This document discusses different types of floor finishes including screeds, terrazzo, ceramic tiling, and granite or marble. It provides details on cement screeds, fiber-reinforced cement screeds, and the traditional laying process for screeds. For terrazzo floors, it describes the stone-chip topping adhered to a mortar base or concrete slab and the use of divider strips. The document outlines the process for laying ceramic tiles, including using a semi-dry cement bed and grout and including expansion joints.

1. FLOOR FINISHES
• Screeds
• Terrazzo (in-situ type)
• Ceramic Tiling
• Granite or Marble

2. Cement Screed
• A cement and sand screed finish to a
concrete floor may be an acceptable, low
cost finish to small area floors of garages,
stores and outhouses where the small area
does not justify the use of a power float and
considerations of ease of cleaning are not of
prime importance.

3. Fibre Reinforced Cement Screed
• Premixed, dry bagged cement and sand
screed material reinforced with polymer
fibre is available. The fibre reinforces
against drying shrinkage and cracking.
• Cement + Sand
• Thickness: 20 - 75 mm
• It is the base for upper covering materials.

4. Laying Screed
• The traditional method of screeding a large area
is to divide the floor up into bays not exceeding
3.5 m in width.
• The bays are laid alternately working to
screeding battens which have been carefully
levelled and aligned, and firmly bedded
throughout their length.
• The first bays are left for 24 hours, then the
battens removed and the remaining bays
completed.

5. Terrazzo (in-situ type)
• Composed of a thin, stone-chip topping adhered
to a mortar base or concrete slab, a terrazzo
floor is divided into sections by thin divider
strips that help to control cracking.
• Traditional terrazzo is composed of graded
marble or aggregate (70% or more) in a cement
matrix. Colour is often added to the cement
matrix in order to highlight the stone aggregate,
which itself is a mix of colours and sizes.

6. • A terrazzo floor is divided into sections by
strips, usually brass, zinc or plastic.
• The divider strips create weakened vertical
planes inducing unavoidable cracking to
occur at these locations.
• Maximum spacing of divider strips ranges
from 120 cm to450 cm depending on the
type of terrazzo system employed.

8. Ceramic Tiling
• A bed of semi-dry cement and sand, mix
1:4, is spread over the concrete or screed
base and packed to a thickness of about 3,5
cm. the bed is then covered with a grout
(wet mix) or cement and sand, mix 1:1, into
which the tiles are bedded, levelled and the
joints grouted or filled. The semi-dry bed
accommodates relative movement between
the base and the tiles.

10. • To take up possible expansion of tiles an
expansion joint should be formed around
the perimeter of a tiled floor. The joint is
filled with an elastic sealing compound.
• For large areas of tiled floor, additional
expansion joints should be formed both
along and across the floor with grout of
cement or a mix of cement and fine sand.