ABSTRACT
TIMBER FLOORS CONSTRUCTION SUMMARY Most houses have upper floors made from timber. The construction has changed very little in the last two or three hundred years although current controls such as the Building Regulations should ensure that modern floors are structurally sound and free from problems of penetrating damp. They are made from a series of timber joists covered with floorboarding or sheet materials such as chipboard. The floor structure is usually hidden from view below by a ceiling, originally made from timber lath and plaster but, nowadays, almost always made from plasterboard. Besides concealing the floor structure the ceiling provides a surface for decoration, improves the floor’s fire resistance and reduces, to some extent, the transfer of sound.
