Flooring:
Wood:
- Wood, as a floor material has made a come back recently.
- Due to the use of polyurethane and urethane finishes which give a maintenance
free finish.
- Also the warranties for the product are 25 years in most products.
- Consider durability, along with the texture and color when choosing
for furniture as well as floor construction.
- The manner in which wood is cut (lumber cut or sawed) gives the specific
appearance.
- Most common are plain sawn (cheapest, easiest and most economical use
of wood, gives a pointed-arch appearance) and quarter sawn (gives less
distortion of wood from shrinkage or warping, gives a more
straight-line appearance).
- Wood is divided into two major categories
. the hardwoods from deciduous trees (The hardwoods
are more durable)
. the softwoods from conifers or evergreens.
Veneer: is a very
thin sheet of wood varying in thickness from 1/8 inch to 1/100 inch. Wood
that is more than 1/4 inch in thickness is no longer considered veneer.
Laminated or Engineered
Wood:
- is a sandwich of sheets of veneer,
- layered at right angles to prevent warping.
- these layers are permanently set together to form a single strong panel.
- laminated prefinished floors are less affected by humidity and are therefore
very stable.
- another advantage of laminated floor is it can be installed below grade
(basement).
Types of wood flooring:
Strip; Random Planks; Parquet
Strip
- usually 2 ¼ inches wide,
- strip flooring is tongue and grooved on both sides and ends.
- Regular strip flooring is sold by the board foot,
- 5 % waste allowance is added to the total order.
Planks
- 3 to 8 inches wide,
- most installations comprise three different sizes.
- Plank widths selected should correspond to the dimensions of the room
to keep the flooring in proper scale.
- Plank flooring is screwed to the floor; then the screw is countersunk
and plugged with appropriate materials (wood dowels;
brass; contrasting wood).
- Plank flooring is sold by the square foot, and
- 5 % waste allowance is added to the total square footage.
Parquet
- comprises of individual pieces of wood, from
- 3/8 to ¾ inch thick, - joined to form a variety of patterns.
- Sizes vary from 9 to 19 inches square.
- Designers need to be aware of the parquet patterns and their directional
uses (herringbone pattern).
Some facts about installations:
- Walls are never used as a starting point for installation
because they are never trulysquare.
- Wood parquet must be installed in a pyramid or stairstep sequence, rather
than in rows to avoid misaligned pattern. Parquet may also be laid
parallel to, or at an 45 degree angle to the wall.
- When there is a slight level change between two areas, reducer strips
may be used.
. Reducer strips are a tapered piece of wood
used at the joining of two dissimilar materials
to compensate for difference in thickness.
- Understand the implications of grade levels and underlayments.
Grade levels:
Moisture is a major cause of problems with wood. Therefore
understanding where the wood flooring is going to be installed is critical.
Above grade - is not a problem for installation
of wood floors, because no moisture is present.
On grade - means the concrete floor is in
direct contact with the ground.
Below grade - means the basement floor, in
which the presence of moisture is an even greater problem.
Underlayments: are
used to provide a smooth undersurface which enables proper installation
of wood and other types of flooring.
The two types of underlayment are Mastic
(an adhesive compound made of latex and poly vinyl acetate resins), and
Board-type (underlayment may be hardboard,
plywood, or particle board - particle board underlayment is not advised
for resilient floors).
Finishes and surface applications:
- All types of wood flooring (strip, plank and parquet)
can be applied with finishes.
- Polyurethane finish and the Swedish finish are the two main types.
- Wood flooring can also be impregnated with liquid acrylic.
. Liquid acrylic is forced into the pore
structure of wood and then is
permanently hardened.
. This process (which is deep in the wood)
make it highly resistant to
abrasion and impact and requires very little maintenance.
. Dyes and fire retardants can also be
added to the acrylic.
. Only negative aspect of the acrylic
impregnated wood is that the color
cannot be changed.
Laminate floors
are different from laminated wood floor (also called as engineered wood).
- Wilsonart a leader of laminate floor in the US.
- Laminate flooring generally comprises three layers.
. Decorative surface (for design and
abrasion resistance);
. Core board (for stability and impact
resistance); and
. Balancing backer (to prevent warpage).
- Laminate floors can come in planks (7 ¾ inch wide by 46 inch long) or
tiles (15 ½ inch squares).
Marble:
Marble is a metamorphic rock derived from limestone.
- Marble is a quarried product (basically blocks of marble are cut or
split from the surrounding rock).
- Marble chips are used in the production of terrazzo, and agglomerated
marble tiles.
- The colored veins of marble are as varied and numerous as the areas
from which marble is quaried.
- To name a few:
. Carrara marble - pure white (Michelangelo
used this in his sculptures).
Carrara may also be black, gray, or brownish veining.
. Verd antique - is applied to marbles of
prevailing green color (green
can be interspersed with streaks of red, pinks, yellows.
Considerations for marble floor:
- Density (weight needs to be calculated so that the subfloor
is able to withstand the weight);
- Water absorption (maximum absorption established by ASTM C503 is
0.20%);
- Abrasion Resistance (for commercial flooring a hardness value of 10
as measured by ASTM C241).
Note:
- A polished finish marble is not recommended for commercial installations
because abrasion of walking removes the shine and creates
a dull finish in high traffic areas.
- A honed surface (satin finish with little light reflection) is preferred
for floors, stairs treads.
- Travertine and Granite behave a great deal like marble and therefore
similar considerations must be given to qualities such as density,
water absorption, and abrasion resistance.
Ceramic Tile:
- Tiles are made by two methods - Dust press, and extruded.
- ceramic tiles are impervious (less than .05% absorption rate, extremely
low water absorption rate); low absorption rate also indicates greater
stain resistance.
- ceramic tiles come in many types of shapes, colors, sizes, finishes
(shiny, matte, unglazed etc), patterns , surface texture (relates
to its reflectance qualities)
- highly glazed tiles not recommended for floor for problems with slippery
issues, as well as the wear/stratch problem (ANSI requirement,
a coefficient of friction of 0.5 and above is the industry standard
for a slip resistant flooring surface. ADA recommendation is 0.6 or greater).
Porisity Variances
(materials classified by the rate of water
absorption)
Impervious = 0.5% or less (ceramic tile, porcelain tile);
Vitreous = more than 0.5% but less than 3% (some marbles);
Semi vitreous = more than 3% but less than 7%;
Non vitreous = more than 7% (saltillo, brick)
Vinyl Composition:
Vinyl composition tile (VCT) commonly
used in less expensive installation.
- VCT is composed of binder (organic), fillers (inorganic), and pigments.
The mixture is formed into thin sheets under heat and pressure and is
then cut into tiles.
- thickness of VCT is 3/32 inch or 1/8 inch. Commercial and high-end residential
1/8 inch is used.
Advantages:
- inexpensive and easy to install,
- comes in a variety of designs,
- may be installed on any grade level.
- resists acids ,
- withstands strong cleaning compounds.
Disadvantages:
- low impact resistance,
- poor acoustical properties.
Solid Vinyl:
- not all vinyl.
- has lower percentage of fillers and higher percentage of polyvinyl chloride
(PVC) than vinyl composition tile.
Pure Vinyl Tile:
- pure vinyl (uses no fillers),
- color is throughout the tile,
- have a higher resistance to abrasive wear than VCT,
- available in interesting finishes.
Note: use static dissipative vinyl tile were static electricity poses
a problem.
Sheet Vinyl:
- sheet vinyl comes in widths of 6ft, 6ft 6 inches, 9 ft,
and 12ft.
- manufactured either using the inlaid method or the rotogravure method.
- inlaid method the vinyl sheet is made of thousands of tiny vinyl granules
built up layer by layer, and then fused with heat and pressure (resulting
in a resilient, hefty flooring with a noticeable depth of color and crafted
look).
- Rotogravure (rotovinyls) combines photography and printing (almost anything
can be can be reproduces on a rotovinyl floor).
. the printed layer is protected by topping
of vinyl resin alone or along
with a urethane finish.
- most sheet vinyl are flexible and can be used to form their own base.
Rubber:
- available with smooth surfaces, multilevel (raised discs,
curves).
- available in 9,12,20,39 inch squares with thickness of 3/32, 1/8, 3/16
inch.
- rubber tile is considered an ideal product for public areas because
it offers excellent traction, even when wet (rubber floors are used to
meet the minimum requirements of ADA).
- can be laid below grade.
- extremely sound absorbent.