About Floor Performance

The performance of a floor is matter of opinion. The 'feel' that satisfies one individual may not satisfy another. Many factors affect the perceived performance of a floor. These include:

• The depth of the joist - The stiffness of a floor can be markedly improved by increasing joist depth. For example, a 25% increase in joist depth will double the floor stiffness.
• The spacing of the joist system - The stiffness of a floor increases in proportion to reductions in joist spacing.
• Continuous or simple spans - Allowing joists to span over internal load-bearing walls instead of breaking them at these joints can increase floor stiffness by up to 240%.
• The decking / flooring material - Thicker decking slightly improves floor performance - 22mm chipboard increases floor stiffness by 2%* compared to 18mm chipboard and means less 'local' deflection under foot.
• The fixing of the decking material to the joist - Gluing the floor deck to the joists significantly improves floor stiffness, by as much as 70%.*
• The ceiling material below the joist - Directly applied ceiling boards can improve floor performance by up to 3%.*
• Level bearings - Unlevel bearings can mean joists feel "spongy" under foot near bearing positions.
• The location of walls and furniture - The position and size of dead loads on floors can either dampen or exaggerate the dynamic response of floors under foot.

Competitive and compatible solutions.