Famous Flooring used in India Type & its Specification
There are many types of flooring mainly used in building construction in India .There are various type are describe as following :-
PVC Sheet/ Tiles Flooring
Epoxy Flooring
Marble Flooring
Glazed/Ceramic Tile Flooring
PVC Sheet/ Tiles Flooring
PVC or vinyl flooring is a laminated solid resilient, unbreakable and flexible material with a property of high wear resistance and resilience. It is ideal for maintaining clean room condition. The normal sizes of PVC or vinyl flooring available are rolls of 1.5 m width and continuous length up to 20m. It is also available in 1 feet x 1 feet tiles or 2 feet x 2 feet tiles. The thickness of this flooring can range between 1.5mm to 2mm.
The PVC flooring material shall conform to IS 3462. It may be in the form of tiles,sheets or rolls as specified. It shall consist of a thoroughly blended composition of thermoplastic binder, filler and pigments.
The thermoplastic binder shall consist substantially of one or both of the following
a) Vinyl Chloride Polymer
b) Vinyl Chloride Copolymer
The polymeric material shall be compounded with suitable plasticizers and
stabilizers.
Thickness : The preferred thickness of PVC tiles for normal floor covering shall be 2.0, 2.5, 3.0 or 4.0 mm as specified in drawings.
Thickness of PVC sheets shall be measured with micrometer of Ratchet type or a dial gauge graduated to 0.02 mm. The micrometer shall have flat bearing Surfaces of at least 6.5 mm diameter at both contact points.
For sheets and rolls the thickness of the specimen shall be measured at twenty scattered points.The width of flooring sheets and rolling in continuous length shall be 1000, 1500 and 2000 mm. When supplied in rolls the length of the rolls shall not be less than 10 metre.
The measurement shall be carried out with a travelling microscope or suitable scale graduated to 0.02 mm. Each tile shall be measured for length and width at the three quarter point in each direction.
Tolerance
Thickness Width ± 0.15 mm
300 mm square tiles ± 0.2 mm
600 mm square tiles ± 0.4 mm
900 mm square tiles ± 0.6 mm
Sheets and rolls ± 0.1 per cent
Adhesive
Adhesive shall be neoprene based rubber adhesive of approved make.
Preparation of Sub Floors
Before laying PVC Sheets/tiles, it is essential to ensure that the base is thoroughly dry smooth and damp proof as evaporation of moisture cannot take place once the PVC flooring is laid. Moisture slowly damages the adhesive resulting in PVC sheet/tiles being separated from the base and curled up. In case of new work a period of 4 to 8 weeks shall be allowed for drying the sub floor under normal conditions.
In new concrete floor, the smooth finish required shall be produced by using cement slurry spread on fresh concrete floor and finished smooth. If concrete floor is old and surface not even, the surface should be made smooth by first cleaning it free of all foreign material and then a layer of cement mortar 1:2 (1 cement : 2 coarse sand) of average thickness of 6 mm shall be applied on the surface finishing the surface smooth. The finished surface shall be cured for 7 days and then allowed to dry thoroughly.
Where it is expected that the dampness may find its way from the surrounding walls, the same shall also be effectively damp-proofed up to at least 150 mm above the level of the sub-floor and the damp-proof treatment below the floor shall be extended over the walls.
Epoxy Flooring
Epoxy floor coatings are commonly used for commercial and industrial flooring. Epoxy coatings are normally applied over concrete floors to provide a high-performance, smooth, and durable surface that can last many years and withstand heavy loads
Epoxy flooring shall be laid in accordance to IS 4631 and / or as recommended by Manufacturer’s written instructions.
No traffic shall be allowed on the floor until 4 days after completion, and then only light traffic for a further 10 days, unless otherwise recommended by flooring manufacturer.
Marble Flooring
Dressing of Tile
Every stone shall be machine cut. Fine chisel dressing of machine cut surface need not be done provided a straight edge laid anywhere along the machine cut surface is in contact with every point on it. The sides and top surface of tiles shall be machine rubbed or table rubbed with coarse sand before laying. All angles and edges of the marble tile shall be true, square and free from chippings and the surfaces shall be true and plane.
The thickness of the tiles shall be 20, 30 or 40 mm as specified in the description of the item. Tolerance of ± 3% shall be allowed for the thickness. In respect of length and breadth of slabs a tolerance of + 2% shall be allowed.
Laying
Base concrete or the RCC floor on which the tiles are to be laid shall be cleaned, wetted and mopped. The bedding for the tiles shall be with cement mortar 1:4 (1 cement : 4 coarse sand)
The average thickness of the bedding mortar under the tile shall be 20 mm and the thickness at any place under the tile shall be not less than 12 mm. The marble tiles shall be laid in the following manner :
Mortar of the specified mix shall be spread under the area of each tile, roughly to the average thickness specified. The tile shall be washed clean before laying. It shall be laid on top of bedding, pressed, tapped with wooden mallet and brought to level with the adjoining tiles. It shall be lifted and laid aside.
The top surface of the mortar shall then be corrected by adding fresh mortar at hollows. The mortar is allowed to harden slightly and cement slurry (Using White Cement) of “honey-like” consistency shall be spread over the same at the rate of 3 kg of cement per sqm.
The edges of the tile already laid shall be buttered with grey or white cement with or without admixture of pigment to match the shade of the marble tiles as specified.
The tile to be laid shall then be lowered gently back in position and tapped with a wooden mallet till it is properly bedded in level with and close to the adjoining tiles with as fine a joint as possible.
Subsequent tiles shall be laid in the same manner. After each tile has been laid, surplus cement on the surface of the tiles shall be cleaned off. The flooring shall be cured for a minimum period of seven days. The surface of the flooring as laid shall be true to levels and slopes as instructed by the Engineer.
Glazed/Ceramic Tile Flooring
White Glazed Tiles
The tiles shall be of approved make and shall generally conform to IS 777. They shall be flat and true to shape and free from blisters, crazing, chips, welts,crawling or other imperfections detracting from their appearance. The tiles shall be tested in accordance with IS 777.
The tiles shall be square or rectangular of nominal size such as 150 x 150 mm, 100 x 100 mm, 100 x 200 mm or as directed by the Engineer. The thickness of the tiles shall be 5 mm or 6 mm as specified.
Tolerance in Size
The length of all four sides shall be measured correct to 0.1 mm and average length / breadth shall not vary more than ± 0.8 mm from the specified dimension.
The variation of individual dimension from average value of length/breadth shall not exceed ± 0.5 mm. Tolerance in thickness shall be ± 0.4 mm. The actual size of tiles supplied shall be 1 mm less so that with 1 mm joint, the tile when laid shall conform to the nominal size.
The top surface of the tiles shall be glazed and the glaze shall be either glossy or matt as specified. The underside of the tiles shall not have glaze on more than 5% of the area in order that the tile may adhere properly to the base. The edges of the tiles shall be preferably free from glaze. However, any glaze if unavoidable,shall be permissible on only up to 50 per cent of the surface area of the edges.