopedia

Area Rugs:
Area Rugs are also woven or felted from fibers, but are smaller than the room in which they are located, have a finished edge, and usually lie over another finished floor such as wood flooring. Rugs may either be temporarily attached to the flooring below by adhesive tape or other methods to prevent creep, or may be loose-laid.

Resilient Flooring:
Resilient flooring includes many different manufactured products including linoleum, sheet vinyl, vinyl composition tile, cork (sheet or tile), and others.

Wood Flooring:
Many different species of wood are fabricated into wood flooring in two primary forms: plank and parquet. Bamboo flooring is also available. While bamboo is technically not a wood, bamboo flooring is installed and functions much like wood flooring. Reclaimed lumber has a unique appearance and is green.

Ceramic Tile:
Ceramic tile includes a wide variety of clay products fired into thin units which are set in beds of mortar or mastic with the joints between tiles grouted. Varieties include quarry tile, porcelain tile, terra cotta tile, and others.

Stone:
Many different natural stones are cut into a variety of sizes, shapes, and thicknesses for use as flooring. Stone flooring is usually set in mortar and grouted similar to ceramic tile.

Terrazzo:
Terrazzo consists of marble or other stone aggregate set in mortar and ground and polished to a smooth surface.

Seamless Chemical Flooring:
Many different seamless flooring materials are available. These are usually latex, polyester, or epoxy compounds which are applied in liquid form to provide a completely seamless floor covering. These are usually found in wet areas such as laboratories or food processing plants.

Other Floorings:
Linoleum
Marble
Mosaic
Parquetry
Performance surface flooring for dance or athletics
Rubber
Tile Includes slate, ceramic and stone tiles

Flooring Tools:
Special tools used for flooring include:
* Flooring clamp, a clamp for tongue and groove floors while nailing
* Knee kicker, used to stretch carpets flat

Floor Features:
There are a number of special features that may be used to ornament a floor or perform a useful service:
* Floor medallions decorative centerpieces of a floor design
* Doormats to help keep a floor clean
* Gratings used to drain water or to rub dirt off shoes
* Tactile or rumble strips to warn of for instance a wheelchair ramp, these would normally also be distinctively coloured or patterned.
* Light strips to show an escape route out, especially on airplanes.
* Mouldings or baseboards to decorate the sides of a floor. or to cover the edge of a floating floor.

Issues With Floors:
Wood floors, particularly older ones, will tend to ‘squeak’ in certain places. This is caused by the wood rubbing against other wood, usually at a joint of the subfloor. Firmly securing the pieces to each other with screws or nails will remove this problem.

Floor vibration is a particularly annoying problem with floors. Wood floors tend to pass sound, particularly heavy footsteps and low bass frequencies. Floating floors can reduce or eliminate this problem. Concrete floors are usually so solid they do not have this problem, but are also much more expensive to construct, and much heavier, resulting in further requirements regarding the structure of the building.

The flooring may need protection sometimes e.g. a gym floor used for a graduation ceremony. A Gym floor cover can be used to reduce the need to satisfy incompatible requirements.

Floor Cleaning:
Floor cleaning is a major occupation throughout the world. Cleaning is essential to prevent injuries due to slips and to remove dirt. Floors are also treated to protect or beautify the surface. The correct method to clean one type of floor can often damage another, so it is important to use the correct treatment. See floor cleaning for more details.

Subfloor Construction:
The subfloor provides the strength of a floor. Many floors have no separate floor covering on top. The subfloor may also provide services like underfloor heating or ducts for air conditioning.
A ground-level floor can be an earthen floor made of soil, or be solid ground floors made of concrete slab. Floors above may be built on beams or joists or use structures like hollow core slabs.

Ground Floor Construction:
Ground-level slab floors are prepared for pouring by grading the base material so that it is flat, and then spreading a layer of sand and gravel. A grid of rebar is usually added to reinforce the concrete, especially if it will be used structurally, i.e. to support part of the building.

Upper Floor Construction:
Floors in woodframe homes are usually constructed with joists that are centered no more than 16 inches or 40 centimeters apart, according to most building codes.[citation needed] Heavy floors, such as those made of stone, are more closely-spaced. If the span between load-bearing walls is too long for joists to safely support, then a heavy crossbeam (thick or laminated wood, or a metal I-beam or H-beam) may have to be used. A ‘subfloor’ of plywood or waferboard is then laid over the joists.

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