FLOOR FINISH

 Flooring is the general term for a permanent covering of a floor, or for the work of installing such a floor covering. Floor covering is a term to generically describe any finish material applied over a floor structure to provide a walking surface. Both terms are used interchangeably but floor covering refers more to loose-laid materials. Materials almost always classified as floor covering include carpet, area rugs, and resilient floorings such as linoleum or vinyl flooring. Materials commonly called flooring include wood flooring, ceramic tile, stone, terrazzo, and various seamless chemical floor coatings,

 

The final finishes to the floors may be considered under the three main headings:

1. In-situ floor finishes

2. Applied floor finishes

3. Timber floor finishes

1. IN-SITU FLOOR FINISHES

                          I.          Punning

It is the cheapest type of floor finish material

The concrete floor slab is leveled with 1:3 Cement sand mortar to provide base for punning

Uses

·       It is extensively used as floor-finishing material in schools, public buildings, factories, stores etc.

·       Nowadays anti-slip cement precast tiles with different colors, size and patterns are available in the market.

                        II.          Mosaic cast in-situ

It is the name given to artificial stone with special aggregate of marble chips mixed with white or color cement in the proportion 3:1. Mosaic floor is laid over concrete floor. Prior to laying mosaic mixture the whole area is divided into suitable panels by use of dividing strips. After completely drying, it is cured with water for two days. Thereafter the surface is polished with manual power or machine to give required pleasing smooth surface. Mosaic cast in situ can be done to the floors of any shape like curve, circle, pointed, hexagonal, etc.

      Uses

·       On account of its good wearing properties and decorations mosaic is becoming popular floor finishing of offices, schools, hospitals, residential buildings and banks.

 

                      III.          Mosaic pre cast tiles

       They are manufactured in factories from the same mosaic mixture as for mosaic cast in-situ. They are produced in large quantities and hence are cheaper than mosaic cast in-situ finishing. They are usually square shaped tiles like 20cm×20cm, 30cm×30cm etc. As these tiles are already casted and set in factories the construction of floor with such tile is much more rapid. These tiles are most suitable for floors of rectangular or square shaped but it is not economical for floors with pointed, curved, circle shaped as it is difficult and uneconomical to cut down such shapes.

 

                      IV.          Mastic Asphalt

            This is naturally occurring bituminous material obtained from asphalt. Asphalt is used as matrix to a suitably graded mineral aggregate to form mastic asphalt as a material suitable for floor finishing. Mastic asphalt is a thermoplastic material and has to be melted before it can be applied to form a joint less floor finish. The finish obtained is smooth and hard but the color range is limited to dark colors like red, brown and black. A mat surface can be produced by giving the top surface a dusting of sand or powdered stone.

Uses

·       Mastic asphalt is impervious to water and is ideal for situations such as sculleries and wash rooms.

·       It also forms a very good surface on which to apply thin tile and sheet finishes and will at the same time fulfill the function of damp proof membrane.

 

2. APPLIED FLOOR FINISHES

      I.          Clay tiles

They are usually square shaped or polygonal shaped tiles having thickness 12mm to 50mm and dimension roughly 30cm ×30cm and are used for finishing the floor. They are produced from refined natural clays which are pressed after grinding and tampering into the desired shape before being fired at a high temperature. Tiles may be laid over concrete floor, mud floors, etc.

Uses

·       They are extensively used as finishing material to roof floor as they also work as insulating material against heat and sound.

·       Due to cheapness clay tiles are extensively used as finishing material to path ways passages courtyards etc.

 

    II.          Vinyl

It is prepared from the mixture of oxidized linseed oil pulverized cork, wood and colored pigments spread on uniform layer on canvas with desired pattern and print. They are clayed over labeled concrete surface with gum, they have better look, washable and easy to clean and maintain.

Uses

·       They are used as floor finish material in offices, halls, studios, labs, corridors, etc.

  III.          Flexible PVC Tile and Sheet

      Flexible PVC is a popular hardwearing floor finish produced by a mixture of PVC resin, pigments and mineral fillers. It is produced as 300×300mm square tiles or in sheet form up to 2400mm wide with the range of thickness from 1.5 to 3mm. The floor tiles and sheet are fixed with an adhesive recommended by the manufacturer and produce a surface suitable for most situations. PVC tiles like all mother small unit coverings should be laid from the centre of the area towards the edges.

  IV.          Linoleum

It is produced in sheet or tiles form from a mixture of drying oils, resins, fillers and pigments which is pressed into a hessian or bitumen saturated felt paper backing. Linoleum gives a quite resilient and hardwearing surface suitable sheet for most domestic floors. Thickness varies from 2-6.5mm for a standard sheet width of 1800mm tiles are usually 300mm square with the same range of thickness.

    V.          Stone

a)    Marble

It is costly type of stone. It has got many good properties like

·       It can be sawn like timber with desired thickness

·       It is non-absorbent

·       It takes nice polish

·       It is available in wide range of colors

·       It can be easily cleaned

      Uses

·       It is most suitable for places like temples, multipurpose halls, library, kitchen, dining, lobby, staircases, and bathrooms of residential buildings s where decorative floors are essential.

·       It is most suitable for places in hot climate as marble flooring keeps the house cool.

 

b)    Flag stone

It is a type of sandstone available in the form of slab or patties. It is very hard and compact. It can take nice polish also. So it has been used as floor finishing material from ancient times

Uses

·       It is used as floor finishing material for pathways, passages, courtyards, etc

·       It can be laid over mud flooring and concrete flooring with cement, sand mortar

      3. TIMBER FLOOR FINISH

          Timber is a very popular floor finish with both designer and user because of                           its natural appearance, resilience and warmth.

      I.          Wooden boarding

Fireboards and the boards prepared from soft woods are used as finishing material for flooring. They are joined together by tongue and groove joints along their edges and are fixed by nailing to the support joist or fillets attached to a solid floor. Timber is hygroscopic material and will therefore swell and shrink as its moisture content varies ideally, and this should be maintained at around 12%.

Uses

·       As timber is an insulator of heat, it is most suitable for places with cold climate as timber floor keeps the house warm

·       It is mostly used as finishing for floor of lobbies, drawing room, bedroom, etc. of residential houses.

·       Besides using as floor finishing material, it is also used in construction of timber floor

 

    II.          Wood blocks

These are small blocks of timber usually of hard wood which are designed to be laid in set patterns. Length range from 150-300mm with widths up to 89mm, the width being proportional to the length to enable the various patterns to be created. Block thickness range from 20-30mm thick and the final thickness after sanding and polishing being about 5-10mm thinner. The blocks are joined along their edges with a tongue and groove joint and have a rebate, chamfer or dovetail along the bottom longitudinal edges to take up any surplus adhesive used for fixing. Block like tiled floor should be laid from the center of the floor towards the perimeter which is generally terminated with margin border.

  III.          Parquetting

Parquetting is superior form of wood block flooring made from specially selected hard wood chosen mainly for their decorative appearance. Parquetting are the thin rectangular tiles, prepared from hard woods with different dimensions and shapes and patterns. It is laid over punned, level with parquetting. After completely covering the floor with parquetting, it is polished either with manpower or with machine using special polish.

But parquetting is very costly to maintain because of the following points

·       Polishing should be done frequently

·       Parquetting should not come in contact with water. Water causes parquetting swell and thus crack the floor surface.

·       Before parquetting punning should be done to concrete floor which makes this finishing costly.