A floor is the bottom surface of a room or vehicle. Floors vary from simple dirt in a cave to many layered surfaces made with modern technology. Floors may be stone, wood, bamboo, metal or any other material that can support the expected load.
Flooring is the general term for a permanent covering of a floor, or for the work of installing such a floor covering. Floor covering is a term to generically describe any finish material applied over a floor structure to provide a walking surface. Both terms are used interchangeably but floor covering refers more to loose-laid materials.
Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "render" commonly refers to external applications. The term stucco refers to plasterwork that is worked in some way to produce relief decoration, rather than flat surfaces.
Caulk or caulking is a material used to seal joints or seams against leakage in various structures and piping.
Linoleum is a floor covering made from materials such as solidified linseed oil (linoxyn), pine resin, ground cork dust, sawdust, and mineral fillers such as calcium carbonate, most commonly on a burlap or canvas backing. Pigments are often added to the materials to create the desired colour finish. Commercially, the material has been largely replaced by sheet vinyl flooring, although in the UK and Australia this is often still referred to as "lino".
In architecture, a baseboard is usually wooden, MDF or vinyl board covering the lowest part of an interior wall. Its purpose is to cover the joint between the wall surface and the floor. It covers the uneven edge of flooring next to the wall; protects the wall from kicks, abrasion, and furniture; and can serve as a decorative molding.
Laminate flooring is a multi-layer synthetic flooring product fused together with a lamination process. Laminate flooring simulates wood with a photographic appliqué layer under a clear protective layer. The inner core layer is usually composed of melamine resin and fiber board materials. There is a European Standard No. EN 13329:2000 specifying laminate floor covering requirements and testing methods.
Vinyl composition tile (VCT) is a finished flooring material used primarily in commercial and institutional applications. Modern vinyl floor tiles and sheet flooring and versions of those products sold since the early 1980s are composed of colored polyvinyl chloride (PVC) chips formed into solid sheets of varying thicknesses by heat and pressure. Floor tiles are cut into modular shapes such 12-by-12-inch squares or 12-by-24-inch rectangles. In installation the floor tiles or sheet flooring are applied to a smooth, leveled sub-floor using a specially formulated vinyl adhesive or tile mastic that remains pliable. In commercial applications some tiles are typically waxed and buffed using special materials and equipment.
A batten is most commonly a strip of solid material, historically wood but can also be of plastic, metal, or fiberglass. Battens are variously used in construction, sailing, and other fields.
Plasterwork is construction or ornamentation done with plaster, such as a layer of plaster on an interior or exterior wall structure, or plaster decorative moldings on ceilings or walls. This is also sometimes called pargeting. The process of creating plasterwork, called plastering or rendering, has been used in building construction for centuries. For the art history of three-dimensional plaster, see stucco.
Sealant is a substance used to block the passage of fluids through openings in materials, a type of mechanical seal. In building construction sealant is sometimes synonymous with caulk and also serve the purposes of blocking dust, sound and heat transmission. Sealants may be weak or strong, flexible or rigid, permanent or temporary. Sealants are not adhesives but some have adhesive qualities and are called adhesive-sealants or structural sealants.
Porcelain tiles or ceramic tiles are either tiles made of porcelain, or relatively tough ceramic tiles made with a variety of materials and methods, that are suitable for use as floor tiles, or for walls. They have a low water absorption rate, generally less than 0.5 percent. The clay used to build porcelain tiles is generally denser than ceramic tiles. They can either be glazed or unglazed. Porcelain tiles are one type of vitrified tiles and are sometimes referred to as porcelain vitrified tiles.
Wood flooring is any product manufactured from timber that is designed for use as flooring, either structural or aesthetic. Wood is a common choice as a flooring material and can come in various styles, colors, cuts, and species. Bamboo flooring is often considered a form of wood flooring, although it is made from bamboo rather than timber.
A solid ground floor consists of a layer of concrete, which in the case of a domestic building will be the surface layer brought up to ground floor level with hardcore filling under it.
The LASSELSBERGER Group is an international producer of raw materials, building materials and tiles based in Pöchlarn. Both local home markets and international markets - especially in Western Europe - are supplied from the production sites in Central and Eastern Europe. The subsidiaries of the three divisions Ceramics, Building Materials and Minerals as well as the local organizations are managed and coordinated from Pöchlarn. The term "LASSELSBERGER Group" represents the umbrella term for all corporate components of Lasselsberger GmbH.
Self-drying concrete technology is found in certain cementitious patching and leveling materials and tile-setting mortars used in the flooring industry. Self-drying technology allows the cement mix to consume all of its mix water while curing, eliminating the need for excess water to evaporate prior to installing flooring. Traditional floor coverings, such as VCT, sheet vinyl, carpet and ceramic tile, can be installed before the material is completely dry and as soon as it hardens, which typically happens in the first two hours after placement.
A traditional method for the installation of tile and stone which involves setting the tile or stone into a mortar bed which has been packed over a surface.
Gypsum block is a massive lightweight building material composed of solid gypsum, for building and erecting lightweight, fire-resistant, non-load bearing interior walls, partition walls, cavity walls, skin walls, and pillar casing indoors. Gypsum blocks are composed of gypsum, plaster, water and in some cases additives like vegetable or wood fiber for greater strength. Partition walls, made from gypsum blocks, require no sub-structure for erection and gypsum adhesive is used as bonding agent, not standard mortar. Because of this fundamental difference, gypsum blocks shouldn't be confused with the thinner plasterboard used for paneling stud walls.
Forbo Holding AG based in Baar ZG is a globally operating Swiss manufacturer of floor coverings and building and construction adhesives as well as power transmission and light conveyor belts.
Foam concrete, also known as Lightweight Cellular Concrete (LCC) and Low Density Cellular Concrete (LDCC), and by other names, is defined as a cement-based slurry, with a minimum of 20% foam entrained into the plastic mortar. As mostly no coarse aggregate is used for production of foam concrete the correct term would be called mortar instead of concrete; it may be called "foamed cement" as well. The density of foam concrete usually varies from 400 kg/m3 to 1600 kg/m3. The density is normally controlled by substituting all or part of the fine aggregate with the foam.
