 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Racy Building Strategies-49 |
|
|
1 Last part suggested current flooring materials for various parts of the house. Here are a few tips on how to choose best materials. Among imported marbles, Italian marble is the best. Best Italian marble is the one that has white pureness and crystal like appearance. Best marble has been from Carrara but now it is not available. Italian Botticino is an excellent, compact, dense and hard marble. Some Italian marbles are very soft and often given resin treatment to harden them and to make all the slabs look uniform and natural. While choosing, always check that none of the veins in it are open. Choose marble slabs supported by fibre backing. Choose a reputed brand. Some of the brands are Rover, Greek Thassos, Carrara, Statuario. Size of the slabs available is as large as 10 feet X 4 feet. Cost varies from Rs. 500 per sq ft onwards. Don’t remove the fibre backing till the time of final laying of marble slabs.
2 While choosing wooden laminate flooring, choose high pressure laminates. Among reputed brands are Pergo, Span, Berry, Junckers (all imported), Merino and BVG. Choose scratch free, wear resistant and stain resistant laminates. Look for sound reduction feature of laminates. Mostly reputed manufacturers give 50 years or life time guarantee for them. Wooden laminates have a High Density Fibre (HDF) core with a solid wood covering on both sides. These are produced in many grades like residential use, commercial use and heavy commercial use. Residential grade is AC 3 while heavy commercial grade is AC5. Manufacturers have developed AC3, AC3 +, AC4, AC4+, AC5 and AC5+ classes. AC3 Grade has no backing material while higher grades are provided with a cotton type sheet backing further backed by a sound proofing sheet backing.
3 Though AC3 grade is termed as residential usage grade, prefer to choose AC4 or AC4+ laminates for your house. While AC3 grade laminates cost around Rs. 100 per sqft to Rs. 140 per sqft, AC 4 grades cost around Rs.180 per sqft to Rs. 225 per sqft and AC5 grades cost between Rs. 225 to Rs. 280 per sq ft. Some manufacturers provide a separate sheet to be inserted below AC3 grade laminates when the buyer can’t afford to buy AC4 or AC5 grade laminates. These rates include supply as well as installation costs as suppliers keep their own skilled labour to finish the job themselves and to avoid any complaint at a later stage.
4 AC4 and AC5 grades suffer no damage even if soft or hard wheels are run over them. Sometimes, there are apprehensions that heavy double beds provided in the bed rooms continue to rest at same place and cause extra load on the laminates exactly below the legs of the beds. No damage to the laminates occurs at these points as the laminates rest on solid base below it. Suppliers also provide guarantee against any such damage.
5 Laminates come in many shades like matt oiled, textured and polished finish. Standard size of laminates is 8 inch X 4 feet. The 4 feet length is 47 ½ inch to be exact. Choose dual lock tounge and groove design panels as these get locked with one another with a click and don’t need any glue. Prefer to buy laminates that conform to EN 13329 specifications. This is important because in such laminates, thickness swelling is not more than 12% in any case. Also, these laminates are able to withstand abrasion and don’t get faded with time. See that floor base below laminates is perfectly level. In fact, the supplier himself ensures it to be exactly level as otherwise he is going to attend complaints at a later stage. Always prefer to apply anti-termite solution coat to the floor base before fixing laminates on it. Further see that the edge of the laminates butting the walls is vertical and not tounged.
6 Always choose to provide mouldings at the ends of laminate flooring. These round off the floor ends and save the laminates from damage. Provide quarter round mouldings at the junctions of walls and laminate floor. Sometimes, a small gap is left between the laminate floorings provided in two rooms. Cover this gap with T shaped laminate moulding. Use Reducer moulding at the junction of laminate flooring with other types of floorings such as tiles and marble. These mouldings provide a smooth transition from one floor to another. Now a days, suppliers like Pergo have developed an innovative 4 in 1 type moulding which can be used for any of the four different applications and the user can avoid the trouble of working out quantities and buying several types of mouldings.
More tips will follow next week. Till then, happy building!
|
|
Tip of the Moment
If you plan to provide plinth beams instead of Damp Proof Course, match top level of these beams with the floor level.
|
IMP : Due to His Pre-Occupations, The Author Is Unable To Find Time To Compile The Tips In Book Format. As And When, The Book Is Completed And Near Publication, It Will Be Notified On The Website. The Author Expresses His Gratitude To The Readers And Site-Visitors For The Huge Demand Made By Them For The Book.
|
|
|
Visitors Statistics
This website has been launched on 8th of December, 2006.We are getting a good amount of traffic since then.To see the complete detailed statistics of visitors as well as search engine spiders Click Here..
|
Advertise Here
Advertisements of very few reputed builders, building materials manufacturers, consultants and technical magazines will be posted on the website at nominal tariff . In case you wish to put your advertisement on this website, please Click Here and fill up the form.
|
Mailing List
Want to know whats latest in the world of Construction and Civil Engineering? Subscribe to the website’s mailing list, and receive a newsletter from the author (*important updates) in your mailbox for free! Fill in the form Here
|
|
