Floors & Screeds
182 sources in the library on floors & screeds. Each one says what the document covers and what it is good for. Name a source to see which document it is and where to read it. One at a time. Page 2 of 5.
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BSI
The missing fifth part of the BS 8204 screed series, and the one that governs mastic asphalt where it is used as a flooring underlay or wearing surface, which is how many older solid floors and damp-proofing sandwiches were built. Published 20 September 2004, amended A1 in 2011, current, ISBN 978 0 580 74252 1, committee CB/300, ICS 91.060.30 Ceilings, Floors, Stairs. Its scope makes recommendations for the types and grades of materials, design, work on site, protection, inspection and testing, maintenance and repair for in situ mastic asphalt applied as a wearing surface or underlay, incorporating waterproof membranes where required. It applies to mastic asphalt applied hot to concrete bases, screeds and concrete suspended floors, and is written to be read together with BS 8204-1 which covers the concrete base and cementitious levelling screed beneath. Descriptors include floor beds, membranes, underlays, suspended floors, grades, repair and drainage.
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BSI
The product standard for a natural stone floor tile, published 31 March 2015 and current. It specifies requirements for flat modular tiles of natural stone made for internal use, including enclosed public transport premises, and external use as floorings, stairs and wall and ceiling finishes, covering the characteristics that must be declared: dimensions and tolerances, flatness, water absorption, flexural strength, abrasion resistance, slip resistance, frost resistance and petrographic description. Two exclusions matter for a renovation: it does not cover mineral aggregates or artificial agglomerated stone material, which fall under the agglomerated stone standards, and it does not cover installation, which is BS 5385-3's job. Cite it when a stone floor is being specified or a delivery is being checked, because the declared values under this standard are what a supplier is contractually bound to, and it is the only fair basis for comparing a limestone against a granite or a porcelain.
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BSI
The source of the design strength and stiffness figures behind an OSB or chipboard floor deck, published 30 September 2025. BS EN 12369-1 gives characteristic values of mechanical properties and density for use with EN 1995-1-1, covering OSB/2, OSB/3 and OSB/4 to EN 300, particleboard grades P4, P5, P6 and P7 to EN 312, hardboard HB.HLA2 to EN 622-2, medium board MBH.LA2 to EN 622-3 and MDF.LA, MDF.HLS and MDF.RWH to EN 622-5. It confirms that P5 is the moisture-resistant structural chipboard grade used for domestic flooring and OSB/3 its OSB equivalent.
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BSI
The product standard behind the calcium sulfate, anhydrite or so-called liquid screeds that now dominate underfloor heating installations, and the one to name when a tiler or floorlayer refuses to bond to one. Published 1 December 2004, current, and a designated standard. It applies to calcium sulfate binders and composite binders made of calcium sulfate used to manufacture floor screeds for interior use in buildings, and includes requirements for factory made mixtures of calcium sulfate used for floor screeds, which are themselves specified in EN 13813. It expressly does not cover the application of floor screeds, which is why BS 8204-1, BS 8000-9 and the tile trade's own guidance carry the laying rules. It notes that screeds made from products in its scope may contribute to thermal insulation, sound insulation and fire protection of the floor. Interior use only is the key limitation, and the reason these screeds are unsuitable where they can get wet: the binder is calcium sulfate, not cement.
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BSI
The product standard for the terrazzo tile, a finish that has returned to domestic bathrooms and kitchens and that behaves nothing like porcelain. Published in its current listing on 31 October 2018 as BS EN 13748-1:2004+A1:2005, current and a designated standard. It specifies the materials, properties and methods of testing for unreinforced cement-bound terrazzo tiles which are factory made and sold ready to be placed, and it applies only to tiles intended for internal use; external terrazzo is covered by Part 2. Because the tiles are cement-bound rather than fired, the declared properties that matter are different from a ceramic: breaking load and bending strength, abrasion resistance, water absorption, dimensional and flatness tolerances, and slip resistance. Installation is not covered here; that is BS 5385-3:2024, which since 2024 absorbs the terrazzo and natural stone flooring content formerly in BS 5385-5. ICS 91.100.30 Concrete and concrete products, committee B/524.
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BSI
The test that produces the C and F numbers in a screed specification, so a reader can tell what C25-F4 on a delivery ticket actually means. Published 28 November 2002, current but under review. It is the second part of the BS EN 13892 series of test methods for screed materials and specifies a method for determining the flexural and compressive strength of moulded specimens made from cementitious screed material, calcium sulfate screed material, magnesite screed material and synthetic resin screed material. It gives the apparatus requirements and step-by-step procedures for the flexural test and the compressive test, and the values it produces are the ones declared under BS EN 13813, where C denotes compressive strength in newtons per square millimetre and F denotes flexural strength. Because the same method covers cement and calcium sulfate screeds alike, it is the only fair basis for comparing a traditional sand cement screed with an anhydrite pumped screed.
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BSI
The umbrella construction standard that decides which board may be used where, published 21 April 2005, current, under review and designated. BS EN 13986 covers solid wood panels, LVL, plywood, OSB, resin-bonded and cement-bonded particleboard, wet process fibreboards including hardboard, medium board and softboard, and dry process fibreboard, that is MDF. It classifies each by end use: internal structural in dry conditions, internal or protected external structural in humid conditions, external structural, the three equivalent non-structural cases, and specifically structural floor decking on joists, structural roof decking on joists and structural wall sheathing on studs, each in dry, humid or external conditions. That end-use table is the precise answer to whether a given OSB or chipboard grade is fit to deck a floor.
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BSI
The harmonised product standard that decides what a floorcovering's label may legally claim, and therefore what a specifier can rely on. Published 31 May 2018, current, it cancels and replaces BS EN 14041:2004. It specifies the essential characteristics for resilient floor coverings (excluding loose-laid mats), textile floor coverings (excluding loose-laid barrier mats, runners and rugs), laminate floor coverings and modular multilayer floor coverings, together with the assessment methods, the way performance is expressed, the systems for assessment and verification of constancy of performance (AVCP) and the marking. Essential characteristics under Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 include reaction to fire, content of dangerous substances, slip resistance, electrical behaviour and thermal conductivity. The 2018 revision followed mandate M/119 rev on dangerous substances, folding the old clause 4.2 on pentachlorophenol into a broader dangerous substances clause, and extended slip resistance so it now applies to every covering type in scope. It deliberately does not cover installation or maintenance, which sit in BS 8203, BS 8201 and BS 5325.
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BSI
BS EN 15037-1:2008, published 30 June 2008, committee B/524, under review, identical to EN 15037-1:2008. It is Part 1 of the harmonised product standard for precast concrete beam-and-block floor systems and covers the beams, the element a builder orders by span and loading for a suspended ground floor. BSI publishes no scope preview on this page, so detailed requirements must be read from the standard itself. Cite it when a note compares a beam and block ground floor with a ground bearing concrete slab, for the point that the beams are a factory-made, conformity-assessed product specified to a span rather than an element poured on site.
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BSI
The only British Standard that says what a laminate underlay has to do, and the reference a reader needs when comparing underlays that all claim the same things. Published 30 November 2018, current but under review, superseding PD CEN/TS 16354:2013. It specifies test methods for determining the technical characteristics of underlays used beneath laminate floor coverings, sets minimum performance requirements for the underlay and flooring system as a whole rather than for the underlay alone, and specifies requirements for marking and packaging so a consumer can compare like with like. Laminate floor coverings are treated as floating installations for domestic and commercial use including domestic kitchens. Two exclusions matter: underlays pre-attached to the laminate covering are outside its scope, and so are underlays for use in electrostatically sensitive areas such as computer rooms. The 2018 revision changed the definitions of both laminate floor covering and underlay, required that the mean of the measured single test results be calculated, and added a note on water vapour resistance warning that some installation conditions call for an underlay with a higher sd value and visible air gaps underneath.
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BSI
The specification behind the dry, humid and exterior plywood grades that a note comparing plywood with OSB or chipboard has to name. This edition was published 30 July 2003 and withdrawn on 31 January 2013, so check the current edition before quoting a grade. It specifies requirements for plywood for general purposes or structural application in dry, humid or exterior conditions, gives a classification system based on bending properties, and sets requirements for dimensional tolerances, mechanical characteristics, structural application, formaldehyde release, bonding quality and biological durability appropriate to each condition, plus verification of compliance and factory production control. It warns that its listed values are product properties, not characteristic values for design calculations, which come from BS EN 12369.
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BSI
The test behind the breaking strength figure a floor tile must declare, and the number that decides whether a tile is fit for a floor at all rather than only a wall. Published 30 April 2019 and current, it is part 4 of the BS EN ISO 10545 series of test methods for ceramic tiles and specifies the method for determining the modulus of rupture and the breaking strength of all ceramic tiles, loading the tile across a span on two supporting rods until it fails. Breaking strength is reported in newtons and modulus of rupture in newtons per square millimetre, and BS EN 14411 sets the minimum values a tile must reach for its group, which is why a thin large-format wall tile can be entirely compliant yet unsuitable underfoot, and why bed coverage and a flat, rigid base matter so much for large tiles. The wider series covers dimensions and surface quality in part 2, water absorption and density in part 3, deep abrasion in part 6, surface abrasion in part 7, thermal expansion in part 8, thermal shock in part 9, frost resistance in part 12 and chemical resistance in part 13.
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BSI
The calculation method behind any quoted ground floor U-value, published 31 August 2017 and current. BS EN ISO 13370 gives methods for calculating heat transfer coefficients and heat flow rates for elements in thermal contact with the ground, covering slab-on-ground floors, suspended floors and basements. It sets the boundary at the level of the inside floor surface for slab-on-ground floors, suspended floors and unheated basements, and at the external ground surface for heated basements, and covers both the steady-state annual average heat flow and the seasonal variation calculated monthly. It is the reason a floor U-value depends on the floor's perimeter-to-area ratio rather than on insulation thickness alone.
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BSI
The standard that settles what may lawfully be called linoleum, and the reference for a reader choosing between lino and vinyl. Published 31 March 2012, current and under review. It specifies the characteristics of plain and decorative linoleum supplied as either tiles or rolls, covering density, flexibility, dimensional tolerances, residual indentation, wear and coatings, and it includes a classification system based on intensity of use so a consumer can see where a resilient floor covering will give satisfactory service, the same 21 to 23 domestic and 31 to 34 commercial class scheme used across BS EN ISO 10874. Its scope note makes the trading-standards point directly: the term linoleum is frequently incorrectly applied to a range of floor coverings, often those based on poly(vinyl chloride) or rubber, and such materials are not included in this standard. Genuine linoleum is a linseed oil, rosin, wood flour and jute product, so its performance, maintenance and moisture tolerance differ from a vinyl, and this is the standard to cite when a supplier's description is doing the work of a specification.
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BSI
The standard that defines how a U-value is calculated for a floor, wall or roof build-up, published 31 August 2017. It sets out the method for combining the thermal resistances of each layer with internal and external surface resistances to produce a thermal transmittance in W/m2K, and how to allow for air layers, inhomogeneous layers and corrections. A note quoting a floor insulation thickness against the Approved Document L target should cite this as the method the figure comes from, alongside BS EN ISO 13370 for the ground heat transfer part.
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BSI (British Standards Institution)
STATUS: WITHDRAWN, and very recently: 27 March 2025. BS 4483:2005 was published 30 September 2005 and specified factory produced, machine welded steel fabric (mesh) sheets for reinforcing concrete, made from ribbed bar to BS 4449:2005 or, for the wrapping fabrics D49 and D98, from wire to BS 4482. It is the standard behind the A142, A193, A252 and A393 mesh references that every concrete slab and driveway note quotes. Because it was withdrawn in March 2025 this is a live correction: notes specifying A142 or A393 mesh to BS 4483 should be checked against the current specification, with product conformity now sitting under BS EN 10080 for weldable reinforcing steel. Catalogue page confirms number, title, publication date, withdrawal date and scope, and names D49 and D98 wrapping fabrics, but does not name the replacement standard.
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BSI (British Standards Institution)
STATUS: WITHDRAWN on 24 November 2009. BS 5268-2:2002 was published 14 March 2002 and amended in December 2007 to align with CEN material standards, then withdrawn. It was the permissible stress code of practice for structural timber, glued laminated timber, plywood and other panel products in load bearing members, covering quality, grade stresses, modification factors, nailed, screwed, bolted and glued joints, testing of structural assemblies, and workmanship, treatment, inspection and maintenance. It was superseded by Eurocode 5, BS EN 1995-1-1, which uses limit state design and characteristic values rather than permissible stresses, so any note quoting BS 5268 joist spans or grade stresses is quoting a dead standard and should be corrected to BS EN 1995-1-1 (with the current edition BS EN 1995-1-1:2025 superseding BS EN 1995-1-1:2004+A2:2014). The catalogue page confirms number, title, publication date and the withdrawal date but does not name the superseding standard.
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BSI (British Standards Institution)
STATUS: WITHDRAWN on 30 March 2010. BS 6399-1:1996 was published 15 September 1996, replacing BS 6399-1:1984, and gave the recommendations for dead loads, minimum imposed loads by activity type and vertical loading on protective elements such as barriers, for new buildings and structures, alterations and additions to existing ones, and existing construction on change of use (but not maintenance or replacement without a change of occupancy). The 1996 revision reorganised floor load classes around activity rather than occupancy and clarified reduction of imposed load by building height and loaded area. It was superseded by Eurocode 1, BS EN 1991-1-1:2002 with its UK National Annex, so any note quoting the familiar 1.5 kN/m2 domestic floor load or a loft storage load to BS 6399 is citing a standard withdrawn in 2010 and should cite BS EN 1991-1-1 instead. Note BS 6399-2 (wind) and BS 6399-3 (imposed roof loads, now BS 8683:2021) were part of the same withdrawn family. Catalogue page confirms number, title, dates, withdrawal and scope.
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BSI (British Standards Institution)
STATUS: WITHDRAWN on 27 March 2025, superseded by BS 7533-102:2025. BS 7533-3:2005+A1:2009 was published 20 October 2005 and gave the recommendations for constructing flexible pavements using precast concrete blocks to BS EN 1338 and clay pavers to BS EN 1344, for roads, industrial areas and other paved surfaces under all categories of static and vehicular loading and pedestrian traffic, covering both conventional and permeable construction. It is the standard behind the laying course depth, jointing and compaction advice in every block paving driveway note, so the March 2025 withdrawal is a live correction: those notes should now cite BS 7533-102:2025 for installation and BS 7533-101:2021 for structural design. Catalogue page confirms number, title, publication date, withdrawal date and scope.
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BSI (British Standards Institution)
STATUS: WITHDRAWN on 25 February 2022. BS 7976-2:2002+A1:2013 was published 20 August 2002 and set out the method of operation for the pendulum tester used to assess slip resistance of pedestrian surfaces, that is how the pendulum test value (PTV) that every tile and flooring note quotes is actually obtained; part 1 covers the instrument specification and part 3 calibration. It excluded road and airfield surfaces, which are covered by BS EN 13036-4, and pendulum testing called up inside other product specifications. Because it is withdrawn, a note that says a bathroom or patio surface should achieve a PTV of 36 or more to BS 7976 is citing a withdrawn standard: the PTV thresholds themselves come from HSE and UK Slip Resistance Group guidance rather than from this standard, which is the more useful thing for a note to cite. Catalogue page confirms number, title, publication date, withdrawal date and scope.
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BSI (British Standards Institution)
STATUS: WITHDRAWN on 28 May 2021, superseded by BS EN 1264-1:2021. BS EN 1264-1:2011 was published 31 July 2011 and gave the definitions and symbols for water based heating and cooling systems embedded into the enclosure surfaces of the room being heated or cooled, in residential, office and similar buildings, and it also covered heating media other than water. It is part one of the five part series that governs underfloor heating design: -2 thermal output by calculation and test, -3 dimensioning, -4 installation, -5 thermal output for wall and ceiling heating and for cooling. The whole series was reissued in 2021, so a note citing any BS EN 1264 part with a 2009 or 2011 date is quoting a withdrawn edition; an undated citation of BS EN 1264 is safe. Catalogue page confirms number, title, publication date, withdrawal date and scope.
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BSI (British Standards Institution)
STATUS: CURRENT (marked Under Review). BS EN 13242:2002+A1:2007 was published 12 December 2002 and was amended in May 2008 to incorporate CEN amendment A1:2007. It specifies the properties required of aggregates obtained from natural, manufactured or recycled materials for use in unbound and hydraulically bound materials in civil engineering work and road construction, covering grading, particle shape, resistance to fragmentation, resistance to wear, and chemical and durability requirements. This is the standard behind MOT Type 1 and Type 3 sub base and the recycled equivalents used under a driveway or patio: a note specifying a compacted granular sub base should cite BS EN 13242 for the aggregate and the Specification for Highway Works Series 800 for the Type 1 grading itself. Catalogue page confirms number, title, date, amendment, status and scope; the property tables are paywalled.
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BSI (British Standards Institution)
STATUS: CURRENT. BS EN 1341:2012 was published 28 February 2013 and supersedes BS EN 1341:2001, which is withdrawn. It specifies the performance requirements and test methods for natural stone slabs used in external paving for pedestrian and trafficked areas and outdoor squares, and it is the standard behind the declared values quoted for imported sandstone, limestone and granite paving: breaking load, water absorption, slip resistance and freeze thaw resistance. It explicitly EXCLUDES natural stone slabs for interior floors and stairs, which are covered by BS EN 12058, so a note should not cite BS EN 1341 for an internal stone floor. The 2012 revision aligned test methods with those of CEN/TC 246, clarified that declared values are lower expected values, and added usage specific safety factors. Companion standards are BS EN 1342 for setts and BS EN 1340 for concrete kerb units, with laying to the BS 7533 series. Catalogue page confirms number, title, date, status, supersession and scope.
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BSI (British Standards Institution)
STATUS: CURRENT. BS EN 13893:2002 was published 28 November 2002, is identical to EN 13893:2002, ISBN 0 580 40862 0, committee PRI/60, ICS 97.150. It specifies the method for measuring the dynamic coefficient of friction on DRY surfaces of resilient, laminate and textile floor coverings, and gives the DS classification that vinyl, laminate and carpet manufacturers declare. The key limitation for a note is in the title: it is a dry test, so a DS rating says nothing about wet slip performance in a bathroom or kitchen, where the relevant measure is the pendulum test value from the UK Slip Resistance Group method (formerly BS 7976-2, now withdrawn) or the ramp test classifications R9 to R13. Catalogue page confirms number, title, date, status, ISBN, committee and scope.
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BSI (British Standards Institution)
STATUS: CURRENT. BS EN 14647:2005 was published 22 February 2006 and gives the general definition of calcium aluminate cement and its composition, together with the mechanical, physical and chemical requirements, the conformity criteria and the related production rules. It excludes calcium aluminate cement used as a constituent of formulated products for specialised applications such as dry mixes, which matters because most rapid setting repair and screed products are formulated mixes rather than the cement itself. It is the standard to cite when a note distinguishes calcium aluminate (high alumina) cement from common cements to BS EN 197-1 and masonry cement to BS EN 413-1; UK notes should also record that high alumina cement concrete has been prohibited for structural use in buildings since the 1970s because of conversion, so this standard covers a material with restricted structural application. Catalogue page confirms number, title, date, status and scope; the requirements are paywalled.
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BSI (British Standards Institution)
STATUS: WITHDRAWN on 1 June 2007. BS EN 519:1995 was published 15 October 1995 and set the requirements for machine strength graded structural timber and for the grading machines themselves, covering quality control, test methodology and acceptance criteria. It was superseded by the BS EN 14081 series, Timber structures. Strength graded structural timber with rectangular cross section, whose parts are BS EN 14081-1:2016+A1:2019 general requirements, BS EN 14081-2 machine grading type testing, BS EN 14081-3 machine grading factory production control and BS EN 14081-4. Any note that says timber is machine graded to BS EN 519 is quoting a standard withdrawn in 2007; the machine graded counterpart to visual grading under BS 4978 is now BS EN 14081. Catalogue page confirms number, title, publication date, withdrawal date and scope but does not name the replacement.
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UKAS
The body that sits one level above every certification mark a product carries, and the answer to the question of who checks the checkers. UKAS states that it is the National Accreditation Body for the United Kingdom, appointed by government to assess and accredit organisations providing services including certification, testing, inspection, calibration, validation and verification. Its site carries a searchable directory of accredited organisations, an explanation of the difference between accreditation and certification, and an impartiality statement. This matters for the insulation and cladding clusters in particular: a performance claim tested at a UKAS accredited laboratory, or certified by a UKAS accredited certification body such as the BBA or WRAS, sits on a different footing from an in-house test result or a self-declared figure, and the directory lets that be checked rather than assumed.
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BEAMA
The manufacturers' association guidance that answers the floor covering question for underfloor heating directly: it states that wet underfloor heating can work with carpets and wood floors, and publishes a guide, Choosing your floor covering to maximise your underfloor heating efficiency, that sets out how UFH performs across all major floor finishes and the design considerations for each. Wet UFH is described as a proven low temperature distribution solution that raises system efficiency, particularly with heat pumps, by heating a room evenly from floor to ceiling, with electric UFH as an alternative. The page also hosts BEAMA's Underfloor Heating Controls Guide for Domestic Properties, its Guide to Types of UFH Pipework, and its Guide to Low Profile and Responsive Underfloor Heating, which is the reference for retrofitting UFH into a shallow existing floor build-up.
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CFA
The Contract Flooring Association describes itself as the leading independent trade association and professional voice of the UK contract flooring industry, with members including some of the UK's largest flooring contractors, manufacturers and distributors. It runs a Find a Member directory and advises specifying a CFA member to minimise costly flooring failures. It publishes downloads and free guides for members, architects, specifiers and end-user clients, a member area of documents and templates, and the Floorscape online news platform, alongside training work through the Future Fitters programme and a Flooring Apprentice of the Year competition. Reports that 82% of CFA members surveyed said membership represents good value for money. Use this to identify the trade body behind flooring installation guidance and to point readers at an accredited installer.
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Contract Flooring Association (CFA)
The CFA's published document library, and the quickest way to see what formal guidance exists for a flooring dispute. Free downloads include Beyond Installation, the CFA Guide on Underfloor Heating (1.34 MB), the CFA Guide to Contract Flooring (25.86 MB), the CFA Guide to Sustainability 2026-2027 (22.91 MB), the CFA Training Guide 2026-2027 (11.31 MB), the CFA Members' Handbook 2025-2026 (21.34 MB), Future Fitters guidance booklet June 2025, and Zero Avoidable Waste in Flooring, a scoping study from 2021. Members-only documents, which is where the technical detail sits, are the CFA Guidance Document on Installation of Laminate Flooring dated January 2026, Competence in the Contract Flooring Sector, the CFA Guidance Note on Acoustic and Screed Panels, the CFA Guidance Note on Cleaning and Maintenance, and the CFA Guidance Note on Moisture Measurement, In-Situ Probe Method, which is the trade's alternative to the surface hygrometer used in BS 8203. Cite this page when a reader needs to know whether an installer is working to recognised guidance or improvising.
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National Institute of Carpet and Floorlayers (NICF)
The UK domestic floorlaying trade's own manual, third edition 2023, and the source of the drying figures that decide whether a new floor can be laid yet. Moisture: for most floorcoverings an RH reading of 75 per cent or less measured with a hygrometer is suitably dry, this being the method British Standards recommend because it measures humidity in a small volume of air above the subfloor rather than in the subfloor itself, which is why it still reads correctly over a surface-applied DPM. A hygrometer can take up to 72 hours to stabilise on a thick slab. Drying rule of thumb: a sand and cement screed laid directly over a DPM takes about one day per mm for the first 50 mm and 1.5 days per mm above that in good drying conditions of 20 degrees C and 65 per cent RH, so a typical 150 mm slab takes at least 200 days, almost seven months. Subfloors must be dry, flat, smooth, sound, free from contamination and not flexing underfoot. It flags the cement versus anhydrite distinction, notes anhydrite screeds have been used from about 1990 onwards, and cites BS 8203:2017 Installation of resilient floorcoverings and its Annex A on smoothing compounds throughout.
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Structural Timber Association
The STA's technical library, 134 documents at the time of checking, filterable by topic including construction, design, engineering, fire during construction, fire in service, quality and self build, and by document type including advice notes, technical bulletins, technical notes and workbooks. Several are open to non-members, notably Strategies for moisture management in wood construction, which is the reference for moisture content and drying of a timber floor deck before it is closed in, plus the fire in use pattern book and the cavity barriers and fire stopping volume. Advice note 05 part 2 covers timber floor structures. Technical enquiries on 01865 238354 or technical@structuraltimber.co.uk.
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The Concrete Centre (Mineral Products Association)
The Concrete Centre's index of concrete floor systems, useful when a reader has to identify what their existing floor actually is before deciding what can be laid on it. It covers six systems with the trade-off each is chosen for: flat slabs, which give minimum depth, fast construction and flexible column grids; floor screeds, cementitious materials applied over a concrete slab, with a dedicated page carrying the screed specification tables; hollowcore slabs, precast units whose voids can also function as service ducts; post-tensioned slabs, the thinnest slab type and the one used for long spans; ribbed and waffle slabs, lighter and stiffer than an equivalent flat slab; and TermoDeck, a thermal mass heating and cooling system that ventilates through the cores of hollowcore floors. The distinctions have practical consequences for a floor finish: a post-tensioned slab must not be drilled or cut without engineering advice, a hollowcore unit has a limited screed topping thickness, and a ribbed or waffle soffit changes how services and acoustic treatments are run.
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The Concrete Society
The index to the Concrete Society technical library and the place to check a concrete claim against an industry-independent source. Four publication families are listed: Technical Reports giving in-depth guidance on design, construction, maintenance and innovation (for example TR43, Post-tensioned concrete floors design handbook, at GBP 85 full price and GBP 51 to members, and Discussion Document DD51 on calcined clay as a supplementary cementitious material, free to all); Good Concrete Guides on practical aspects (GCG8, Concrete practice, and GCG11, Digital monitoring and measurement of fresh concrete); Advice Sheets on specific topics such as no-fines concrete and brushed and tamped surface finishes; and Fingertips, short free reference pages covering masonry densities, cold joints, consistence tolerance and the slump test, floated and trowelled finishes, core testing for compressive strength, delamination of concrete floor surfaces and hot weather concreting. The Society also runs an advisory service of engineers and concrete technologists giving impartial advice to members, including desk studies and site visits. The Fingertips pages are the freely readable part and carry real figures; the Technical Reports are mostly paid.
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Energy Saving Trust
Floor insulation performance targets, savings and cost. Target U-values: 0.25 W/m2K or lower in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and 0.18 W/m2K or lower in Scotland, achieved with at least 70mm of high performance rigid foam or around 150mm of mineral wool depending on floor type and construction. Replacing 50% or more of a floor triggers the duty to insulate to those standards even if insulation was not in the original plan. Insulating under the ground floor boards saves about £55 a year in Great Britain and £70 in Northern Ireland, rising to up to £85 in GB and £120 in NI for a detached house, and cuts about 180kg of carbon in GB and 260kg in NI. A typical suspended timber floor installation costs £1,400 to £2,500 by house type, and solid floor insulation costs considerably more. Suspended timber floors are typical of homes built between the 1850s and the 1950s, identified by airbricks below floor level; solid concrete ground floors are common from the 1950s onwards, and floors built since the early 2000s are usually already insulated.
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Energy Saving Trust
Gives the installed rate for the two underfloor heating types: a dry electric system £50 to £85 per m2, and a wet water based system £85 to £110 per m2. Covers the trade off between them, the need for floor build up and insulation beneath, and suitability with a heat pump because of the low flow temperature. Last updated 2 October 2025.
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Leeds Beckett University, Leeds Sustainability Institute
Measured the improvement from insulating a suspended timber ground floor two different ways and found the answer depends on the method. Aggregate whole-house measurement gave a U-value improvement of 0.55 W/m2K; disaggregated spot heat flux density measurements on the floor gave 0.89 W/m2K for the same retrofit. The conclusion is that disaggregated spot measurements may over-estimate the benefit of fabric retrofits and that aggregate methods are the more appropriate evaluation tool, which is directly relevant to any quoted saving derived from a spot heat flux reading. The paper also concludes that Energy Performance Certificates are unlikely to give a reliable estimate of energy savings because they rely on default assumptions for fabric U-values and ventilation rates, with consequences both for policy evaluation and for householders who may be excluded from financial support on the strength of an EPC figure.
- fair RN-XJ2ZKM
Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings
Dating and caring for historic floors. Medieval floorboards were predominantly oak, riven, axed or pit sawn, in widths up to 450mm or more and varying within a single floor, laid parallel to and rebated into the upper edges of heavy joists laid flat rather than on edge. Elm boards typically 300mm wide were common in the 17th century, softwood came into general use in the 18th century as carpeting spread, and tongued and grooved boards came later. Defects to worry about are structural failure from removing posts or partitions below, inadequately supported joists, and insect attack or rot in beam ends embedded in walls. Voids can open under solid floors from collapsed buried features or clay shrinkage leaving a gap of up to 50mm, with the slabs spanning as a beam until one fails. Gypsum plaster floors are a layer of gypsum binder with aggregates such as crushed brick, burnt wood and coal, typically 35 to 75mm thick, laid on water reed or straw over timber joists; cracks are raked out to a good key, edges dampened to control suction, and defective areas cut back to full depth. On cleaning, avoid household soaps, washing powders, alkaline cleaners, bleach and abrasives, using at most a little neutral pH soap.
- fair RN-UBCXUX
Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings
Philip Hughes' step by step method for patching rather than replacing old boards. Tools and materials specified include a hardened steel plate, a hammer, a 13mm (half inch) batten roughly 200mm (8 inches) longer than the opening to support the board while it is cut, and 25mm thick slats laid on battens beneath. Sets the judgement threshold that a board weakened by holes may still be sound, but wear approaching 5mm (a quarter inch) or more changes the assessment. Describes billiard cue jointing for splicing across the width of a board and the use of 25mm dimensions in the patch detail.
- fair RN-1BHZYL
University of Bath
Tests the widespread belief that laying an impermeable ground bearing slab in a building with no damp-proof course drives ground moisture up the adjacent walls by capillary action. Wall, soil and atmospheric moisture content were measured over a three-year period in a historic building before and after a vapour-sealed ground floor was installed. Using timber dowel measurements, the moisture content within the adjacent rubble-fill wall did not vary in response to wall evaporation rates and did not increase after the vapour-proof barrier was installed above the floor, indicating the moisture levels in that wall were not driven by capillary rise. The finding matters because the opposite assumption is routinely used to argue against sealing a solid floor in an old house.