Suspended Timber First Floor Construction

Block and beam 81 m.

Suspended timber first floor construction. Previously floor timbers had been prone to damp and rot thanks to their direct contact with the moist ground. There are 2 types of floor construction used in the building industry today. At the turn of the 18th century when construction techniques moved from boarded floors installed directly on the ground to suspended timber floors over a ventilated chamber the innovation solved a significant problem. Concrete vs timber floors.

A typical wood frame floor covered with carpet or vinyl flooring has a dead load of about 8 pounds per square foot. If there s wall board covered ceiling suspended from the underside of that floor the dead load increases to about 10 pounds per square foot. Concrete floors are high mass and will act like a giant storage heater staying warm for many hours without any heat. Just how well this works depends to a great extent on the floor construction.

Suspended timber ground floors consist of the finished timber floorboards being attached to floor joists which are suspended above the subfloor of the foundation. Most self builders now fit underfloor heating into their homes. These floor joists are raised above the subfloor on small supporting walls called tassel walls or sleeper walls. They can normally span greater distances than timber joists.

Ventilation is required in the same way as a suspended timber floor. This construction is similar to the timber floor above but uses either pre cast concrete planks or small pre cast concrete beams with concrete blocks laid between the beams. Suspended timber floors need to have spaces underneath ventilated via air bricks through the outer walls and gaps in any internal walls so that the air can move across the building underneath the floors to prevent the build up of moisture in the timber which could lead to fungal attack. Different types of ground floor suspended flooring.

This creates a small gap and allows ventilation and air movement to prevent damp forming in the timber joists. These can be classed as either suspended or solid. The dead load on a floor is determined by the materials used in the floor s construction. Suspended timber floors which are typically found in older houses are normally made from timber floorboards which are then attached to joists just above the foundations of a house.

Suspended timber 58 m. Alongside being cheap and easy to construct timber floors benefit from being able to be adapted on site if need.