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Civil Engineering Construction

Chapter 5

Introduction to Floor

Dr Mohamad Syazli Fathi

Department of Civil Engineering
UTM RAZAK School of Engineering & Advanced Technology
UTM International Campus

August 8, 2012

Introduction
• In a building
building, the surfaces which divide a building
into different levels or storeys are known as floors.
• The floor just above the ground level is called
ground floor, whereas the floor constructed below
ground level is known as basement floor.
• Any floor above the ground level
level, except the
terrace or roof of a building is known as upper or
suspended floor.

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The functional requirements of a floor

• In any floor system, the functional requirements of a

floor are:
fl
– To provide horizontal uniform surface
– To support all the loads (dead and live loads) imposed on the
surface.
– In multi-storeys, the floor has other functions than the above.
– To pprovide resistance to sound,, fire and heat.
– To provide privacy to the dwellers.
– The upper floor acts as a ceiling to the lower floor.
– Space between floors and ceilings will accommodate the building
sevices fixtures such as electrical, telephone wirings etc.

Classification of Floor

• Floors can be divided into two sections :

– Ground Floor
– Upper floor

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Ground Floor
• The ground floor is divided into two
sections:
1. Solid floor
2. Suspended ground Floor

Solid Ground floor

• Since a ground floor rests

directlyy on the soil when
not accompanied by a
basement floor, its base
usually consists of the
following layers.
1. Hardcore
2. Blinding
3
3. C
Concrete bed
b d or slab.
l b

Note:
Seconds - is rigid foam boards Brand

Please refer Figure 4.1.1 and 4.1.2 at page 159 & 160

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Hardcore

• Hardcore ; normally 100-150 mm. The most suitable

material used are hard, durable and chemically inert
materials Each layer well compacted to prevent
materials.
settlement beneath the solid floor.
• The purposes of hardcore are :
1. To fill any small pockets which have formed during oversite
excavations.
2. To provide firm base on which to place a concrete bed
3. To helpp spread
p anyy point
p loads over a greater
g area.
4. To act against capillary action of moisture within the soil.
5. To prevent contamination of the lower part of the wet concrete
during placing and compaction
6. To provide any unacceptable settlement beneath the solid floor.

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Characteristics of good hardcore.

• It must be hard
• It must be durable
• It must be inert and will not attack concrete
or brickwork mortar.
• It can readily be placed in a compact and
dense condition and hence required only
limited consolidation.

Blinding
• Blinding: Blinding is a layer of sand 25-30 mm
thick or 50-75 mm of weak concrete(1:12 Mix).
• Purposes :
– To even off the surface of the hardcore if a dpc membrane
is to be placed under the concrete bed.
– To pprevent the dpc
p from beingg punctured
p byy the hardcore.
– To provide a true surface from which the reinforcement
can be positioned.

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Concrete Bed

• unreinforced or plain in-situ concrete, 100-

150 mm thick
• reinforced concrete, 150 mm minimum.

Water

• Water/moisture is prevented from entering the building so that :

– The floor does not rot(eg. Tomber floor)
– Floor finishes do not damage
– Fungi does not grow
– Cleanliness and hygienic can be maintained.
– Timber furniture does not rot.
• Water can enter the building through :
– Capillary action
– Water pressure in the soil below the ground floor
– Water vapour in the house.
• Water can be prevented from entering the building bu :
– Constructing the floor level higher.
– Providing dpc
– Providing sufficient ventilation.

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• Water/moisture can be avoided from entering

the building through the ground floor by :
– using dpc on the ground floor
– support the floor and not in direct contact with the soil.
• Suitable materials for dpc membranes are:
– Polythene sheets
– Hot poured bitumen - 3mm thick minimum.
– Cold applied bitumen/rubber emulsions – 3 coats
– Asphalt/pitchmastic.

Floor screed
• Must be able to provide a smooth surface on
which a floor finish can be applied
• Must be able to level the floor
• Provide falls for drainage purposes

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Construction of solid floor.

• Construction of solid floor.
–Preparation of surface of sub-grade :
–Site cleared from turf and vegetation.
–Top soil (225 mm) should be cut and thrown away.
–Laying of sand layer – a layer of clean and dry course sand 100mm thick is
evenly spread over the sub-grade.
– The hard core is laid (150 mm) and well compacted.
– Laying concrete bed 75 mm thick (depend on the soil conditions and loads).
Concrete mix is 1:2:4
– The top surface is then lavelled
– Place dpc
– Pour in final concrete 50 mm thick
– Place reinforcement if required.
required
• Notes :
– Sometimes dpc is not required if the soil at the site has proper drainage for the floor
– At times the quality of the dpc may be improved by adding other materials, eventhough
this is an acceptable method.
– If no dpc, the minimum thickness of the floor must be app. 100 mm.

Suspended Ground Floor

• Can be classified as follows:

1. Suspended Timber Floor
2. Steel joist or precast concrete slab
floor
3. R.C.C floor

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Suspended Timber Ground Floor.

• Advantages:
– The timber floor does not
require other finishes except
itself
– It has a resilient quality
• Disadvantages:
– The timber can be easily attack
by dry rot if the space of the
floor is not properly ventilated.
– The
Th air i vent is
i easily
il blocked
bl k d
– It is not suitable for floor which
has to support heavy loads.

Upper Floor – Suspended Timber Upper floor.

• Normally is used for residential and commercial buildings. Most

upper floors in domestic buildings are constructed of timber
fl
floor boarding
b di supportedd by b timber
i b joist.
j i
• The main difference between suspended floors at ground level
and those on upper floors is the longer spans of joists in the
latter case, with resultant deeper joists.
• The sizes of joist vary with the grade of timber, the dead load,
the span of the joists and their spacing.
• Timber upper floors for offices,
offices factories and public buildings
are not much used today because the resistance to fire of a
timber floor, plastered on the underside, is not sufficient to
comply with Building Regulations for all but small buildings.
Concrete floors are used instead because of their better
resistance to fire and sound transmission.

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The PEXATHERM UFH Pipe-in-Plate system for Timber Floors

Floated Timber Floor X-section Suspended Timber Floor Section

• Metal heat diffusion grooved plates
resting on joists. Insulation with
reflective foil below them. Battens
between joists supporting insulation.
PEX or Pex Alu Pex in plates grooves.
Floorboard laid directly on plates with
PE sheet in between.

Suspended Timber Floor X-section

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Timber suspended Floors can be

classified into two types :
1. Single Joist wooden Floors.
2. Double joist wooden floors.

Single Joist wooden Floors.

• The wooden floor having its topping supported by only common joist or
bridging joists is called a single joist wooden floor or simply single floor.
• In these wooden floors, the joist are of one continuos length and span from
wall, and hence they are known as single joists.
• The bridging joists should be strong and stiff enough to take the load safety
without causing deflection.
deflection The joists are spaced 300 mm to 400 mm apart.
apart The
width of joist can varies from 50 mm to 80 mm.
• The advantages of single joist suspended floor :
– Single joist wooden floors are easy to construct
– They distribute the load more uniformly on the walls as the joists are placed at
closer intervals.
– They are cheap.
• Disadvantages Of single suspended floor :
– Single joist wooden floors are uneconomical for span more than 4m.
– The joists are liable to sag which may develop cracks in the ceiling
– They involve lot of cutting while making an opening in the floor
– They may transmit their load on window or door lintels as the joists apre to be
placed uniformly on the entire length of the wall.
– They require wall plates for supporting the joists
– They are not sound proof.
– The span for single joists wooden floors is generally restricted to 3.75m.

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Suspended timber flooring using either timber

floor joists or “I’ beams.

Double joist wooden floors.

• The wooden floor having its topping supported by bridging along

with one or more binders is known as double jjoist wooden floor
or simply double floor.
• Advantages of double joist wooden suspended floors are:
– Double joist wooden floors are more rigid and hence the plastered ceilings
are not liable to crack.
– They transmit the load at specific points and hence placing of binders over
windows or door lintels can be avoided.
– Theyy are more sound pproof.
• Disadvantages of double joist wooden suspended floors are:
– Double joist wooden floors provide increased depth of floor which reduces
the head-room
– They involve extra labour to joint the various members together.
– Their increased depth also results in increasing the cost of the building.

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New I-Joist

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Reinforced Concrete floors

• Reinforced concrete floors are becoming very

common in the construction of modern buildings.
They have a better resistance to damage by fire,
safely support greater superimposed loads than
timber floors of similar depth, provide good lateral
rigidity
g y and good
g insulation against
g airborne
sound.
• In reinforced concrete the steel makes good the
inadequacies of the concrete (concrete is weak in
tension) and the concrete protects

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Hollowcore Floor Slab System

• Hollowcore is a 1200mm
wide extruded,, ppre-stressed,,
voided concrete slab unit
with a reinforced concrete
topping.
• Standard unit depths are
200, 300 and 400mm.
• Units are cut to a
customised length and may
h
have raking
ki ends.d
• Hollowcore is ideally suited
for suited for large floor
spans with commercial
loadings.

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• Hollowcore slabs are made very

efficiently,
y theyy are veryy conservative
in relation to materials.
• Hollowcore is extruded and does not
rely on formwork to create the slabs.
• Also hollowcore uses half the amount
of concrete normal floor slab systems
use, yet it can still span long distances,
200mm hollowcore can span just under
12m.
• This makes the material very good for a
variety of construction types.

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• The extruded Hollowcore Floor Slab is very light weight,

weighing 320kg/m. This makes for very fast construction. The
slabs are trucked on to site and can be lifted straight into place
on the structure. Once the slabs are in place the rest of the
construction moves along very fast, formwork is erected and
reinforcing is laid. The next process is to pour the in-situ
pp g ppad. This is a veryy important
concrete topping p ppart of the
hollowcore detail as this concrete combines all the elements
together to make one rigid structure. From start to finish the
process of constructing a hollowcore flooring system is very
quick!
• Hollowcore floor slab systems have very good acoustic
properties. Hollowcore has an STC rating and an IIC rating of
55dB. The thermal properties of hollowcore slabs have an R
value of 0.9.
0 9 This is quite low,
low but concrete has always had a
very low thermal resistance. Structural concrete 200mm thick
has an R value of 0.13, the pervious value of 0.9 has taken into
consideration floor coverings.

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