Estimation of Flooring
Crushed Stones, sand filling, Rigid Insulation, and concrete work) having comprehensive Terminologies and Details of Flooring
Description
For all Engineering work, it is required to calculate the cost of a particular project beforehand. In this article, the complete estimation of flooring will comprise the calculation of crushed stone (granular material), sand filling, Rigid insulation cover, and components of concrete by considering the Civil Engineering drawing plans and details.
Before Starting the estimation let’s review the brief history about the flooring, basic terminologies, and some particular drawing details of the floor.
Brief History of Flooring
In ancient times the natural stone was used as a flooring material. Nowadays there are a lot of flooring materials that are considered “traditional” as these are demonstrating the background of flooring material. The origin of this material in the present era is the same but the forms are being changed
The First Floor in History:
As we recall the history the natural ground surface itself is considered the floor
How it was?
Before starting the construction, the soil was leveled off and compacted. Usually, in winter the grass or straw was used which helped in making surface warm and smooth for comfortness. Sometimes they dropped the trash and household waste on the floor and by walking on it they used to compress it to make it solid.
In villages when animals used to leave waste, by walking on it the inmates of that place were compressed it and it became as hard as concrete in the present era.
The people of NORTH AMERICA poured the sand while floor finishing. Another common thing, people used to spread the flower seeds and other related stuff throughout the floor. By walking on it the oil from the seeds mixed with the dirt on the floor and caused more compactness and durability of the floor.
Floor detailing
(drawings) and Descriptions of Terminologies
The typical floor of any building consists of four layers which comprise crushed stone or brick ballast, sand filling, insulating cover, and concrete; plain cement concrete (PCC) usually for houses and for high rise building Reinforced cement concrete (RCC)
A concrete wall along with flooring details:
In high rise buildings and infrastructures, the major component of flooring detail is reinforced cement concrete as the impact loads can exert on such structures so to keep it safe from such loads we usually provide reinforcement (steel bars) on the floor along with concrete and we called it RCC floors.
Brick wall flooring details:
Normally in small-sized buildings and houses, we use Plain cement concrete (PCC) as a major constituent in flooring. Due to no more load factors, there is no need for reinforcement in such a floor system
Our estimation of flooring will be related to plain cement concrete because we will be estimating the flooring material for house plans.
Step by step flooring material
Step by step flooring material and brief Description
From the bottom layer to the topmost layer below is the specification of materials
Crushed stone (Brick Ballast):
The lowest layer in flooring details is crushed stone. this quantity will be measured in square meter throughout the flooring of required construction drawings.
Sand Filling:
The second layer of flooring is sand filling. It is measured in cubic feet. Usually, it has a thickness about 2 inches. So, the area of flooring will be multiplied with its thickness to get the quantity of sand in cubic feet.
Polythene sheet (retard capillary action):
The main purpose of the polythene sheet is to retard the movement of water upward which we called Capillary action of water, it is measured in square feet.
Plain cement concrete (PCC):
The top layer before the fixation of brick tile is a 4inch thick slab of PCC. It is measured in Cubic feet. PCC is the mixture of cement sand and aggregate without any steel reinforcement.
Brick Tiles:
After the top layer of the PCC number of tiles and binding material for tiles can be computed by considering the area of flooring. (Brick tiles are optional)
Let’s take a drawing plan and compute the material for flooring.
Calculation of Area of Flooring:
The total area of Flooring: – 724.39 square feet
i – Quantity of crushed stone or Brick Ballast
Quantity= Area* depth
Usually depth of crushed stone =50mm= 0.16 feet = 2’’
Quantity= 724.39 * 0.15 =108.658 cubic feet
We can calculate the number of bricks required to convert into brick ballast
No of bricks = total quantity of brick ballast
Volume of one brick
No of Bricks = 108.65/ 0.0703125 = 1545 bricks
ii) – Sand filling
The standard thickness of sand = 2”= 0.16ft
Quantity of sand = area of flooring * depth of sand filling
= 724.39 * 0.15 =108.658 cubic feet
iii) – Polythene sheet
It is simply measured in square feet as the required area for the polythene sheet will
be equal to the total flooring area of your construction project
quantity of Polythene sheet = 724.39 square feet = area of flooring
iV) – Quantity of Plain Cement Concrete:
For low-cost Residential flooring, the ratio (1:2:4) is used in the PCC layer of flooring whereas, for industrial flooring, this ratio is reduced somehow (1:1.5:3)
So we are estimating for residential building lets calculate the component of PCC by considering the PCC ratio 1:2:4
Total area of Flooring =724.39 square foot
Thickness of PCC layer = 4” =0.33 feet
Total volume of concrete = (Area of flooring) (thickness of PCC layer)
= (724.39) (0.33) = 239. 048 cubic feet
Note:
As we know the wet volume of concrete is less than then dry volume because as we mix the cement sand and aggregate with water due to evaporation of air voids there is a reduction in volume by 54%
Dry volume = (wet volume) (1.54)
Dry volume = (239.048) (1.54) = 368.13 cubic feet
Sum of ratio = 1+2+4 = 7
Calculation of cement bags
Cement = = 52.59 cubic feet
Volume of one bag of cement = 1.25 cubic feet
Total number of bags = 52.59 / 1.25 = 42 bags
Calculation of sand:
Sand = = 105. 18 cubic feet
Calculation of aggregates:
Aggregate = = = 210.36 cubic feet
Quantity of water:
Water cement ratio = weight of water/ weight of cement
Usually w/ c = 0.5
Weight of water = 2100 0.5= 1050 kg (liter)
(v) Calculation of Brick tiles
Let suppose size of brick tile 1* 1 feet
Total flooring area = 724.39 square feet
Area of one title = 1squre feet
Total number of tiles =
= 724.39/ 1 = 725 number of tiles (approx.)
Thickness of tile = 10mm = 0.01 m= 0.0328 feet
Total volume of brick tile on floor = 724.39 0.0328 = 23.75 cubic feet
Note:
As we know the mortar will be used as binding material and the percentage is usually 20 % of the total volume of brick tiles for a particular floor Similarly, the reduction of volume in mortar when we add water in cement and sand. (by 42%)
Dry volume = 1.42 wet volume of mortar
20% of 23.75 = 4.75 cubic feet
Dry volume = 1.42 4.75 = 6.745 cubic feet
Let Cement sand ratio is (1:4)
Quantity of cement = = 1.349 cubic feet
The volume of one cement bag = 1.25 cubic feet
No of bags = quantity of cement / volume of one cement bag
= 1.349/ 1.25 = 1.1 bag = 55 kg (approx.)
Quantity of Sand = = 5.39 cubic feet
Conclusion
From the above estimation, it is concluded that there are some technical aspects which need to keep in mind while during the calculation of material for flooring
- 1- The whole area except walls is usually considered for estimation of flooring material
- 2- The area under the door frames will be considered in flooring.
Apart from this while during the calculation of cement sand and aggregates in PCC the reduction of volume of wet concrete by 54% should keep under consideration.