Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
been treated with soap, lye or linseed oil can be composted or energy recycled in
ordinary furnaces. Laminated timber, glued and varnished floors can be energy
recycled using a special filter system for emissions, or they can be dumped at
special tips.
Different types of wooden floor
Solid timber floor
The floorboards usually are tongued and grooved and can be bought in thicknesses of
15-28 mm. They are preferably laid with the hard-wearing pith side upwards. There are
two main principles for laying floors: the floating and the nailed floor.
On a floating floor the floorboards are glued together along the tongues and grooves.
The floor lies free from the walls, possibly on an underlay, and is held down by strong skirt-
ing boards. This method reduces the chance of recycling as it is difficult to remove the
floor without damaging or breaking it.
In the nailed floor the floorboards are fixed to the joists with nails and no glue. To make
it possible to re-use the floorboards, it is important that the nails go through the boards
from the top and straight down. This is, however, seldom done.
Batten flooring is a mixture of the first two methods (see Figure 15.24). The floorboards
are locked into position by battens of hardwood. Re-use possibilities are very high. This
floor can be laid without being dried in a chamber drier, because it is easy to put them
closer together by loosening the battens. Unlike other timber floors, in battern flooring
individual floorboards can easily be changed.
Floor base
Floor base provides a surface for different floor finishes. It usually consists of rough spruce
or pine boarding; timber from deciduous trees can also be used. The boards are nailed to
the joists. This type of floor should be allowed to settle for a year before laying the floor
covering. It provides a good working surface for other carpentry work, even if it cannot
carry heavy loads due to the lower quality of the timber. Low quality spruce is usually
used.
Parquet
The material normally used for parquet flooring is hardwood such as oak and beech. Birch
and ash can also be used. These are sawn into long boards of 50-130 cm, or short boards
of 15-50 cm, and are tongued and grooved. The short board is 14-16 mm thick; the long
board is 20 mm thick. The breadth varies from 4-8 cm. A number of laminated parquet
floors have a top layer of hardwood 4-6 mm thick glued onto a softwood base of chip-
board. Urea glue is usually used for this. Parquet flooring is nailed or glued directly to the
floor structure or onto a floor base. It can also be laid with a bitumen-based glue onto a
concrete floor or onto battens in a sand base.
Small timber cubes
These are placed on an underlay with the grain facing upwards. Spruce, pine or oak
can be used. This type of floor is comfortable to walk on and it effectively dampens
