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FLOOR CONSTRUCTION
Floors
• The surfaces with their necessary supports which provides accommodation to the users to
live at different levels in a building.
• The floor just above the ground level is called a ground floor, whereas the floor constructed
below ground level in a basement of a building is known as basement floor. Any floor above
the ground floor, except the terrace or roof of a building is termed upper or suspended
floor.

The primary function of any floor is to provide a level surface which is capable of supporting all the
live and dead loads imposed.

Classification

1. Basement floors
2. Ground floors
3. Upper floors

Functional requirement of floors

Note: Basement floors will be covered at an advanced stage.

A. Ground floors

For good performance a ground floor should be able to perform the following functions:

1. Support without failure the loads improved on it by people and furniture in the case of
domestic buildings; in factories, warehouses etc floors should be strong enough to carry all
incidental loads which including wares and machinery.
2. Prevent dampness inside the building by providing a damp proof membrane in or below the
floor. Suspended ground floors should be properly ventilated to prevent the accumulation
of moist air underneath.
3. Prevent the growth of vegetable matter and other living organisms inside the building.
4. Be reasonably durable so as to require minimum maintenance or replacement work.
5. Provide a surface finish with a standard of appearance, comfort, safety, cleanliness and heat
retention suitable to the needs of inhabitants of the building.

B. Upper floors

1. Sustain its own weight and any other weights superimposed on it e.g. the weights of walls,
roofs, persons and their possessions.
2. Offer fire resistance especially in very tall buildings, in buildings where there are many
occupants and in buildings where large combustible goods are stored.
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 3. Minimize noise transfer from the upper floor to the lower floor.
4. Be reasonably durable.
5. Span the building economically and be fairly quickly erected or constructed.
6. Provide an acceptable surface finish which is safe, comfortable, clean and of good
appearance.
7. To accommodate services readily.

Solid ground floors

The most economical form of ground floors is one constructed of concrete laid on solid ground.

A domestic solid ground floor consists of the following components.

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 I. Hardcore
• A suitable filling material to make up the top soil removal and reduced excavation. Hardcore
can reduce the amount of rising ground moisture but cannot eliminate the need for a water
proof membrane.
• The best filling materials are those with particles that are hard and durable and chemically
inert and will not attack concrete or brickwork number, and that can readily be placed in
compact and dense condition e.g. clinker, quarry waste, gravel or rubble etc.

II. Blinding
• This is to even off the surface of hardware if a damp is to be placed under the concrete bed
or if a reinforced concrete bed is specified.
• Firstly it will prevent the damp from being punctured by the hardware and secondly, it will
provide a fine surface from which the reinforced can be positioned.
• It generally consists of a layer of fine ash or sand 25‐50mm thick or a 50‐75mm layer of
weak concrete mix usually suitable if a fine surface for reinforced concrete is required.

III. Damp proof membrane

An impervious layer such as heavy duty polythene is to be placed under or above the
concrete bed below screed layer. Suitable materials include mastic asphalt, bitumen sheets,
polythene sheets etc.

IV. Concrete bed

• The component providing the solid level surface to which screeds and finishes can be
applied.
• Thicknesses generally specified are
1) Unreinforced plain in‐situ concrete, 100‐150mmthick.
2) Reinforced concrete, 150mm minimum.
• The reinforcement used in concrete beds for domestic work is usually in the form of a
welded steel fabric.

Advantages of solid ground floors

a. They are relatively cheap especially on level sites.

b. The quantity of walling required is less than that required for suspended floors.
c. They do not require under floor ventilations.
d. They are not susceptible to dry rot unlike timber floors
e. They offer a wide selection of floor finish.

Disadvantage

The major disadvantage of solid ground floors is that concrete does not provide a satisfactory
surface finish and therefore an additional floor finish is required.

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Suspended timber ground floors

• This type of floor consists of timber boards or other suitable sheet material fixed to joists
spanning over sleeper walls (and was until 1939 the most common method of forming
ground floors in domestic buildings).
• Now replaced by solid ground floors.
• It is a more expensive form of construction than a solid floor and can only be justified on
sloping sites which would need a great deal of filling to make up one ground to the required
floor level.
• Suspended timber ground floors are susceptible to dry rot, draughts and are said to be
colder them other forms of flooring. However, the problem of dry rot can be overcome by
adequate ventilation under the floor and the correct positioning of dpc to keep the under
floor area and timber dry. Through ventilation is necessary to keep the moisture content of
the timber below that which would allow fungal growth to take place i.e. 20% of its oven‐
dry weight.
• The ventilation can be provided by means of air bricks sited near the corners and @
approximately 2m centres around the perimeter of the building.
• If a suspended timber floor is used in conjunction with a solid ground floor in an adjoining
room pipes are used under the solid floor to convey air to and from external walls.
• Honey comb sleeper walls are usually built two or three courses high to allow good through
ventilation. Sleeper walls spaced @ 2m centres will give an economic joint size.
• The most economic lay‐out is to span the joints across the shortest distance of the room,
this means that joists would be either parallel or@ right angles to the fireplace.

Minimum Requirements for Suspended Timber Ground Floors

1) The ground surface is to be covered with a layer of concrete not less than 100mm thick,
consisting of cement, fine and coarse aggregates.
2) Alternatively concrete @ least 50mm thick with composition as in (10) above laid on at least
1200 gauge polythene sheet with the joints sealed on a bed of material which will not
damage the sheet.
3) The concrete is to be finished so that top surface is entirely above the highest level of the
adjoining ground or it should be laid to falls to a drainage outlet above the lowest level of
the adjoining ground.
4) There is a ventilated air surface above the upper surface of the concrete of not less than
75mm to the underside of a wall plate, and of not less than 150mm to the under wide of
any suspended timbers.
5) The sleeper walls (built off the surface of concrete are built half brick thick and honey‐
combed to permit a free flow of air under the floors from the air brick to the external wall.
6) The sleeper walls are built across each room at a spacing of from 1200 to 1800mm c/c, with
the end walls positioned about 50‐100mm from the load‐bearing walls.

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 7) A dpc must be provided on top of all sleeper walls to prevent moisture reaching any timber.
The dpc should ideally be flexible to allow for any movement without fracturing and must
be lapped at joists.
8) A timber wall plate, often 100x50mm, is bedded in mortar above dpc and this assists in
spreading the load from each joist over the wall below.
9) The floor joists are often 50x100mm, spaced at 400 c/c and screw nailed to the wall plate.
The actual spacing is influenced by the thickness of the boarding.
10) The end of the joists are sometimes cut on the splay and are best kept a short distance
(20mm) away from the wall to prevent any moisture being absorbed at the end of the joist.
11) The gap between the joists and the walls is closed by skirting at the base of the wall or
partition.

Suspended timber floors

Sleeper walls, joists and boards

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UPPER FLOORS
F
SUSPENDEED TIMBER
R FLOORS
Functional Requirement
R ts

[Refer to the first part of

o these notees]

• Mosst upper floo ors in domesstic buildingss (before con ncrete becam me more popular) have been
consstructed of timber
t floor boarding suupported by timber joistss which in tu urn are bornn by
loadd bearing walls below.
• The main defereence betweeen suspendeed ground flo oors and upp per floors is the longer spans
s
oists in the laater case, wiith resultantt deeper joissts.
of jo
• The ends of thesse upper floor joists are usually supp ported by th
he inner leaff of external
cavitty walls or looad bearing internal wallls or partitioons. Joists may
m also be supported
s as
follo
ows:
I. oists are treaated with preeservatives and
End of jo a built intto walls.
II. End of jo
oists may resst on a wall p plate bedded d on the top
p of internal partitions
III. Ends of joists can resst on galvanized steel haangers which nto the wall and
h are built in
the joistss rest on thee bottom of hangers and d are nailed ffrom sides.

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• Where joists meet from either side on a load bearing internal wall, they are usually placed
side by side and nailed to each other and the wall plate.
• Where the spans of joists exceed 3m, they should be strutted at about 2m c/c to stiffen the
joists and prevent them from twisting and also to stiffen the floor. The most common form
is the herringbone strutting.

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Construction around Openings

• The floor around openings within it, such as for stairs, or hearths (of fire places), must
be so constructed as to be self‐supporting at these points.
• This is accomplished by cutting short some of the bridging joists to form the opening,
these are trimmed joists, introducing a thicker joists or a pair called trimmer joists, to
carry the ends of the trimmed joists and thickening one or a pair of the bridging joists
known as trimming joists.
• Both trimmer and trimming joists are 25mm thicker than the normal floor or bridging
joists as they have to withstand heavier loads.
• Strong and soundly constructed joists are required between the trimming members.

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Reinforce
ed Concreete Floors
¾ TThese fall intto two broad d categoriess; in‐situ and
d precast, in each of which there is a
v
variety of types.
¾ Reinforced
R c
concrete floo a can safely
ors have a better resistaance to damaage by fire and
s
support greaater superim mposed loadss than timbeer floors of ssimilar depthhs, provide good
g
t
thermal rigiddity and insuulation again
nst airborne sounds.
¾ Concrete
C is strong
s in commpression but
b relativelyy weak in ten nsion, whereeas steel is strong
i tension. In
in n reinforced concrete th he steel makkes good the inadequacyy of concretee and
t concretee protects th
the he steel from
m the effectss of fire.

All the reinforced

r baars must havve adequatee cover of co mally not lesss than 19mm in
oncrete, norm
slabs an
nd 25mm in beams.
b

1. In‐situ Cast
C Floorss
These floors, being a wet form of
o constructtion require temporary
t ssupport (form
mwork) untiil the
concretee is strong enough
e to be
ear its loads..

Solid Co
oncrete Floor Slab
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¾ This type is commonly used when the slab is to act as a membrane supported on columns
without beams, or where a high degree of lateral rigidity is required to be provided by the
floor.
¾ In buildings up to four storeys in height, in its simplest form, it may prove to be more
economic than hollow block construction.
¾ The simplest form of solid floor slab is the one way spanning which is economic only over
small spans of up to 4.60m.
¾ For large spans or heavier loads a two way spanning slab should be used in which the
reinforcement is designed to act on both directions, the proportion of the load taken by
each set of reinforcement depending on the ratio of long to short side of the floor panel.

Advantages

¾ Since soffit side is flat without protruding beams, simple formwork is used and
lighting is also easily installed.
¾ Applied ceiling is not necessary.
¾ Gives maximum freedom in design on plan and section since it can easily be
made to cover irregular plan shapes and can easily be varied in thickness at
different points according to variations in load or span.
¾ More economic than hollow floors.

Disadvantages

¾ It is heavy with thickness depending on load and span.

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Permanent formwork to insitu floor decking

2. Precast Concrete Floors.

These provide an alternative form of construction to suspended timber floors and in‐situ reinforced
suspended floors.

In order to reduce construction time and avoid use of shuttering precast concrete floors can be
used, although for small jobs it is not usually as cheap as in‐situ concrete. They are used where the
size of the job justifies it.

Some forms of precast concrete floors include:

a) Precast concrete hollow floors

b) Precast concrete plank floors
c) Precast concrete tee beams.
d) Precast reinforced concrete with slab ribbed floor units. Etc.
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Advantagess of precast concrete
c floo
ors

a) Elim
mination of foormwork exccept for nom minal propping which is required witth some systtems.
b) Curing time of concrete is eliminated th herefore connstruction is completed earlier.
e
c) Supeerior qualityy control of product
p is po
ossible with factory prodduced components.

Disadvantag
ges

a) Lesss flexible in design

d termss
b) Formmation of larrge openingss in the floorr for ducts, shafts
s and sttairwells usu
ually have to
o be
form
med by castin ng an in‐situ
u concrete flo
oor strip aro
ound the opeening.

c) High
h degree of site
s accuracyy is required to ensure that the preccast concretee floor units can
be accommodat
a ted without any alteratio
ons.

3. Compossite Floors
These floorss are a comb
bination of precast
p unitss and in‐situ concrete.

h are usuallyy pre‐stressed or reinforcced with higgh yield steel bars are ussed to
The precastt units which
provide the strength of the floor wiith the smallest depth practicable an nd at the same time act as
permanent formwork to o the in‐situ topping wh hich provide the compressive strength required..

A bond shouuld be achieeved betweeen the two co omponents and in most cases this iss provided by the
upper surface texture of
o precast un natively a mild steel fabric can be fixxed over thee units
nits; or altern
before the in‐situ
i topping is laid.

Forms of co
omposite floo
ors

1. Thin
n pre‐stresse ed planks witth a side kegg and covereed with an in
n‐situ topping.
2. Reinnforced or prre‐stressed narrow
n beam ms which are 600 c/c and are bridged by
e placed at 6
conccrete filler blocks, the whole combin nation beingg covered witth in‐situ topping.
3. Etc

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Comparison of systems

• Precast hollow floors are generally cheaper than composite since in‐situ is not required and
therefore need for mixing plant and storage of separate materials (ingredients) is
eliminated. The units are self centering, therefore temporary support is not required. The
construction period is considerably shorter and generally the overall weight is lesser.
• Composite floors will act in the same manner as an in‐situ floor and can therefore be
designed for more complex loadings.
• Services can be housed within the structural in‐situ topping, or within voids of the filler
blocks
• Like the precast hollow floors, composite floors are generally cheaper than a comparable in‐
situ floor within the limitations of the system employed.

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