ABSTRACT
The idea that the maximum dimensions attributable to a space to be covered with a wooden floor are given by the maximum length of the beams available is intuitive, but at the same time limiting. Some of the first examples of attempts to overcome this limit are in Villard de Honnecourt’s notebook and on a page of the Codex Madrid I by Leonardo da Vinci, testifying that these ideas had been circulating in various parts of Europe amongst wandering builders for a long time. Only with the end of the 18th century did manuals begin to report more precise information on the construction of floors. Despite the large space dedicated to them in handbooks, almost all the authors advised against these techniques, considered unsafe because they entrusted all the resistance to carpentry joints; consequently, the space allowed in the handbooks did not correspond to a similar diffusion in construction practice.
