Ground Floors, Frames & Upper Floors Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and definitions for ground floors, structural frames, upper floors, formwork, reinforcement, and shear walls from Construction Technology I.

Floor

A horizontal plane that serves as a working platform for human activities and storage space for equipment and furniture.

Non-suspended floor

A floor constructed such that its underside is in continuous contact with and supported directly by the ground.

Suspended floor

A floor constructed such that its structural elements span between supports without relying on the ground for support, often creating a void beneath.

Hardcore

An infill of hard, non-deteriorating materials such as crushed stone, bricks, or concrete laid in $100\text{--}150\text{ mm}$ layers to a depth of $100\text{--}300\text{ mm}$ to fill excavation pockets and spread point loads.

Blinding

A $25\text{--}50\text{ mm}$ layer of sand or a $50\text{--}75\text{ mm}$ layer of weak concrete ($1:10$) placed over hardcore to create a smooth surface and prevent puncturing of the damp proof membrane.

Damp proof membrane (DPM)

An moisture-impermeable layer, commonly a polythene sheet at least $0.25\text{ mm}$ thick or bitumen, placed in ground slabs to prevent moisture rising from the ground.

Floor screed

A layer consisting of cement, sand ($1:3$), and water trowelled over a concrete slab to provide a smooth, level base for applying floor finishes (also called cement render).

Power floating

A finishing technique using a powered rotating trowel machine to level and smooth large areas of concrete slabs in facilities like workshops and garages.

Column

A vertical load-bearing structural member of a frame that transfers beam loads down to the foundations.

Beam

A horizontal load-bearing structural member of a frame that transfers floor loads to the supporting columns.

Flat slab

A reinforced concrete suspended floor or roof slab constructed without internal downstand beams, providing clear ceiling heights and economical up to spans of approximately $9\text{ m}$.

Drop panel

A thickened section of a flat slab surrounding a column head designed to accommodate complex reinforcement and manage high shear forces.

Kicker

A $75\text{ mm}$ high concrete stub cast monolithically with the slab to accurately locate column formwork and prevent loss of cement grout from the base during pouring.

Links (or binders)

Transverse steel reinforcement ties (minimum $6\text{ mm}$ diameter) wrapped around main column bars to prevent slender vertical bars from buckling and prevent concrete spalling.

Cranking

The practice of bending or offsetting column main reinforcement bars into another plane at beam-column junctions to prevent clashing with beam main bars.

Timber yokes

Purpose-made horizontal timber clamping frames fitted around column formwork panels to resist wet concrete lateral pressures.

Steel clamps

Adjustable steel clamping units with slotted blades and wedges used to secure column formworks against concrete pressure.

Soffit board

The bottom horizontal formwork panel supporting the underside of a beam or slab that carries dead loads until the concrete achieves self-supporting strength.

Folding wedges

Pairs of sloped timber blocks placed under formwork props on a sole plate to facilitate height adjustment and striking of formwork.

Stirrups

Steel reinforcement links placed vertically within beams to resist shear forces and reduce shrinkage cracking.

Distribution bars

Secondary steel reinforcement bars of smaller diameter laid perpendicular to main bars in one-way spanning slabs to form a grid and distribute loads.

Steel chair

A support chair fabricated from steel reinforcement bars used to support and maintain upper reinforcement layers at the required height inside a concrete slab.

Reinforced concrete shear wall

A vertical reinforced concrete wall ($150\text{--}500\text{ mm}$ thick) designed as a primary structural element to resist both gravity loads and lateral wind/seismic forces.

Tunnel formwork

A specialized formwork system using half-tunnel steel units that allows reinforced concrete walls and slabs to be cast simultaneously in a single operation.

System formwork

A standardized modular formwork system designed with simplified fixing methods to rapidly build reinforced concrete elements such as shear walls.