Floor
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. The levels of a building are often referred to as floors, although a more proper term is storey. Floors typically consist of a subfloor for support and a floor covering used to give a good walking surface. In modern buildings the subfloor often has electrical wiring, plumbing, and other services built in. As floors must meet many needs, some essential to safety, floors are built to strict building codes in some regions. Special floor structures Where a special floor structure like a floating floor is laid upon another floor, both may be called subfloors. Special floor structures are used for a number of purposes: * Balcony, a platform projecting from a wall * Floating floor, normally for noise or vibration reduction * Glass floor ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hovel
Hovel may refer to: *The brick outer shell of a bottle oven *Hövels is a municipality in the district of Altenkirchen, in Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany. See also * Rondavel, literally "round hovel" {{disambig ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Wood Flooring
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. Types Solid Hardwood flooring Solid hardwood floors are made of planks milled from a single piece of timber. Solid hardwood floors were originally used for structural purposes, being installed perpendicular to the wooden support beams of a building known as joists or bearers. With the increased use of concrete as a subfloor in some parts of the world, engineered wood flooring has gained some popularity. However, solid wood floors are still common and popular, but are commonly more expensive in the United States and considered higher end. Solid wood floors have a thicker wear surface and can be sanded and finished more times than an engi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hollow Core Slab
A hollow core slab, also known as a voided slab, hollow core plank or simply a concrete plank is a precast slab of prestressed concrete typically used in the construction of floors in multi-story apartment buildings. The slab has been especially popular in countries where the emphasis of home construction has been on precast concrete, including Northern Europe and former socialist countries of Eastern Europe. Precast concrete popularity is linked with low-seismic zones and more economical constructions because of fast building assembly, lower self weight (less material), etc. The precast concrete slab has tubular voids extending the full length of the slab, typically with a diameter equal to the 2/3–3/4 the thickness of the slab. This makes the slab much lighter than a massive solid concrete floor slab of equal thickness or strength. The reduced weight also lowers material and transportation costs. The slabs are typically 120 cm wide with standard thicknesses normally be ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Joist
A joist is a horizontal structural member used in framing to span an open space, often between beams that subsequently transfer loads to vertical members. When incorporated into a floor framing system, joists serve to provide stiffness to the subfloor sheathing, allowing it to function as a horizontal diaphragm. Joists are often doubled or tripled, placed side by side, where conditions warrant, such as where wall partitions require support. Joists are either made of wood, engineered wood, or steel, each of which has unique characteristics. Typically, wood joists have the cross section of a plank with the longer faces positioned vertically. However, engineered wood joists may have a cross section resembling the Roman capital letter ""; these joists are referred to as -joists. Steel joists can take on various shapes, resembling the Roman capital letters "C", "", "L" and "S". Wood joists were also used in old-style timber framing. The invention of the circular saw for use in mod ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Beam (structure)
A beam is a structural element that primarily resists Structural load, loads applied laterally to the beam's axis (an element designed to carry primarily axial load would be a strut or column). Its mode of Deflection (engineering), deflection is primarily by bending. The loads applied to the beam result in reaction forces at the beam's support points. The total effect of all the forces acting on the beam is to produce shear forces and bending moments within the beams, that in turn induce internal stresses, strains and deflections of the beam. Beams are characterized by their manner of support, profile (shape of cross-section), equilibrium conditions, length, and their material. Beams are traditionally descriptions of building or civil engineering structural elements, where the beams are horizontal and carry vertical loads. However, any structure may contain beams, for instance automobile frames, aircraft components, machine frames, and other mechanical or structural systems. In th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Grating
A grating is any regularly spaced collection of essentially identical, parallel, elongated elements. Gratings usually consist of a single set of elongated elements, but can consist of two sets, in which case the second set is usually perpendicular to the first (as illustrated). When the two sets are perpendicular, this is also known as a wikt:grid (as in grid paper) or a mesh. As filters A grating covering a drain (as illustrated) can be a collection of iron bars (the identical, elongated elements) held together (to ensure the bars are parallel and regularly spaced) by a lighter iron frame. Gratings over drains and air vents are used as filters, to block movement of large solids (e.g. people) and to allow movement of liquids. A register is a type of grating used in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, which transmits air, while stopping solid objects. File:Vindobona Hoher Markt-71.JPG, Grating - drain cover, ancient Roman architecture at Vindobona, Austria. File:Montr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Floor Medallions
A floor medallion is generally a centerpiece of flooring design that can be made with various flooring materials, including natural stone, wood, metal, tile, glass or a variety of other materials suitable for flooring. The pattern can be created using various methods such as mosaic, intarsia, and marquetry Marquetry (also spelled as marqueterie; from the French ''marqueter'', to variegate) is the art and craft of applying pieces of veneer to a structure to form decorative patterns, designs or pictures. The technique may be applied to case furn .... With a mosaic, small pieces of flooring material are put together to develop a pattern. This can be done in a direct, indirect, or double indirect method. In the direct method small pieces are set directly into a bonding substrate like cement. Using an indirect method the pieces would be placed face down against paper or other material with a temporary adhesive. After the design is completed face down the entire section would b ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ornament (architecture)
An ornament is something used for decoration. Ornament may also refer to: Decoration *Ornament (art), any purely decorative element in architecture and the decorative arts *Biological ornament, a characteristic of animals that appear to serve only a decorative purpose *Bronze and brass ornamental work, decorative work that dates back to antiquity *Christmas ornament, a decoration used to festoon a Christmas tree *Dingbat, decorations in typography *Garden ornament, a decoration in a garden, landscape, or park *Hood ornament, a decoration on the hood of an automobile *Lawn ornament, a decoration in a grassy area *Ornamental plant, a decorative plant *Peak ornament, a decoration under the peak of the eaves of a gabled building Music *Ornament (music), a flourish that serves to decorate music *Ornament, a Russian band, forerunner to the band Kukuruza Other uses *Ornament (football), the football team from Hong Kong *Ornaments Rubric, a prayer of the Church of England See also Or ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Solid Ground Floor
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 advantage of a solid ground floor is the elimination of dry rot and other problems normally associated with hollow joisted floors. The disadvantage is that the floor is less resilient to walk upon and may be more tiring for the user. Solid ground floors are usually found or situated in a kitchen but will be necessary for other rooms where wood blocks and other similar finishes are required. Finishes applied to solid ground floors in construction Cement screed: The concrete floor may be topped with a 25 mm thick cement and sand screed trowelled to a smooth finish. The usual mix is 1:3 and a colouring agent may be added to the mix to obtain a more attractive finish. The mix should be as dry as possible and the sand should be coarsely graded and clean to avoid shrinkage and cracking which might ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay particles, but become hard, brittle and non–plastic upon drying or firing. Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impurities, such as a reddish or brownish colour from small amounts of iron oxide. Clay is the oldest known ceramic material. Prehistoric humans discovered the useful properties of clay and used it for making pottery. Some of the earliest pottery shards have been dated to around 14,000 BC, and clay tablets were the first known writing medium. Clay is used in many modern industrial processes, such as paper making, cement production, and chemical filtering. Between one-half and two-thirds of the world's population live or work in buildings made with clay, often ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Earthen Floor
An earthen floor, also called an adobe floor, is a floor made of dirt, raw earth, or other unworked ground materials. It is usually constructed, in modern times, with a mixture of sand, finely chopped straw and clay, mixed to a thickened consistency and spread with a trowel on a sub-surface such as concrete. Once dry, it is then usually saturated with several treatments of a drying oil. Benefits * Variety of colors, textures, and materials * Can be installed over nearly any subflooring * Integrates well with in-floor radiant heat tubing * One of the cheapest flooring methods, green or otherwise History Earthen floors were predominant in most houses until the mid 14th century in Europe, and persist to this day in many parts of the world. Gies, Frances & Gies, Joseph, Life in a Medieval Village In medieval times, almost all peasant housing had earthen floors, usually of hardpacked dirt topped off with a thin layer of straw for warmth and comfort. In China, most cottages and smal ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Allergen
An allergen is a type of antigen that produces an abnormally vigorous immune response in which the immune system fights off a perceived threat that would otherwise be harmless to the body. Such reactions are called allergies. In technical terms, an allergen is an antigen that is capable of stimulating a type-I hypersensitivity reaction in atopic individuals through immunoglobulin E (IgE) responses. Most humans mount significant Immunoglobulin E responses only as a defense against parasitic infections. However, some individuals may respond to many common environmental antigens. This hereditary predisposition is called atopy. In atopic individuals, non-parasitic antigens stimulate inappropriate IgE production, leading to type I hypersensitivity. Sensitivities vary widely from one person (or from one animal) to another. A very broad range of substances can be allergens to sensitive individuals. Types of allergens Allergens can be found in a variety of sources, such as dust mite e ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |