DK CHING (FLOOR)

Floor

The level, base surface of a room or hall upon which one stands or walks.

Finish floor

The wearing surface of a floor, usually laid over a subfloor. Also, finished floor.

Subfloor

A base for finish floor, consisting of boards, plywood, or other structural sheathing laid over and fixed to the floor joists. A subfloor is often used as a working platform during construction and may also act and may also act as a structural diaphragm to transfer lateral loads to shear walls. Also called blind floor, rough floor.

Floor framing

The act, process or manner of constructing the structural frame of a floor.

Joist

Any of a series of small, repetitive parallel beams for supporting floors, ceilings or flat rooms.

Header

A framing member crossing and supporting the ends of joists, studs, or rafters, so as to transfer the weight to parallel joists, studs or rafters.

Trimmer

A beam, joist, or rafter supporting one end of a header at the edge of an opening in a floor or roof frame.

Rim joist

A joist set on top of the sill and forming the perImiter of a wood-framed floor. Also called HEADER.

Bridging

An arrangement of braces or blocking between joists or rafters to prevent their rotation or lateral displacement, esp. when their depth to width ratio exceeds 6. Bridging may not be required when the ends of the members are fixed against rotation and their edges are held in line by subflooring or sheathing.

Solid bringing

Bridging consisting of short boards fixed vertically between floor or roof joists.

Crossbridging

Bridging composed of diagonal braces set in pairs between floor or roof joists.

Tailpiece

A relatively short beam, joist or rafter supported by a wall at one end and by a header at the other. Also called STRINGER.

Beam fill

Material, such as masonry or concrete, for filling the spaces between joists or beams in or on top of a masonry wall, stiffening the members, and proviing increased fire resistance. Also, BEAM FILLING.

Beam pocket

An opening in the vertical face of a structural member to receive a beam.

Firecut

An angular cut at the end of a joist or beam where it enters a masonry wall, allowing the member to fall without damaging the wall if it burns through somewhere along its length.

Form decking

Metal decking serving as a permanent formwork for a reinforced concrete slab until the slab can support it self.

Acoustic decking

Metal decking containing glass fiber between the perforated webs of ribbed decking or in the perforated cells of cellular decking, used as a sound-absorbing ceiling.

Deck

The structural surface to which flooring or roofing is applied.

Decking

Self-supporting units of wood, metal or concrete capable of spanning beams, joists, rafters or purlins and serving as a base for flooring or roofing.

Metal decking

Sheet steel strenghened for use as floor or roof decking by cold-rolling a series of ribs or flutes into it, and usually galvanized for corrosion rsistance. The spanning capability of metal decking depends on the thickness of the steel sheet and the depth of the corrugations.

Shear stud

A steel pin welded to the top flange of a steel beam or girder and embedded in a concrete slab so as to cause the beam and the concrete to act as a structural unit.

Composite decking

Metal decking serving as a permanent formwork and tensile reinforcement for a concrete slab bonded to it by a deformed or dovetail rib pattern.

Cellular decking

Metal decking manufactured by welding a corrugated steel sheet to a flat steel sheet, forming a series of raceways for electrical wires and cables.

Access flooring system

A system of removable and interchangeable floor planels supported on adjustable pedestals or stringers to allow free access to the space beneath. Also called RAISED FLOORING SYSTEM.

Finish flooring

Material used for the wearing surface of a floor, such as hardwood, terrazo or floor tile.

Wood flooring

Finish flooring in the form of wood strips, planks or blocks.

Strip flooring

Flooring composed of long, narrow wooed strips usually side and end matched.

Plank flooring

Flooring composed of boards wider than strip flooring, usually side and end matched.

Parquet

A floor composed of short strips or blocks of wood forming a pattern, sometimes with inlays of other woods or other materials.

Parquetry

Mosaic work of wood used for floors and wainscoting.

Hollow-backed

Of or pertaining to a wood or stone piece having a back face hollowed out so that it can fit more tightly against an irregular surface.

Sleeper

Any of a number of wooden strips laid upon a concrete slab to provide a means of attaching a subfloor or flooring.

Solid blocking flooring

Long-wearing flooring composed of solid wood blocks set in adhesive with their grain oriented vertically.

Block flooring

Flooring composed of square units preassembled at the mil and usually installed with a mastic over a wood subfloor or concrete slab.

Unit block

A flooring block made by joining short lengths of strip flooring edgewise, usually tongued on two adjoining sides and grooved on the other two to ensure proper alignment in setting.

Laminated block

A flooring block by bonding three or more wood veneers with a moisture-resistant adhesive, usually tongued on two opposing sides and grooved on the other two to ensure proper alignment in setting.

Slat block

A flooring block made by aseembling narrow slats or fingers of hardwood into larger units.

Terrazzo

A mosaic flooring or paving composed of marble or other stone chips, set in a cementitious or resinous matrix and ground when dry.

Standard terrazzo

A ground and polished terrazzo finish consisting mainly of relatively small stone chips.

Venetian terrazzo

A ground and polished terrazzo finish consisting mainly of large stone chips, with smaller chips filling the spaces between.

Rustic terrazzo

A uniformly textured terrazzo finish produced by washing the matrix prior to setting so as to expose the chips, which are not ground.

Palladiana

A mosaic terrazo finish consisting of cut or fractured marble slabs set by hand in the desired pattern, with smaller chips filling the spaces between.

Topping

The mixture of stone chips and cementitious or resinous matrix that produces a terrazzo surface.

Bonding agent

A chemical substance applied to a substrate to create a bond between it and a succeeding layer, as between a terrazzo topping and a subfloor.

Underbed

The mortar base on which a terrazzo topping is applied.

Resinous matrix

A latex, polyester or epoxy binder combined with stone chips to form a terrazzo topping especially resistant to chemicals and abrasion.

Thin-set terrazzo

A thin resinous terrazzo topping directly over a sound wood, metal or concrete subfloor.

Monolithic terrazzo

A terrazzo topping installed directly over a rough-finished concrete slab. A chemical bonding agent is used if the concrete surface is too smooth for a mechanical bond.

Bonded terrazzo

A terrazzo topping installed over a mortar underbed that is bonded to a rough-finished concrete slab.

Sand-cushion terrazzo

A terrazzo system for controlling cracking when structural movement is expected, consisting of a terrazzo topping installed over a reinforced mortar underbed that is separated from the subfloor by an isolation membrane and a thin layer of sand.

Linoleum

A resilient floor covering formed by coating burlap or canvas with heated linseed oil, powdered cork, and rosin and adding pigments to achieve the desired colors and patterns. Linoleum should be used only on a subfloor suspended above grade.

Vinyl sheet

A resilient floor covering composed principally of polyvinyl chloride in combination with mineral fillers, pigments, and a fiber, felt or foam backing.

Vinyl tile

A resilient floor tile composed principally of polyvinyl chloride in combination with mineral fillers an pigments.

Cork tile

A resilient floor tile composed of granulated cork and synthetic resin binders, finished with a protective coat of wax or a film of clear polyvinyl chloride. Cork tile should be used only on a subfloor suspended above grade.

Rubber tile

A resilient floor tile composed of natural or synthetic rubber with mineral fillers.

Resilient flooring

Any of various floor coverings capable of springing back to the original form after being bent or compressed, available in either tile or sheet form and set in mastic over a suitable underlayment.

Floor covering

Material esp. a nonfabric material, such as vinyl or ceramic tile, used to cover a floor.

Mastic

Any of various pasty substances used as a sealant, adhesive or protective coating.

Underlayment

A material such as plywood or hardboard, laid over a subfloor to provide a smooth, even base for reslient flooring, carpet or other nonstructural flooring.

Carpet

A heavy woven, knittedd, needle-tufted, or felted fabric for covering a floor.

Pile weight

The average weight of pile yarn in a carpet, stated in ounces per square yard.

Pile density

The weight of pile yarn per unit volume of carpet, stated in ounces per cubic yard.

Pitch

The crosswise number of tuft-forming pile yarns in a 27 inch (686 mm) width of woven carpet.

Gauge

The spacing of tufts across the width of a tufted or knitted carpet, expressed in fractions of an inch.

Woven carpet

Carpet made by simultaneously interweaving the backing and pile yarns on a loom.

Tufted carpet

Carpet made by mechanically stitching pile yarn through a primary fabric backing and bonded with latex to a secondary backing.

Knitted carpet

Carpet made by looping the backing, stitching and pile yarns with three sets of needles.

Fusion-bonded carpet

Carpet made by heat-fusing face yarns to a vinyl backing supported by other materials.

Flocked carpet

Carpet made by propelling short strands of pile fiber electrostatically against an adhesive-coated backing.

Needlepunched carpet

Carpet made by punching carpet fibers

Carpet tile

A flooring tile made of carpeting material.

Pile

The upright tufts of yarn forming the surface of a carpet or fabric.

Loop pile

A carpet texture created by weaving, tufting or knitting the pile yarn into loops.

Cut pile

A carpet texture created by cutting each loop of pile yarn, producing a range of textures from informal shags to shot, dense velvets.

Backing

The foundation material securing the pile yarns of a carpet and providing it with stiffness, strength and dimensional stability.

Carpet pad

A pad of cellular rubber or felted animal hair, over which carpet is installed to increase resilience, improve durability, and reduce impact sound transmission. Also called carpet cushion.