Upper Floors of a Building

According to Barry, in his writing on the construction of buildings, timber and concrete are the two primary resources used for the development of ground and higher floors of a building. The choice of the usage of one of the materials over the other has a good sized impact while figuring out the span and performance regarding resistance and safety towards the passage of sound and heat. The intention of this research is to talk about how the upper and ground flooring of a building are constructed and the special types of levels that exist in the development sector. The floor of a building has a number functional requirements at some stage in the development process. The requirements encompass stability and strength, its resistance to ground moisture and weather, freedom and durability from maintenance and resistance of fire spreading. The floor also requires some resistance to the passage of heat and sound (Emmitt & Gorse, 2013). First, the strength of the floor always depends on material characteristics that are used for the floor structure of a building such as concrete, timber, and steel. It is necessary to ensure that the structure of the floor is robust enough to make sure that they safely support dead loads of a floor and its fixtures, finishes, and partitions. Most of the charges that are imposed appear small especially in the single family residential buildings that are more than three storeys (Arp, Smith & Spear, 2015). A lightweight timber floor structure should be adequate for some minor loads over a short duration span. The concrete blocks and the beam structures, on the other hand, should offer an economical and alternative solution to the timber floors. It is necessary to use larger loads, and wider spans to the concrete reinforced floors so as to ensure that there is strength in support of floors and also fighting to fire. The second functional requirement of the level is stability. It is necessary to design a floor and construct it to serve as a horizontal surface so that it can support people and their furniture, machinery, and equipment (Bruton, Raftery & Kennedy, 2014). It is necessary to ensure that the floor is stiff enough so that it can remain horizontal and thick especially when there is a deal load of the floor structure. One should also ensure that the fixtures and partitions of the floor support the expected static and live loads that are designed to offer support for a building. It is necessary to support the structure of the floor so that it can accommodate various services from its depth and below or even above the surface without disturbing its stability. The basement grounds and solid floors are always built from the ground so that they can offer support for a building. It is necessary to ensure that some beams and walls provide enough stiffness so as to avoid any deflection under the load. During the construction process, it is a need to make sure that the floor is resistance to ground moisture and weather. In this case, one should make sure that the floors are durable for an expected lifetime of a building and only little maintenance practice is done. The freedom and durability from the moisture of floor finishing depend on the nature of material utilized and the wear through which they are a subject (Emmitt & Gorse, 2013). While building a level, one should also ensure that the suspended upper floors are constructed in a form that offers some resistance towards the fire. The constructors should leave enough space where occupants can easily escape from the building in case fire breaks. A floor should also offer enough resistance to heat transfer where there is a significant difference in air temperature more so on the opposite sides of the floor. The construction of the upper floor should also consider the resistance to the passage of noise and sound. The upper floors that separate dwellings and noise activities should appear to be the barrier towards the transmission of sound. When constructors are upgrading an existing building, it is necessary to ensure that they improve the sound insulations so that they can fill the timber joints through the construction of some floating floors. They can also do this by constructing some suspended floors. These kinds of floors introduce some breaks within the surface of the floors and the structure of the floor. In areas where some cavities have formed, one can use sound insulating materials that introduce the reduction of sound. Concrete slabs that are supported from the Ground The figure above is an illustration of a solid ground that is supported by a plate. It is necessary to build the internal and external loads that bear walls from the foundation of concrete up to the level that has a dump-proof course (Kurucz, Colbert & Marcus, 2014). During the construction process, the hardcore beds together with the particular slabs are spread and leveled within the sections created by the walls. If the constructors spread the hardcore and consolidate it over the entire area of the ground floor, then they can use excavators in the construction of the foundation and in areas where a soft ground exists. In such an area, it is necessary to put up some little settlements that have a supporting floor slab. It is a need to consolidate the hardcore through the use vibrating roller and plates. In cases where there are an insufficient hardcore bed and poor filling of excavation for ground and trenches, one should put up some settlement cracks as a result of changes in moisture. In areas where there is an appreciable settlement, then one should reinforce slabs and buildings into walls that are suspended at the reinforced concrete slabs. The gap above the floor allows clay soils to contract and swell without any damage being caused to a fundamental level. During the process of constructing the floor, various materials are used. The first material used in concrete floors is the hardcore. Hardcore is the name offered to infill materials that are graded and crushed from bricks, concrete and stones that are hard and do not absorb the water directly (Kurucz, Colbert & Marcus, 2014). The hardcore needs to be spread until it is at the level and compacted through the use of mechanical rollers and a vibrating plate. The hardcore should offer some solid concrete slab beds that are 100-300mm deep. The materials utilized for making hardcore should be inverted so that it cannot be affected by water. The other part found on the floor is a blinding layer. The hardcore should have a confining layer that consists of dry concrete and sand. A blinding layer assists in preventing wet concrete from running between the broken stone and brick lumps. A reinforced cage should be used within the concrete slab to ensure that the surface level works in an easier way that correctly spaces the real blinding. The final layer is the damp proof membrane. A damp-proof membrane assists in the regulation of a building moisture and prevents it from passing to the inner part of a building (Liu, Han & Liu, 2015). Concrete is always permeable to moisture because it is necessary for use under dam from the top of the ground. The top of the soil supports a concrete floor slab because it is an efficient barrier to the rising moisture. The membrane needs to be continuous in walls so as to prevent some moisture from rising between the walls and concrete slabs. The dam should always be impermeable to water in vapor and liquid form so that it can withstand some possible damage especially when the screens are being laid. Polythene and polyethylene sheet is also used as dam through the oversite of concrete for some severe conditions of dampness. The sheets need to be inert in a chemical form and should never be affected by alkalis and subsoil acids. It is necessary to use sheets that are about 0.25mm thick and supplied in rolls so that they can be 4m to 25m long (McCubbin, Smit & Pearce, 2015). Sheets should be spread over the lapped and blinding at about 150 mm joint so that it can continue across the surrounded walls. The lap joints should be satisfactory to the sheets where they need to be clean and dry through the tape joints where they adhere to the surface of some leaves. People should use sheet so that there can be joints that are impractical that forms some welt junctions of joins. Different kinds of floors exist. The first type of level is a reinforced concrete upper floor. Reinforced concrete floors contain better resistance o fire damage and support safety through the superimposed loads than the timber floor that is similar to its depth. Fire resistance is required by the building regulators for various offices and large blocks of factories and flats and in public buildings. Reinforced concrete floors can be used by the small buildings that are self-centering and through the infill blocks (Emmitt & Gorse, 2013). They are also used to describe the hollow beams and in cast floors of reliable parts. The term centering is utilized in describing some temporary platforms that are cast from concrete floors. They are used in supporting the concrete floors. Timber ground floor A raised and suspended timber ground floor can be constructed through the wood platform from the nailed boards across the joints of the timber that bears a half brick from the thick sleeper walls. The suspended floor can be formed from the external wall and internal walls. The sleeper walls are built from an actual site where they contain three brick courses where they allow the free circulation of air below the floor (Liu, Han & Liu, 2015). The holes from the walls require some space from the real wall plate with the at least 150mm underside of the joints of the floor. The area should be ventilated by inserting stagnant air and by developing some airbrick air dimensions. Steel Concrete floor The steel-concrete floor should be placed between the supporting beams and walls through the reinforcement of concrete and positioned poured places. A steel floor construction is a system for various multi-storey frame buildings that Barry advanced from his writing about the Construction of Buildings. The steel frame is a position of some permanent steel rib that is tacked to steel, and later some concrete poured to make the real structure firm. The main requirements of the steel concrete floors are to ensure that they are free from the fire on the reinforced concrete floor (Emmitt & Gorse, 2013). This depends on the thickness of concrete steel reinforcement. They also ensure that there is an expansion of steel under heat. If steel has some explosion to direct heat, the steel can rapidly expand, and this causes it to lose strength. The steel-concrete floor should offer some resistance that allows heat to pass through the levels. The upper floor exposed to the external air should separate heat from the unheated space and has to be insulated against the excess transfer of heat by layers of insulating materials. The insulation should be laid from the top of the floor under boarded or screen platform of the floor surface. Timber Upper Floors Timber upper floors are important because they act as joint levels. They are important because they offer stability and strength. During construction, wood floors are used in providing support through the softwoods that are utilized in the joints of the wood, most of the timber upper floors are about 38 to 75 mm thick. It is necessary to use wood with a depth of bones that depend on imposed loads (Arp, Smith & Spear, 2015). The joint spacing should be about 400 to 600 mm and can be measured from the central part of the timber joint. The next commonly existing wall is the second floor. The second levels contained wood floor and joined on steel beams. The soak of the timber should be greater that its length especially when commercially used. It is important to use wood and steel beams so that they can provide some standard support for the joints. This type of combination of bones is necessary, especially in the small sections. Supporting steel bones help in the fixation of partial depth floor (Emmitt & Gorse, 2013). They assist in the provision of the end joint especially in areas where timber plates exist. It is imperative to guarantee that there is lateral support from the external walls. Walls require strapping at various intervals. In some cases, straps are not to be taken by the longitudinal direction especially in two story houses. Floor surface A floor surface for the timber upper floor is similar because it can only be compared to the wood ground floor. The primary functions of the timber upper level are that they act as the dwellings of various houses, especially in two to three house. Th timber upper floor should also be resistant to the passage of heat. In this case, the timber upper floor should never be exposed to the external air. The floor should always be insulated against the transfer of heat in the regulation of the building. The other function that the upper floor made of timber offer is resistance towards the sound. The bordering wood floor should always afford some poor resistance to the transfer of music. The reduction of transmission of air is necessary because it increases the weight of the floor and restricts energy flow through them. Finally, help on the transmission of sound that can necessarily provide soft materials like carpet between the hard surfaces.


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References

Arp, R., Smith, B., & Spear, A. D. (2015). Building ontologies with basic formal ontology. MIT Press. Bruton, K., Raftery, P., Kennedy, B., Keane, M. M., & O’sullivan, D. T. J. (2014). Review of automated fault detection and diagnostic tools in air handling units. Energy Efficiency, 7(2), 335-351. Emmitt, S., & Gorse, C. A. (2013). Barry's introduction to the construction of buildings. John Wiley & Sons. Kurucz, E. C., Colbert, B. A., & Marcus, J. (2014). Sustainability as a provocation to rethink management education: Building a following educative practice. Management Learning, 45(4), 437-457. Liu, Y., Han, S. J., Liu, W. B., & Stoltz, B. M. (2015). Catalytic enantioselective construction of quaternary stereocenters: assembly of the main building blocks for the synthesis of biologically active molecules. Accounts of chemical research, 48(3), 740-751. McCubbin, S., Smit, B., & Pearce, T. (2015). Where does climate fit? Vulnerability to climate change in the context of multiple stressors in Funafuti, Tuvalu. Global Environmental Change, 30, 43-55.

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