Floors & Floor Construction What lies beneath the surface that we see? Concrete slab: is it on grade, or on a frame? Wood joist construction: what direction do the pieces run? Steel frame & steel decking: how easy or difficult is it to make alterations in this surface? Why are these different materials used? What are the pros and cons of using them?

Floors What is a floor required to do? A building's primary horizontal planar surface Support live loads: people, furnishings, and movable equipment Support dead loads: the weight of the floor itself, any non-movable, built-in components on the floor

The depth (thickness) of the overall floor construction is directly related to the s i z e a n d p r o p o r t i o n o f t h e s t r u c t u r a l b a y s i t m u s t s p a n a c r o s s, a n d t o t h e s t r e n g t h o f t h e m a t e r i a l s u s e d i n t h e f l o o r.

Flooring materials Flooring can be made of many possible materials. Building code requirements may dictate the performance requirements of a floor material. The ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) specifies the degree of friction, slip resistance, of flooring materials used in public spaces. We are probably most familiar with: wood, stone, concrete, sheet vinyl, ceramic tile, and carpet as the surfacing materials on the floors we encounter every day

The distance a piece of material has to span is directly related to its size. The size of these steel floor trusses is based on the distance they must span, and the load they must carry.

The Prada showroom in New York city designed by Rem Koolhas.

Wood floor joists and wood flooring in a house. The direction of the floor boards is a result of the direction of the floor joists.

Wood flooring

Concrete flooring

Colored concrete floors were very popular in the 1930's and 40's in the desert southwest because they were easy to clean and cool in the extreme desert heat. The majority of the floors were colored red and usually scored in a grid pattern. Concrete floors have become very popular again, due to low material cost, durability, and expanded design possibilites through color additives.

Concrete colors, synthetic & natural pigments Concrete can be tinted different colors. When coloring concrete either natural or synthetic pigments may be used. Synthetic pigments are chemically the same as natural pigments, but there are other differences. Natural pigments tend to be less expensive, but their range of colors is limited and they don't have the tinting strength of synthetics. Natural pigments tend to produce warmer colors, which seem closer to the colors you see in nature.

Concrete flooring

Steel reinforcing, called rebar is placed to be inside the concrete slab

Steel rebar are numbered, 1, 2, 4, 5, 12, 16, et cetera. Each number equals that many eights of an inch. A number 12 rebar is 12/8, or 1 ½ in diameter

Raised access flooring Raised access flooring consists of load bearing, easily removable panels supported above the building slab on pedestals. The cavity created is used to house services which may be safely concealed and protected but which remain readily accessible for maintenance, alteration and expansion.

Raised access flooring

Glass Glass is a practical and beautiful material that is strong enough to be used structurally, even as flooring. Floor panels are usually manufactured from two or more layers of annealed glass laminated together. Sandblasting or screen printing to the top surface not only gives anti-slip properties but also design opportunities.

Glass interior wall panels

Glass flooring

Glass block flooring

Glass flooring

Wood frame construction of floors

Wood frame construction

Wood floor system

Wood joists, (2 x10s) on brick foundation, on concrete footing

Steel construction

Steel framing Recently, steel framing has begun to make strong inroads into the residential building market. The move to steel in home construction has been fueled by rapidly increasing lumber prices and a need to conserve timber products. Steel homes use nearly the same framing techniques employed in wood-framed buildings, and construction costs run about the same. Unlike wood, however, steel is impervious to termites. It provides added resistance to fire and earthquake. Steel ceiling joists can span greater distances than wooden ones, allowing new design possibilities for architects and builders.

Steel in house construction

Steel skeleton for a house. Most of the pieces of steel used here are called light gauge steel, meaning that the pieces are relatively thin, and light.

Steel skeleton for a house. These steel pieces are much larger than those used in the previous images. These are I sections, made of thick, heavy steel plate.

Tile: a small, thin, modular piece of material. Porcelain floor tile Quarry tile Metal tile Travertine tile Granite tile Marble tile Limestone tile Slate tile Cork tile Glass tile Carpet tile

Cork flooring

Vertical Sections

Elevations

Plan (Plan-Section)

an informative web site is: type in 'how house construction works' into their search function.