This document provides information on common types of construction materials used for flooring in India. It discusses clay tiles, ceramic tiles, vitrified tiles, mosaic floors, marble floors, granite floors, concrete floors and various natural stone floors. For each type, it describes what they are made of, their properties, advantages, disadvantages and common applications. It also provides details on the manufacturing process for tiles, pavers blocks and laying different types of flooring.

1. Building Construction Materials
-Tiles
Mr. K. R. Patil
Assistant Professor
Department of Civil Engineering
D. Y. Patil College of Engineering &
Technology, Kolhapur

2. Tiles
• The most common types of Flooring available in India:
• Clay tiles:
• Clay tiles are made from a better grade brick-clays. Tiles are used for
roofing, flooring, paving, walls & drains.
• Tiles used for roofing are plain, curved or corrugated, while flooring &
walling tiles are plain, rectangular or hexagonal.
• Classification:
• They are classified as follows:
• By patents e.g. Mangalore tiles, Ranigunj tiles etc.
• By purposes e.g. wall tiles, ceiling tiles, roofing tiles, flooring tiles.
• Manufacturing:
• The process of manufacture involves the following operations:
a) Preparation of clay b) Moulding c) Drying d) Burning

4. • Ceramic Tiles
• Ceramic tiles have quickly become one of the most popular types of
flooring materials used in a home.
• Ceramic tile is made up of sand, natural products and clays and once it
has been moulded into shape they are then fired in a kiln.
• When making ceramic tiles they can either be glazed or unglazed, but
the majority of homeowners have glazed ceramic tiles in their home.
• With their increasing popularity, there are hundreds of different
designs of ceramic tiles.

5. • Vitrified Tiles
• Vitrified tile is a ceramic tile with very low porosity. It is an alternative
to marble and granite flooring. There are four types of Vitrified tiles –
Soluble salt, Double charge, Full Body, Glazed.
• Types:
• Soluble salt vitrified tiles are screen printed and polished.
• Double charge vitrified tiles are fed through a press that prints the pattern
with a double layer of pigment, 3 to 4 mm thicker than other types of tile.
This process does not permit complex patterns but results in a long-
wearing tile surface, suitable for heavy traffic commercial projects.
Design layer should not be more than 4mm thickness, which may
weaken the strength of the tile.
• Full body vitrified tiles have pigment in entire body (thickness) of the
tile. This makes chips and scratches less noticeable and makes this an
ideal choice for high traffic zones, but the process significantly increases
the cost.

6. • Glazed vitrified tiles (GVT) have a glazed surface. They offer a
wide variety of design, art work and surface textures like wood
grain, bamboo, slate or stone. This is also an expensive process, but
the cost is dropping as digital printing techniques are introduced.
• One disadvantage of vitrified tiles is they do not have the natural
textures and patterns of marble or granite.

7. • Mosaic Floor
• This type of flooring involves embedding small pieces of colored
glass, stone, or ceramic tile in a background material such as plaster or
mortar.
• The resulting finish is unique and a variety of designs can be created.
• Most conventional apartments use grey or white mosaic.
• These are relatively inexpensive. More rich variety of mosaic is also
available in the market for the deserving people.

8. • Marble Floor
• Marble is a natural stone, and when properly finished can be
transformed into beautiful flooring.
• Marble flooring is one of the most luxurious and stylish floorings to
install in a home and adds a whole new element of class.
• Different types of marble will bring different looks to a foyer, hallway,
bathroom, or any room where it is present – and there are thousands of
different types of marble in nearly every color imaginable.
• With hues in black, brown, green, red, white and even pink, there’s no
doubt homeowners can find the right marble for their home.
• Marble is metamorphosed limestone, composed of fairly pure calcite.
• It is extensively used for sculpture, as a building material, and in many
other applications which includes flooring.
• Marble has a relatively lower abrasion resistance compared to artificial
floors.
• It is calcium carbonate which is strongly attached by Hydrochloric acid
which is commonly used in toilet & floor cleaning.

9. • It yellows over extended time duration whereas man made tiles tend
to retain their colour for decades.

10. • Granite Floor
• A common igneous rock composed of quartz, orthoclase, and
hornblende, often accompanied by pyroxene or mica.
• It is called granite because of the granular surface. Granite is
frequently used for buildings and monuments.
• It is a popular choice for not only flooring but also for countertops
in kitchen and shelves.
• Like marble, it’s a durable and versatile material that’s wonderfully
suited for floor tile.

11. • Concrete Floors
• Concrete floors are a sustainable option if you use an
existing concrete slab, avoiding the consumption of new materials.
• Today you can purchase readymade blocks which are ready to be laid
in your home or the exteriors.

12. • Natural Stones:
Following are the various natural stones used in flooring work:
1. Shahabad:
• In this type of flooring, stones which are available in the thickness of 20
to 40 mm uniformly thick slab are laid on concrete bedding.
• The stone should be hard, durable, tough, even & good quality.
• All stones should be dressed on edges before use.
• This type of flooring is suitable where movement of very heavy loads
have to be handle.
• Advantages:
• It is very economical in place where such stones are locally available.
• It is hard, durable & wear resistant.
• It is easy in construction, repair & maintenance.
• Disadvantages:
• It is not fine, smooth & attractive type flooring & therefore can not be
used for important public building.
• It is not found confortable for living purpose because it has bad
conductivity & poor shock absorbing properties.

13. • Natural Stones:
Following are the various natural stones used in flooring work:
2. Kotah:
• It is also naturally occurring stone. It is faint greenish in colour.
• It can take good polish & can be cut & sawn by machine.
• It is hugely available at place kotah so therefore the name kotah given to
this stone.
• This stone is commonly used for paving the floors, steps in residential
building.
3. Marble:
• It is also naturally occuring stone.
• Marble flooring is used in residential building, hospitals, temples etc
where superior type of flooring & where extra cleanliness is an essential
requirements.
• The size of marble slabs to be used in flooring depends upon the pattern
to be adopted.
• The slabs for normal works are square or rectangular in shape & their
thickness various from 20mm to 40mm.

14. • The base concrete is prepared & over the base concrete 20mm thick
bedding mortor of 1:4 (cement : sand) mix spread under the area of each
slab.
• The marble slab is laid on top of the bedding mortor, pressed & tapped
with wooden mallet & brought to the level with the already laid adjoining
slabs.
• After bedding mortor hardened slightly cement slurry is spread over the
same, the edges of already laid slabs are filled with cement slurry paste &
adjoin slab is laid on position & tapped with wooden mallet till it
properly bedded in level with adjoining slab.
• Due to sharp cutting of side joints between two slabs becomes very fine.
• The cement paste discharges from joints is cleaned.
• The tiles laid area is cured for minimum 7 days period
4. Granite:
• It is also naturally occurring stone.
• It is hard, durable & available in different colours.
• It have higher resistance to natural forces.

15. • It can take very good & glazing polish & can easily by swan & unsuitable
carving.
• Its specific gravity varies from 2.6- 2.7 & compressive strength varies
from 770-1300 kg/cm2.
• It is commonly used for paving the floors in commercial buildings such as
hotels, offices, entrances of hospitals, flooring tiles at temples.
• It is also used for ornamental works. It is also used for cladding the walls,
columns in commercial complexes.
• Granite flooring gives the good, smooth & pleasant finish.
• Cost of granite flooring is high.
5. Kadappa:
• It is also a naturally occurring stone & available in large quantity at a
village named as Kudappa therefore, name itself is give to this stone
Kadappa.
• It is black or ash black in colour.
• It is made smooth on one side & can commonly be used for making
kitchen platform.

16. • It is also used in window sill, steps in staircase.
• Sometimes it is used as flooring tiles in bathrooms.
• The compressive strength various from 770-2110kg/cm2.
Paving Blocks

17. • Paver blocks are also called as interlocking concrete pavement blocks.
Paver blocks are made from a special dry mix pre-cast pieces of
concrete commonly used in exterior landscaping pavement applications.
• Interlocking paving blocks are installed over a compacted sub-base & a
leveling bed of sand.
• Standard thickness of paving blocks are 60mm for light traffic, 80mm
for heavy traffic & 50mm for general work.
• Interlocking concrete pavers are now an efficient & economical choice
in various areas of building construction.
Manufacturing process of Paver Blocks:
• Paver blocks consist of both fine & coarsely grained aggregates along
with cement compounds in appropriate proportion.
• Ingredients are put through pressure & vibration which produces a
strong, durable concrete which can be moulded into various shapes &
design.

18. • Steps:
1. Proportioning:
A concrete mix of 1:2:4 (cement: sand: stone chips) by volume may be
used for cement concrete paving blocks with water to cement ratio of
0.62. The concrete mix should not be richer than 1:6 by volume of cement
to combined aggregates before mixing. Fineness modules of combined
aggregates should be in the range of 3.6 to 4.0.
2. Mixing
All the raw materials are placed in a concrete mixer and the mixer is
rotated for 15 minutes. The prepared mix is discharged from the mixer
and consumed in the next 30 minutes.
3. Ingredients put through pressure & vibrations
Vibrating table may be used for compacting the concrete mix in the
moulds of desired sizes and shapes.
4. Moulding
Use the moulds such as per requirement of size & shape. From inside of
mould oil should be applied for easy removal of block.

19. 5. Curing:
• After compacting the blocks are demoulded and kept for 24 hours in a
shelter away from direct sun and winds.
• The blocks thus hardened are cured with water to permit complete
moisturisation for 14 to 21 days.
• Water in the curing tanks is changed every 3 to 4 days. After curing, the
blocks are dried in natural atmosphere and sent for use.
Properties of Paving blocks:
Following are some properties of paving blocks:
• It has good dimensional stability.
• It has non-skid surface.
• It has good compressive strength. It sustain the comp. strength from 20 to
50 N/mm2.
• Its water absorption is very low & about 5%.
• It has good transverse strength 3 N/mm2
• Its dimensional tolerance for length & width is 2mm & 3mm for height.
• Its average abrasion is 3mm.

20. • Advantages of Paving Blocks:
Following are the various advantages of paver blocks:
• It have beautiful appearance.
• These blocks are durable & economical.
• These blocks are easily installed over sand base compacted surface.
• It require less quantity of cement mortar & concrete for installation.
• These blocks can be made in any design & shape required.
• These blocks are available in different patterns, designs, shapes &
colour.
• These blocks are highly wear resistant in nature, to improve durability
of paving block work normal P. C. C. should be done on external faces.

21. • Uses of Paving Blocks:
Following are the various uses of paver blocks:
1. Paving blocks are commonly used for walkways.
2. These blocks are also used for swimming pool desks, courtyards,
driveways, airports or loading docks etc.
3. These blocks are commonly used now a days in parking area , garden
area, kids playground etc.
4. These blocks are also used jogging tracks, entire building compounds,
storage yards, petrol pumps, as well as landscape design.
5. It is used where temporary flooring required.
6. Due to various shapes & colour it improves the aesthetic view of
building from outside.