Chapter 18: Finishes

Chapter 18: Finishes

WOOD FLOORING:

Four Basic Types:

- Strip Flooring: (most common) Has tongue and groove edges3/8"-25/32" thick strip. Most strips are 2 1/4" wide, but some strips are 1 1/2" wide.

Strip Flooring

-Plank Flooring: Same thickness as strip. 3 1/4"-8" Wide

-Block Flooring: is reassembled flooring in 3 basic configurations

        -Unit Block Flooring: standard strip flooring held together with steel of wood splines.

        - Laminate Block Flooring: Made from 3-7 plies of cross laminated wood veneer. 

Laminate Flooring

        - Parquet Flooring: made from reassembled small slats of wood. Usually sold in 12" squares



Parquet Flooring



-Solid End Grain Blocks

Most Durable flooring0 rarely used. It used to be popular in industrial settings.

2 1/4"-4" Thick

Grading of wood products are set by various associations. Ex.) National Oak Flooring Manufacturers Association and the Maple Flooring Association.

Unfinished Oak Flooring is Graded as CLEAR, Select, No.1 Common, and No. 2 Common

Note: Clear is the best grade with the most uniform color.

Plain-sawn is standard. Quarter Sawn is on special orders. See pic below for distinction.

3 3/4' is the average length.

Note: Beech, Birch, and Maple are available in 1st, 2nd, 3rd grades. along with combination grades.

Bamboo Flooring:

Renewable Resource. It comes from a grass not a tree. 1/2"-3/4" Thick 3" Wide or Wider. Is as duable as Red Oak and Maple. Down side is that the transportation to the states.

Bamboo is prefinished with a polyurathane coating.  It is installed by nailing or adhesive with tongue and groove edges. 

Palm Wood is also environmentally friendly.

This is a by product of harvested coconut palms. Available in 3/4"-3" Wide strips. Installed with tongue and grove edges. It is harder and more stable then red oak, maple and white oak. This is prefinished with polyurathane.

INSTALLATION

Wood Flooring must be installed over a suitable nail base.

Cons of wood flooring:

it can smell if it gets wet.

Wood expands and contracts with temperatures.

How to prevent this: Leave flooring product in environment for a few days prior to installing it. Poly urathane film can be laid down to prevent moisture under the flooring and plywood.

Leave 3/8"-3/4"space at the edge of the flooring to allow for expansion. Conceal the space with a wood base.

Put plywood on top of concrete flooring to provide nailable surface.

Strip Flooring is installed by blind nailing it through the tongue.

Installation with sleepers under the plywood allows for space for moisture to escape to. See picture below for flooring with sleepers. Sleepers are usually 2"x4" and are 12" oc, random lengths18"-48"; set in asphalt mastic; stagger joints 4"

MOST COMMON WOODS USED IN FLOORING:

Maple

Oak (Red and White)

Birch

Beech

OTHER ALT

Bamboo (grass that takes 3-4 years to mature)

STONE FLOORING

5 Types of Stone Most Commonly Used

Granite

Marble

Limestone

Slate

Sandstone

Granite: Igneous Rock w. visible grains.

         -Finishes: Polished Finish - reflective

                        Honed Finish -dull sheen

                         Fine Rubbed finish- smooth surface no sheen

                         Rubbed Finish- Some scratches

                         Thermal or Flame finish- coarse surface

Marble: Metamorphic Rock

         -Finishes: Polished Finish - reflective

                        Honed Finish -satin smooth surface
                         Abrasive Finish- Flat non reflective finish (stair treds and non slip surfaces)
                         Wet Sand Finish- smooth surface, good for non slip floor.

Limestone: Mostly used for exterior surfaces.
 Exception is a limestone called travertine. Travertine is frequently used for flooring. This rock has a number of holes in it that must be filled with epoxy resin.


Slate: Metamorphic Rock - fine grained
- Easily split into thin slabs. good for flooring and roofing.

         -Finishes: Sand Rubbed Finish- even plane showing slight grain
                        Honed Finish -semi polished without sheen.

Sandstone: Sedimentary Rock - Sand and other substances
Sandstone when taken from the original rock it is called flagstone. flagstone has a naturally rough surface.

INSTALLATION

Two primary installation methods:
Thin set installation or a Thick Set Installation

Thin Set Installation - stone is set on subfloor with a thin set (1/8") mortar or with adhesive.
Thick Set Installation - Stone is set on subfloor with a thick set (3/4"-1 1/4") mortar.
Note: Install stone when mortar is wet or wait for mortar to dry and then apply a thin layer of mortar and install the stone on the wet thin layer.
thick set installation is usually the best most used way to install stone.

NOTE: Thick Set installation: The thick mortar can be bonded to the sub floor or it can have a wire next set into the mortar, allowing for the mortar to be structural separate from the sub floor. This will avoid any cracks in the stone if the subfloor ever shifts.

Thin Set Installation can be installed on wood or concrete sub floor.

Stone flooring can be set butted together or with some space in between. If there is space in between use grout, portland cement, or sand mixture.
You can also use latex grout. This is a little more flexible.

NOTE THICKNESS:
Thin set install: 1/4"-3/8" above sub floor
Thick Set install: 1 1/2" - 2 1/2" above sub floor.


TERRAZZO:
Terrazzo is a composite material poured into place. Consists of marble, quartz, granite, etc.. in chips. It mixes like cement. Terrazzo is poured and polished to create smooth surface.

PROS - Durability, good for wet areas. easy to clean and fire resistant.

4 TYPES of Terrazzo
-Standard Terrazzo
-Venetian Terrazzo
-Palladian Terrazzo
-Rustic Terrazzo

Standard Terrazzo - Most Common, uses small chips (3/8" being the largest)
Venetian Terrazzo - Uses large Chips
Palladian Terrazzo - Uses thin random fractured slab of marble with standard terrazzo
Rustic Terrazzo - Has a matrix depressed to expose the chips

INSTALLATION
Sand cushioning is the best method to use so the Terrazzo wont crack.
See diagram on page 18-6

Other types of installation
:Bonded Terrazzo- Bold straight to concrete
Monolithic terrazzo - cut into the existing concrete in slivers and put divider strip in the cut and to separate the tile.
Thin Set Terrazzo - Light adhesive with T divider straight on concrete.

RESILIENT FLOOR
Common Types of Resilient Floor
Vinyl, Rubber and Cork

Vinyl - pure vinyl, vinyl composites, vinyl tiles, and sheet vinyl
 - 1/16 and 1/8" Thick 7" or 9" squares.
-Sheet vinyl come in 6, 9, 12 ft wide rolls. Has few seems and is harder to install.
VCT or Vinyl Composition Tile Similar to vinyl tile but is is made to include various types of fillers decreasing the percentage of polyvinyl chloride. VCT costs less but is less flexible less durable  and less abrasion resistant.

Installation: Can be applied with mastic (best way)
it can also be applied with peel and stick. You can also get tile with attached foam backing for greater resilience.

Rubber Flooring - made from synthetic rubber. Comfortable, wuiet resilient flooring.
NOTE: Rubber is not very resistant to oil or grease.
Flooring is available in tiles or in sheets. and in several thicknesses.

Cork Flooring- made from granulated pieces of bark from the cork oak tree. They are bonded together under heat and pressure.

Takes 9 years for the tree to grow a new skin after the tree was harvested. 

Cork is made in planks and tiles. It is good where acoustical control is needed.
12" squares 1/8" - 1/4" thick
12" wide and 3' long planks.

INSTALLATION
Installed by using adhesives with the tile and the plank is edge glued without being fixed to the sub floor.

Linoleum- made with oxidized linseed oil, wood flour, pigments and fillers. it is applied over a burlap or asphalt backing.
Note - Is made from natural materials which make is a sustainable material.

NOTE: Testing concrete for moisture
Max limit for moisture emissions is 3.0lb/1000ft2/24h when exposed to 73 degree F and 50 % relative humidity.

To see detail info on testing information turn to page 18-8.

Carpet:

Three Basic Forms of Carpet: Rugs, Sheet Carpet and carpet tiles.

Sheet carpet comes in rolls typ. 12' wide

Carpet Tile: is individual pieces of carpet 18" square.

Fibers used in carpet : wool, nylon, acrylic, modacrylic, polyester, and olefin.

Wool is natural and overall the best to use for a carpet. and is one of the most expensive.

Nylon is the most widely used fiber.

Olefin is primarily used for indoor outdoor carpet. Least attractive carpet.


Manufacturing Carpet:

Weaving- Traditional method. Most expensive method.

Wilton- produced on a Jaquard loom that allows for complex patterns. Wiltons are heavier and generally more expensive then other carpets.
note: imagine all the different colors of yarn running through the same area and the machine only pulls up the certain color of yarn when that yarn is needed for that pattern.

Velvet carpet- simplest form of weaving.  Places on the pile of yarn on the face of the carpet.
Can be used with plushes, loop pile, cut pile, multi level loop, and cut and loop styles.

Axminster - made on modified Jaquard loom. It is only different from the Wilton carpet because the yarns are placed on the surface. This carpet has an even cut pile surface with a ribbed backing.

Tufting- pile yarn is punched through the backing with rows of needles. This is the most popular carpet manufactured and is very inexpensive.

It can not be loop or cut pile carpet.

Needle Punching - Similar to tufting accept uses a barbed needle.

Fusion Bonding - embeds the yarn in the liquid backing that is vinyl. does not have a backing and is usually used for carpet tiles.

Note the higher the pitch, gauge and stitch Numbers are the denser the carpet.

CARPET BACKING AND CUSHIONS

Polypropylene backing yarn is most common for woven carpets. Secondary backing of latex is usually applied.

INSTALLATION
Direct Glue Down- Carpet is attached to floor with adhesive

Stretched-in installation- tackles strips attached around the perimeter.

FLAMMABILITY -
All carpet must pass the flammability test ASTM D2859 - metahenamine pill test.

ICB - Carpet must also meet the ASTM- E 648  Flooring Radiant Panel Test.

TILE:

Ceramic Tile and Quarry Tile

Ceramic Tile - made from clay or a mixture of clay. glazed or unglazed surface.

Quarry Tile 0 Glazed or unglazed surface and is made from natural clay or shale.

NOTE- Glazed and in glazed tile over 6 in squared made by the dust pressed method is called a paver tile.

Classification of Abrasion Resistance:
Group I - Light Commercial
Group II- moderate residential
Group II- Max Residential
Group IV - commercial

LAMINATE FLOORING

Variation of plastic laminate.

Available in planks and is normally laid on a cushioned foam underlaymaent with tongue and grove edges.
Note - A vapor barrier is normally required when it is laid over concrete.

SEAMLESS FLOOR

Flooring is either poured or trowled onto a subfloor. Some products are self leveling.
Applied thickness is 1/16"-1/2"

SAFETY FACTORS

COF - coefficient of friction. Ranges from 0-1.  The higher the COF the less slippery the surface.

WALL FINISHES

PAINT
Pigments give paint its color.
The body of most quality paint is titanium dioxide or white.

Solvent and binder. two components in paint. Solvent dissolves and the binder for application of the coat.

Paints are classified as wither solvent based or water based types.

Clear solvent include varnishes, shellac, silicone, and urethane. When a pigment is added  it becomes a stain.

Latex pains are water based. with vinyl chloride or acrylic resin as binders. Acrylic latex is better then vinyl latex.

For more durable finishes and epoxy is used.

Temp for applying paint is generally between 55 degrees and 85 degrees.

Finish of paints - Gloss, Semi Gloss, Satin and flat.
Gloss shows a lot of imperfections.

NOTE: If the building is built before 1978 there may be lead based paint.

Wallpaper
20 1/2" inch wide and 21 ft long
Straight Match - when they line up
Drop Match- lower the piece to line the pattern up.

Vinyl Wall covering

Comes in rolls that are 52" or 54" wide and 30 yards long.

Three grades of vinyl wall covering
Type I- light duty

Type II- medium duty

Type III- Heavy duty.

Two methods of seeming:
Double Cutting - overlapping adjacent strips.
butting - but the joints up to one another.

Fabric Wall covering

Types of fabrics used - Wool, silk, and synthetics.

Acoustic Panels

Have at least 1 inch of sound absorption material. In addition they are covered with a permeable material such as a loose weave fabric.

Window Treatments

Shades, blinds, soft coverings, and hard coverings.

see figure 18.7 for clarification on types of window treatments.