We’re seeing fundamental change in how we select our building products in terms of their sustainability and in this respect hardwood floors are a very attractive option, says Richard Aylen.
WE’VE been using timber floors in our buildings for centuries so it is easy to assume we know how they should be used, and how not. After all, the fundamental characteristics of hardwood floors don’t change much over time. However, many of the ways we use and perceive them have indeed changed.
From its earliest origins hardwood flooring has been a functional surface designed to be tough, easy to maintain and long lasting. Early wooden floors were sourced locally, in common with other building materials.
As long distance trading links became established and customers’ wealth increased, aesthetics became important to the extent that decorative and highly crafted hardwood floors became status symbols and a key element part of interior design.
However, the role of wooden floors has always been diverse, including use in factories and workshops, and in the 19th century, as road paving blocks in London and some cities in the US.
Some of the bridges over the river Thames were once surfaced with wood blocks and in iron foundries a solid wood end-grain block floor would withstand heavy metal castings being dropped on it.
This is the origin of some of the solid wood end-grain floors that we see today, and you can even find engineered wood floors that mimic this effect.
Solid hardwood floors have been used in sports and dance halls for many decades. Although the types of floorboards that are used have not changed radically, what lies beneath them certainly has. It used to be acceptable to have activity floors that were rigid, offering no shock absorption.
In more modern times the health benefits of having ‘sprung’ floors was recognised. Inevitably athletes and designers wanted a definition of what was the optimum amount of ‘spring’ to provide safety but not so much as to affect the athlete’s or dancer’s performance.
Refinements followed with defined levels of slip resistance, ball bounce and surface deflection. Changing expectations mean hard, non-yielding activity floors are no longer acceptable.
But this has led to some rather odd situations when modern hardwood sprung activity floors are used for other purposes such as for exams, dining or social events.
At times we forget that a hardwood floor is actually very hard wearing, easy to maintain and if it’s a solid board as opposed to engineered, it can be refurbished many times over.
I’ve been asked many times by school’s premises managers, what type of protective material they should lay on the floor when using the hall for exams, when they put chairs and tables on it. This seems a little unusual because they will almost certainly think it normal to have unprotected hardwood floors in village halls, restaurants and retail areas with tables and chairs used with abandon.
But they don’t always see the link with the hardwood floor in their own building. I wonder if this modern perception of hardwood sports floors came about because of the way some manufacturers promote their products.
The natural way to sell a sports floor is to promote its technical performance, safety, and suitability for elite athletes. In doing so, a solid hardwood floor’s reputation for toughness, strength and longevity can unwittingly be lost.
However, this also shows that clients’ and athletes’ expectations of technical performance of sports and activity floors is far higher now than in the days when hard, unyielding floors were the norm.
I also receive a significant number of questions from clients asking if their floor can be used for tapdancing or roller skating. These activities have been carried out on hardwood floors for a very long time and the internet is full of images of both activities taking place on wooden floors.
In addition to our perception of what hardwood floors can and cannot be used for, our changing lives can often result in us making different demands on our floors.
Our buildings and the services within them have become more complex as we need sophisticated air handling plant, heating systems, specialised lighting and other high-level installations that require periodic maintenance. In the past, when high level access was needed, contractors would use scaffolding or work off ladders, which impose relatively low loads upon the floor.
Working off ladders is usually not permitted now, but modern high level access equipment, including scissor and boom lifts is very versatile, quick and efficient.
This has created a new area of expertise for floor manufacturers as these machines can be heavy, so floor manufacturers today need to be aware of the capabilities and limitations of their systems and be ready to advise clients on load bearing limits and surface protection.
Building designers often strive to make spaces as versatile as possible. In schools for example, a hall may need to function as a sports hall, a place for social events and assemblies, for performances and as a traditional teaching space.
Retractable seating systems are now widely used to accommodate audiences for performances and lectures, but some floorcoverings including some synthetic materials may be indented or scuffed by the seating wheels. Seating units can also impose high loads upon the floor, so the floor manufacturer needs to have a range of options for strengthening their system, without sacrificing technical performance when used for sports, dance and similar activities. Experience with mobile seating systems has shown also that choosing the wrong floor finish can mean the floor suffers from scuffs and ‘tracking’ marks, as sometimes found with foam-backed synthetic coverings.
As we increase our use of renewable energy, underfloor heating has become more popular, and clients expect their choice of floor finish to be fully compatible and work efficiently. Designers are finding that due to the relatively low heat output available from heat pumps, underfloor heating is often the preferred option as opposed to increasing the number or size of wall-mounted radiators.
Not all floor finishes are suitable though. Some will discolour or undergo thermal or moisture movement when heated to higher temperatures. A hardwood floor that is guaranteed to work with underfloor heating, such as the solid boards made by Junckers, will be fine, but unless the manufacturer clearly states their product is compatible with underfloor heating then you should probably steer clear.
One of the most fundamental changes of attitude in recent years has been in relation to sustainability and global warming, and this extends to many aspects of our lives of course, not solely to flooring! However, what we come to expect from our flooring products is increasingly driven by sustainability.
Our lack of awareness of sustainability issues in the past can be seen in the relatively high numbers of old tropical hardwood floors we still see in our buildings.
Fortunately, these often beautiful installations will last for 100 years or more if they are properly maintained, and so, given that environmental damage has occurred by felling the trees, there has at least been mitigated in part by this fact the floor has a very long service life and can usually be recycled.
Our change in attitude (along with legislation governing forestry and timber importing practices) means sustainability is now much higher up the agenda, though from my experience speaking with specifiers and clients, we still have quite a long way to go.
It’s true we’re getting better at avoiding tropical timber floors from endangered rain forests, but I still see a common blind spot when it comes to clients and designers recognising the difference between a sustainably sourced solid hardwood floor and a synthetic floor derived from plastics and crude oil, which cannot effectively be recycled and is difficult to dispose of.
Solid hardwood floors are part of our traditional building heritage and are certainly here to stay. However, we’re already seeing fundamental change in how we select our building products in terms of their sustainability and in this respect hardwood floors are a very attractive option.
www.junckers.co.uk
Richard Aylen is technical manager, Junckers
