1. Task and Quality of Wooden Floors

Figure 1

Wooden floors are made from surfaced boards. These shall bridge the spaces between the floor beams or fillets. The surfaced boards form a self-contained horizontal surface which can be well walked on, receive loads and transmit them to the subconstruction.

Surfaced boards shall be of equal thickness, as far as possible of equal parallel width, free from knots and surfaced on one side. They consist of soft wood or hardwood suited for that purpose. They shall be 120 to 160 mm broad and - in surfaced condition - 20 to 24 mm thick. Wooden floors have little dead weight, are relatively elastic and foot-warm. On the other hand, they may be subject to deformation, because wood contracts and expands due to reception of moisture or drying. Wooden floors are easily inflammable, they rot under the influence of moisture and they are susceptible to destructive insects.

What disadvantages do wood floors have?

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