flooring and its accessories

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Flooring and its accessories
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What is floor?

• A floor is the bottom surface of a room or
  vehicle or even possibly the surface on which
  people dance, commonly referred to as a 'dance
  floor'. Floors vary from simple dirt in a cave to
  many-layered surfaces modern technology. Floors
  may be stone, wood, bamboo, metal or any other
  material that can support the expected load.

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Floor covering

• It is a term to generically describe any finish
  material applied over a floor structure to
  provide a walking surface. Flooring is the
  general term for a permanent covering of a floor,
  or for the work of installing such a floor
  covering. 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
  flooring such as linoleum or vinyl flooring.
  Materials commonly called flooring include wood
  flooring, laminated wood, ceramic
  tile, stone, terrazzo, and various seamless
  chemical floor coatings.

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Cont..

• The choice of material for floor covering is
  affected by factors such as cost, endurance,
  noise insulation, comfort and cleaning effort.
  Some types of flooring must not be installed
  below grade (lower than ground level), and
  laminate or hardwood should be avoided where
  there may be moisture or condensation.
• The subfloor may be finished in a way that makes
  it usable without any extra work, see
• Earthen floor adobe or clay floors
• Solid ground floor cement screed or granolithic
• There are a number of special features that may
  be used to ornament a floor or perform a useful
  service. Examples include Floor medallions which
  provide a decorative centerpiece of a floor
  design, or Gratings used to drain water or to rub
  dirt off shoes.

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Subfloor

• The floor under the flooring is called
  the subfloor, which provides the support for the
  flooring. Special purpose subfloors like floating
  floors, raised floors or sprung floors may be
  laid upon another underlying subfloor which
  provides the structural strength. Subfloors that
  are below grade (underground) or ground level
  floors in buildings without basements typically
  have a cement subfloor. Subfloors above grade
  (above ground) typically have a plywood subfloor.

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Flooring accessories

• Some of the Flooring accessories are
• Carpeting
• Carpet Padding
• Wood flooring
• Laminate
• Hard flooring
• Resilient flooring
• Seamless polymer flooring

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Carpet

• It  is a soft floor covering made of bound carpet
  fibers or stapled fibers. Carpeting refers to
  wall-to-wall coverage, whereas a rug is simply
  used to cover a space. This type of flooring is
  typically used indoors and can be used in both
  high and low traffic areas. It typically lasts
  for 15-18 years before it needs to be replaced.
  The quality of a carpet is usually measured in
  face weight, or how many fibers there are per
  square inch. The higher the face weight the more
  plush a carpet will feel.
• Carpets come in a variety of materials including
  wool, nylon, olefin and polyester.
• There are different types of carpet like twists,
  which is commonly referred to as a Berber. Twist
  carpeting is composed of multiple twisted fibers
  set into the carpet backing. It is typically used
  in low traffic areas. Another type of carpeting
  is looped carpets, which are composed of looped
  fibers set into the carpet backing. This type of
  carpeting is typically used in high traffic areas
  as it is easy to clean.

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Wood flooring

• Many different species of wood are fabricated
  into wood flooring in two primary forms plank
  and parquet. Hardwoods are typically much more
  durable than softwoods. Reclaimed lumber has a
  unique appearance and is used in green
  (environmentally responsible) building.
• Engineered hardwood has a thin solid wood layer
  on top with a composite core. It can be a less
  expensive option than buying hardwood, but it
  cannot be sanded and refinished. This flooring
  typically is installed with a click-lock method.
• Bamboo flooring is a floor manufactured from the
  bamboo plant and is a type of hardwood flooring,
  though technically not a wood. Bamboo is known to
  be durable and environmentally friendly. It is
  available in many different patterns, colors, and
  textures.

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Laminate

• Laminate is a floor covering that appears similar
  to hardwood but is made with a plywood or medium
  density fiberboard ("MDF") core with a plastic
  laminate top layer. HDF laminate consists of high
  density fiberboard topped by one or more layers
  of decorative paper and a transparent protective
  layer. Laminate may be more durable than
  hardwood, but cannot be refinished like hardwood.
  Laminate flooring is available in many different
  patterns which can resemble different woods or
  even ceramic tile. It usually locks or taps
  together. Underlayment is required for laminate
  flooring to provide moisture and noise control.

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Hard flooring

• Hard flooring (not to be confused with
  "hardwood") is a family of flooring materials
  that includes concrete or cement, ceramic tile,
  glass tiles, and natural stone products.
• Ceramic tile are clay products which are formed
  into thin tiles and fired. Ceramic tiles are set
  in beds of mortar or mastic with the joints
  between tiles grouted. Varieties of ceramic tiles
  include quarry tile, porcelain, terracotta.
• Many different natural stones are cut into a
  variety of sizes, shapes, and thicknesses for use
  as flooring. Stone flooring uses a similar
  installation method to ceramic tile. Slate and mar
  ble are popular types of stone flooring that
  requires polishing and sealing. Stone aggregates,
  like Terrazzo, can also be used instead of raw
  cut stone and are available as either preformed
  tiles or to be constructed in-place using a
  cement binder.

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Resilient flooring

• Unlike tiles which are made of minerals,
  resilient flooring is made of materials that have
  some elasticity, giving the flooring a degree of
  flexibility called resilience. The flooring is
  available in large sheets or pre-cut tiles, and
  either comes with pre-applied adhesive for
  peel-and-stick installation or requires adhesive
  to be troweled on to the substrate.  Resilient
  flooring includes many different manufactured
  products including linoleum, sheet vinyl, vinyl
  composition tile (VCT), cork (sheet or tile),
  and rubber. Performance surfaces used for dance
  or athletics are usually made of wood or
  resilient flooring. The two basic categories
  of vinyl floor tiles are solid vinyl and vinyl
  composition, and the three basic categories of
  vinyl sheet flooring are homogeneous, inlaid, and
  layered composite. These types of vinyl flooring
  differ in manufacturing process and content,
  ranging in vinyl (polyvinyl chloride) content
  from 11 to 55.

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Seamless polymer flooring

• Many different seamless flooring materials are
  available that vary from air drying latex emulsion
  polymers to reactive thermoset resins such as
  waterborne, sol vented or solvent-free urethanes, 
  polyaspartics and epoxies. Applied in liquid
  form, all dry and/or cure to provide a completely
  seamless floor covering.
• They find use in situations ranging from the
  simple protection of domestic garage floors, to
  the restoration and protection of commercial and
  industrial flooring. They are also used to solve
  a vast array of problems in industry such as wet
  areas in laboratories or food processing plants
  where spillages of oils and fats are easily
  absorbed and difficult to clean. Other reasons
  for covering concrete with a synthetic resin
  flooring are for improving resistance to
  chemicals, enhancing resistance to impact and
  wear, and for aesthetic appearance purposes.