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In home renovations, the flooring is a major work item. Each type
of flooring has different requirements for materials and workmanship.
The types of flooring covered here are:-
- ceramic tiles
- marble and granite slabs
- vinyl tiles
- parquet tiles
- carpet flooring
- floor screeds
The pointers given below will help you check on the quality of
materials and installation method.
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Ceramic
Tiles |
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Ceramic Tiles are either normal or heavy duty. They come
in various sizes. Large size (at least 30 x 30 cm) heavy duty
tiles are commonly used for floorings. Normal duty tiles may
be used for walls.
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Checks For Material Quality |
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Check that the ceramic tile is heavy-duty by:-
- sprinkling a few drops of water onto the back
of the tile. The water should not be fully soaked
into the tile after a period of 10 seconds.
- striking with your finger, the tile should
give a metallic sound.
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For floors in wet areas, non-slip unglazed tiles
or matt-finished tiles should be used. |
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Checks For Quality Work |
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The following laying procedures should be practised:-
- Remove all loose particles from existing rough
floor finish. Provide a cement slurry (cement
and water) for bonding a semi-dry screed to
the floor.
- Screed the floor to the required level and
compact the surface with a long wooden trowel
so that no loose mortar is left on the surface.
- To fix the tile onto the dried screed, use
either a buttering cement slurry to back of
a tile or a tile adhesive.
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Tiles tend to have colour variation even from
the same production batch. Check that tiles with
colour variation are distributed evenly during laying
(Fig. 1). |
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Fig. 1 Plan view of even distribution of colour
variation of tiles in laying a floor
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Wherever possible, tile joint alignment with the
skirting tiles of the same widths (Fig. 2) should
be maintained. |
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Fig. 2 Good floor tile joint alignment with
skirting
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All joints should be properly aligned. They should
be fully grouted with white portland cement slurry
and be free from residual cement stains. |
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Skirting tiles particularly at the protrusion
of a wall like the case of a column should be laid
in a symmetrical arrangement. A mitred joint should
be adopted at the external corner of a protrusion
(Fig. 3 & 4). |
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Fig. 3 Symmetrical Arrangement of Skirting Tiles
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Fig. 4 Plan view of a Mitred Joint at corner
of a column
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No tile should sound hollow when tapped randomly
with a metallic object. |
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On an 'open' floor, tiles should be laid symmetrically
with the size of edge tiles being more than half
(Fig. 5). |
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Fig. 5 Plan view of a floor with symmetrically
laid tiles at the edges
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Tiles at the entrances of doors should not be
cut but be of its full original size (Fig. 6). |
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Fig. 6 Plan view of full size floor tiles at
entrance of doors
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Cut tiles should best be used at the edges of
a floor that would be hidden by any furniture (Fig.
7). |
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Fig. 7 Plan view of a floor with the recommended
location to lay cut tiles
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The difference in level between adjacent tiles
should not be more than 2mm. A long spirit level
could be used during the laying to ensure that the
tiles are level. |
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The finished floor levels of living halls and
bedrooms should be the same. Normally there is a
drop in level for wet areas like the kitchen, toilet
and balcony floors. |
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The finished floor should be level. No appreciable
depression or protrusion should be detected when
a piece of string is pulled over the surface. |
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The surface drainage of floor graded to fall
should meet the following requirements:-
- all water should be directed to the floor
trap.
- no ponding should occur at any part of the
floor.
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Marble
and Granite Slabs |
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Marble and granite slabs are either natural or artificially
compressed (Fig. 8). There are a number of varieties of granite
and marble with the light coloured ones generally cheaper than
the dark coloured ones. Terrazzo is an artificially compressed
flooring material.
Fig. 8 A well laid and polished natural marble flooring
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Vinyl
Tiles |
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| Vinly tiles come in various designs and
colours. They may also be in the form of rolled sheets.
The distinct advantage of vinly tiles compared with ceramic
or marble flooring is that they reduce noise (Fig. 10). |
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| Fig. 10 An attractive
design of vinyl tile flooring |
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Checks For Material Quality |
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The tiles should be stain resistant and of high
gloss finish with no-wax wearlayer. |
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No crisp marks should appear on any vinly tiles
and when bent at corners of the floor. |
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To guard against discolouration, the vinyl tiles
should be resistant to mild dew and moisture. |
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Colour of the tiles should be homogeneous. |
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Checks For Quality Work |
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As vinly tiles are only 2 or 3 mm thick, no uneveness
of the underlayer should be seen on the finished
tiles. Vinly tiles may be laid on a screeded floor
or a concrete floor. For a screeded floor, a semidry
cement-sand mortar of 1: 3.5 to 1: 4.5 levelled
to a smooth finish should be used to receive the
vinly tile. In the case of a concrete floor (of
monolithic finish), an underlay should be provided
to receive the tile. A damp-proofing course should
also be provided for the ground floor slab prior
to laying of vinly tiles. |
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The floor must be completely dry before fixing
the tiles. |
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This is checked by:-
- Putting a few pieces of tiles on the floor
overnight. If water droplets are subsequently
formed on the back of the tiles, the floor is
not completely dry.
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Wherever possible, the tiles should be arranged
and laid symmetrically with the size of edge tiles
being more than half. |
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Joints must be tight and should not stagger more
than 2mm. |
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Joints should also be free from any residual adhesive
stains. |
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There should be no bulging or 'popping up' due
to trapped air beneath any laid tiles. No curling
up of any laid tiles should exist. |
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The finished surface must be even as in the case
of ceramic and marble laid floors. |
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Cleaning of freshly laid vinyl tiled flooring
should be restricted to only moist mopping and no
wet washing. |
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Parquet
Tiles |
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The common parquet flooring and skirting materials are oak
wood and teak wood. The parquet tiles come in various sizes
and patterns and should be varnished and kiln-dried.
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Checks For Material Quality |
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There should be mesh-grooves at the base of each
tile for enhanced adhesion to the sub-floor. |
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The surface of the tiles should have a heavy-duty
coating like "permoglaze" to ensure that they are
scratch resistant, waterproof and resistant to burnt
marks. |
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Checks For Quality Work |
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The floor must be level, smooth finished and completely
dry before fixing the parquet tiles. |
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The laid surface should be even in colour and
tone when inspected visually. |
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There should not be any loose parquet tiles. |
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Joint must be tight and free from all residual
adhesive. |
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The finish to the skirting of an external corner
should consist of a mitred joint as for the case
of ceramic tiled skirting (Fig. 11). |
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Fig. 11 A mitred joint in the skirting to the
parquet flooring
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The finished surface should exhibit no appreciable
difference in height between adjacent wood pieces
when felt by the hand. |
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Grinding should be performed by skilled and experienced
persons to avoid minor depressions or protrusions
all over the floor area. |
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Carpet
Flooring |
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There are different carpet fibres each with its own set of
advantages and disadvantages. The carpet fibres are either
natural or synthetic or a combination of both.
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Wool is now the most popular natural fibre, being hard-wearing,
soft, resilient, warm, often concealing soil, easy to
clean and having flame resistant characteristics. |
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Nylon, Acrylics and Polyester, the most common synthetic
fibres are all basically tough, resilient and hard-wearing.
Nylon is the most easily cleaned. They are moderately
flammable and once on fire they will melt and lead to
permanent change to the carpet fibres. |
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Checks For Material Quality |
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The use of patterned carpets which can retain
a good appearance for a longer time is recommended.
They can conceal stains, soiling and wear better. |
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Likewise a medium toned carpet is recommended
unless a special effect to be created by using light
and dark colours is desired. |
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The carpet should have a strong suitable backing
so that it will have a longer life. |
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Checks For Quality Work |
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Badly cut or badly fitted carpet should be removed
and replaced. |
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There should be no missing tufts (piles) due to
mechanical problems at the mill during manufacture. |
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There should be no visible faded areas or stains
in the carpet. |
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Too many cut pile carpets should be avoided. This
is because when the surface is cut, short ends of
fibres are left in the surface of the carpet. With
wear and vacuuming, these gradually work loose. |
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Check that all ends and corners of the carpet
are properly secured onto the base, to avoid any
creases occurring from movements (Fig. 12). |
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Fig. 12 Badly creased laid carpet which was not
properly secured to the floor base
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An underlay either of rubber or urethane material
should be provided before laying the carpet. It
protects the wear life of the carpet by adding resilience
and also protects the backing from the hard floor.
It also gives a cushion effect to the human traffic
on top of the carpet. |
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Floor
Screeds |
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A floor screed is the cheapest floor finish. It involves making
the existing floor even, level and smooth (Fig. 13).
Fig. 13 A floor screed finish
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Checks For Material Quality |
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The floor screed material should be produced by
mixing water with one part of cement and three to
four parts of sand of volume. |
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The sand should be clean and of diameter not more
than 5mm. This can be achieved with the use of a
sieve on site. |
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The sand should not have a high content of clayey
material. |
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The correct amount of water should be used to
give a consistent and workable mix. |
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Checks For Quality Work |
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The floor base must be free from foreign matter
before applying the screed mortar. |
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If the floor base is of smooth finish, hacking
of closely spaced holes may be necessary. This is
to ensure proper and adequate bonding between the
screed and the floor base. |
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Upon mixing, the mortar is poured onto the floors
spread out, levelled and screeded using steel trowels. |
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For smooth floor finish, an additional coat of
cement slurry is used on the dried screed. The slurry
is made by mixing cement with water. The coating
should not be more than 1mm thick. |
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The screeded floor should be level and should
not result in ponding of water anywhere. A spirit
level should be used to check on levelness during
screeding. |
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There should be no hollowness or poor bond of
screed surface with the floor base. This is checked
by tapping over it with a light wooden or pvc object. |
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Excessive crazing or hairline cracks should not
appear on the screeded floor surface. |
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