Floating floors in buildings
A floating floor is a floor that is not fixed to the layer beneath it.
Floating floors may be constructed from materials such as timber planks or boards, engineered timber, laminate flooring and some types of tiles. These materials can be glued, snapped or otherwise fixed to one another, but are not fixed to the substrate layer beneath (which may be, for example, the structural floor, an underlay, an underfloor heating construction or acoustic or thermal insulation).
A floating floor is not the same as a raised floor (sometimes referred to as an access floor or raised access floor), which is a floor created above a solid floor slab, but with an open void between the two within which building services may be distributed.
Floating floors are particularly common in refurbishment works, and can be used to help improve the thermal or acoustic insulation of a floor construction.
Floating floors can be easier, faster and less expensive to install than fixed flooring, and may be easier to remove, for example, if access is needed to the floor structure itself or to a floor void or ceiling where services might be installed. They can be less deep than other types of flooring and cause less damage to the substrate below.
They can generally accommodate some movement between the flooring and the substrate, for example where the humidity of a room changes. This requires that a gap is left around the perimeter of the flooring, between it and the wall or skirting. These gaps may be filled with a flexible filler or concealed beneath an edge trim or skirting.
Floating floors are held in place as a result of their own weight, the boundaries of the room in which they are laid, the fixings between the elements of the floating floor, and friction between the floating floor and the substrate.
However, as they are not fixed down, they can move under loading, for example when walked on, in particular at the edges. This can lead to delamination, or cracking or separation of joints, as can differential movement between the flooring and the substrate. Where there is substantial movement, for example if the flooring becomes wet and expands, floating floors can be prone to buckling or bowing.
Floating floors can be noisy, sometimes creaking under loading, and they can give a hollow sound when walked on compared to the more solid sound experienced when walking on a fixed floor.
Many of these potential problems can be mitigated by the installation of a good quality underlay.
NB: Sprung floors, designed to give specific properties of shock absorption and energy return suitable for dance and sport, are generally floating floors.
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
- Beam and block.
- Click and lock flooring.
- Concrete floor.
- Floor definition.
- Floor plenum airtightness.
- Flooring.
- Flooring defects.
- Floor slab.
- Laminate flooring.
- Plenum.
- Raised floor.
- Separating floor.
- Slab.
- Sprung floor.
- Suspended ceiling.
- Suspended timber floor.
- Types of floor.
- Types of skirting board.
- Underfloor air distribution.
- Underlay.
- Wall types.
Featured articles and news
Cladding remediation programmes, transparency and target date.
National Audit Office issue report on cladding remediation.
HBPT and BEAMS Jubilees. Book review.
Does the first Labour budget deliver for the built environment?
What does the UK Budget mean for electrical contractors?
Mixed response as business pays, are there silver linings?
A brownfield housing boost for Liverpool
A 56 million investment from Homes England now approved.
Fostering a future-ready workforce through collaboration
Collaborative Futures: Competence, Capability and Capacity, published and available for download.
Considerate Constructors Scheme acquires Building A Safer Future
Acquisition defines a new era for safety in construction.
AT Awards evening 2024; the winners and finalists
Recognising professionals with outstanding achievements.
Reactions to the Autumn Budget announcement
And key elements of the quoted budget to rebuild Britain.
Chancellor of the Exchequer delivers Budget
Repairing, fixing, rebuilding, protecting and strengthening.
Expectation management in building design
Interest, management, occupant satisfaction and the performance gap.
Connecting conservation research and practice with IHBC
State of the art heritage research & practice and guidance.
Innovative Silica Safety Toolkit
Receives funding boost in memory of construction visionary.
Gentle density and the current context of planning changes
How should designers deliver it now as it appears in NPPF.
Sustainable Futures. Redefining Retrofit for Net Zero Living
More speakers confirmed for BSRIA Briefing 2024.
Making the most of urban land: Brownfield Passports
Policy paper in brief with industry responses welcomed.
The boundaries and networks of the Magonsæte.