CHAPTER XXII. 



FLOORS. 



Introduction. The requirements and the local conditions govern- 

 ing the design of floors for shops and mills are so varied and diversified 

 that the subject of floor design can be treated only in a general way. 

 Floors will be discussed under the head of (i) ground floors and (2) 

 floors above ground. 



GROUND FLOORS. Types of Floors. There are three gen- 

 eral types of ground floors in use in mills and shops: (i) solid heat 

 conducting floors as stone, brick or concrete; (2) semi-elastic, semi- 

 heat conducting floors as earth, macadam or asphalt; (3) elastic non- 

 heat conducting floors of wood or with a wooden wearing surface. 



1 i ) Floors of the first class have been used in Europe and form- 

 erly in this country to quite an extent in shops and mills, and at pres- 

 ent are much used in round houses, smelters, foundries and in other 

 buildings where the wear and tear are considerable or where men are 

 not required to stand alongside a machine. Floors of this class are 

 cold and damp and make workmen uncomfortable. The wooden shoes 

 of the continental workmen or the wooden platforms in use in many of 

 our shops which have floors of this class, overcome the above objec- 

 tions to some extent. The gritty dust arising from most concrete floors 

 is very objectionable where delicate machinery is used. The noise and 

 danger from breakage and first cost are additional objections to floors 

 of this class. 



(2) Floors of this class have many of the objections and defects 

 of floors of the first class. These floors are liable to be cold and damp 

 unless properly drained, and give rise to a gritty dust that is often in- 

 tolerable in a machine shop. 



