1. Pavements
Pavements around buildings, terraces, parking areas, and public spaces are often constructed using small-sized paver blocks. For higher-quality applications, such small-sized block pavements may be made of stone tiles or Klinker-quality fired bricks. Lower requirements or domestic use may utilise concrete paver blocks instead.
Areas with low traffic and lighter loads are prepared with a 25–40 centimetre thick compacted gravel or crushed stone subbase which serves as a load-distributing, draining, and frost-protection layer. This base is laid in 2–3 layers and compacted using a plate compactor. On its surface, a 3–5 cm thick layer of sand is placed, into which the paver blocks are laid. The joints are filled with sand and, if necessary, slurried with water. Finally, the completed pavement can be compacted using a rubber mat compactor.
For heavier loads, a concrete or reinforced concrete slab is required.
2. Hard flooring
a) Tile coverings
Tile coverings are available in a wide variety of materials and sizes. Their advantages include easy cleaning, high wear resistance, and moisture resistance. The thickness of various ceramic tiles - glazed ceramic tiles, porcelain tiles, stoneware (Mettlach) tiles, and stone, artificial stone, or cement tiles - ranges between 0.8 and 2.5 centimetres. The width dimensions of the tiles may vary from small mosaic pieces of a centimetre to large panels up to one meter.
Tiles can be laid in different layouts, such as running bond, stack bond, or even custom designs cut from individual pieces. Furthermore, tiles of different colours, patterns, and materials can be freely combined to create a unique appearance for each interior space.
Nowadays, tiles are no longer installed using the traditional mortar bed method; instead, they are fixed using thin-bed adhesive bonding. Practically, this means a 2–4 millimetre-thick cement-bonded layer of adhesive is spread beneath the tiles. Resin-bonded flexible adhesives are preferred when there is higher mechanical stress or greater temperature fluctuations - for example, with exterior floor tiles.
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On a level subfloor concrete or screed, the dry-mix adhesive is prepared on-site and spread using a trowel or a plasterer’s trowel.
A notch trowel is used to ensure even distribution of the adhesive and uniform thickness.
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For an aesthetic finish, uniform grout joints ranging from 2 to 5 millimetres must be maintained between tiles. Tile spacers are used to keep the joints even, which must be removed once the adhesive has set.
Throughout the laying process, care must be taken to maintain the designed levels and slopes and to avoid uneven surfaces.
Alignment is adjusted using a spirit level and a rubber mallet.
At wall edges, floor transitions, or where custom patterns are created, tiles must be cut to size using a circular saw, angle grinder, or tile cutter.
Along the walls, skirting tiles can be installed, glued to the wall above the edge of the floor tiles.
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The finished covering and grout joints must be cleaned of adhesive residues; the spacers are removed, and the grout joints are moistened.
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Pre-coloured grout is mixed with water on site and spread over a section of the surface and pressed into the joints using a grout float.
The filled joints are compacted with a damp joint smoothing tool. Gradually processing, joints should be filled across the entire surface.
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Once all joints are evenly filled on the entire surface, the tiles must be thoroughly cleaned to remove any dried grout residue.
b) Poured Floors
In low-traffic areas such as garages, a simple, approximately 2-centimetre-thick smooth cement floor (cement screed) can be created on the surface of the subfloor concrete. A higher-quality version of this poured technology is terrazzo, where a 2–3 centimetre thick cement or resin-bonded poured layer is machine-polished to achieve a perfectly smooth surface. Resin-based coatings are thinner, ranging only from 1 millimetre to 5–10 millimetres. For their application, a precisely levelled or properly evened subfloor is required, on which a system-specific primer must first be used to create an adhesion bridge. After that, the slowly self-levelling coating must be evenly spread with a trowel.
3. Soft Flooring
a) Plank Flooring and Solid Wood Flooring
Plank flooring consists of hardwood planks that are 3–6 metres long, 80–150 millimetres wide, and 19–22 millimetres thick. Solid wood flooring features higher-quality workmanship and smaller dimensions: 0.9–1.5 metres in length, 70–120 millimetres in width, and 16–22 millimetres in thickness.
Planks or floorboards are laid on softwood battens that are 5 centimetres wide, and the boards are connected with tongue-and-groove joints. The spacing between battens varies between 45–50 centimetres and 50–80 centimetres, depending on the size of the boards or planks.
Under the battens, thermal and sound insulation batts are placed, provided that the floor is not already built on a floating subfloor. Between the battens, fibrous thermal insulation or expanded clay aggregate is used as a sound and heat-insulating material.
The planks are placed 1 centimetre away from the wall. On top of the finished floor, joints between the wooden floor and the wall are covered with floor trims which are nailed or glued to the painted wall.
b) Parquet Flooring
Parquet floors are made of small hardwood elements or strips that form a continuous floor covering.
Parquet flooring come in a variety of designs. Individual pieces typically range from 15 to 50 centimetres in length, 15–25 millimetres in thickness, and 25–65 millimetres in width.
The floor surface can be covered in a variety of laying patterns, the most common of which are the herringbone, basket weave, the strip pattern, and inlaid pattern.
Among the traditional solutions, the most common is the tongue-and-groove system, in which the parquet elements are nailed to a loosely laid subfloor resting on wooden battens, creating tongue-and-groove joints between the parquet elements.
The finished surface has to be sanded and is typically coated with lacquer.
Modern parquet strips are glued directly to a continuous and even subfloor.
These elements may be connected by butt joints, tongue-and-groove joints, or assembled into panels that are known as mosaic parquet.
The three-strip engineered parquet floor is a factory-made, cost-effective version of the traditional parquet floor. Only the upper layer, known as the wear layer, is made of hardwood rather than the entire board.
The boards are typically 1.8–2.5 metres long, 120–208 millimetres wide, and 10–16 millimetres thick.
Each board is pre-lacquered and features either a tongue-and-groove or a click-lock joint system.
Thanks to these properties, an engineered parquet floor is easy and quick to install, requiring no adhesive; instead, it simply involves fitting the boards together.
It is sufficient to lay the staggered patterned floor over a continuous impact sound insulation layer.
c) Laminate floor
The modern, further developed and even more economical version of the three-strip engineered parquet floor is laminate flooring. Here, boards are typically around 20 centimetres wide, 7–12 millimetres thick, and 1–1.4 metres long. The elements are typically connected with a self-locking (click-lock) joint system, and the installation is completed in a staggered pattern, with offsets of half or one-third. Laminate floorboards are multi-layered structures, with a high-strength HDF core layer providing the base. On the underside, a levelling or rigid melamine-resin sound-damping layer is bonded to the core. On the top, an impregnated UV-resistant, colourfast decorative layer is protected by a wear- and scratch-resistant melamine-resin protective layer.
Typically, a vapour-barrier PE foil and a 2–4 millimetres thick impact-sound insulation foam underlay are laid beneath the laminate flooring, which is assembled over the subfloor concrete.
d) Plastic and linoleum floor coverings
PVC or linoleum sheets create an easily-cleanable warm soft flooring from plastic. The sheets are laid from rolls 1 to 4 meters wide and glued either in strips along the edges or across the entire surface. Sheet thickness ranges from 0.8 millimetres to 7 millimetres.
e) Carpet flooring
Carpet flooring is composed of two layers: a strong backing layer made of rubber, foam, or jute, and an upper wear layer. The upper carpet-like surface can be either natural or synthetic. Carpets are available in large rolls measuring 4–5 meters in width. They can be fixed by full-surface adhesion, edge-only adhesion, or by stretching them with tack strips.
4. Raised Floor and Drop Ceiling
a) Hollow floors and raised floors – Hollow floors are shell structures built on adjustable pedestals with heights ranging from 20 to 220 millimetres, forming the flooring subfloor.
For soft flooring types, the floor finish is applied directly onto the gypsum or gypsum-fibre construction boards of the shell. For hard flooring solutions, a gypsum screed is first installed on a PE separation foil.
Unlike hollow floors which are non-demountable, raised floors are constructions that can be dismantled without damage - so elements can be removed individually at any time.The 60 × 60 centimetre floor panels rest on height-adjustable metal pedestals and can be finished with any desired covering, either factory-applied or installed on site. For heavier loads or greater heights, metal bracing rods connecting the pedestals provide additional reinforcement. In the hollow space beneath the raised floor - ranging from 35 to 1,200 millimetres in height - mechanical services, cables, ventilation systems, and other components can be accommodated.
b) Ceiling coverings and drop ceilings - Ceiling coverings and drop ceilings can be part of the floor and ceiling layer structure. Ceiling coverings refer to claddings attached either to the underside of the ceiling or to a supporting framework, while their construction technology is similar to that of wall claddings.
Drop ceilings are suspended self-supporting shell structures composed of a metal framework suspended on metal rods with the cladding attached to it. The typically two-way grid system may be a simple, multi-level design or a single-level system consisting of main runner and cross tee beams. Cladding can generally be installed as a non-removable, homogeneous surface, for example, by using ceiling boards.
Another frequently used technology is the ceiling tile system, where the cladding surface is created from square-shaped ceiling boards inserted between T- or Z-profile tee bars, typically arranged in a 60-centimetre grid. The grid may be designed with exposed or concealed tee bars. In both cases, the ceiling can be constructed so that it is fully dismountable.
Linear metal ceilings with a single-direction support framework are commonly used in industrial applications. Long metal sheets are slid transversely into the longitudinal carrier profiles, giving the cladding a characteristic strip-like appearance.
