The best plan for flooring is to place an impervious flooring resting on the solid ground. This is more secure against rot than the boarded floor, and affords no space for dirt and vermin to lodge. Such an impervious floor may be formed of concrete over a layer of asphalte, as in the well-known terrazzo flooring. This is very suitable for corridors, pantries, etc. For living-rooms wood-block flooring is placed over the cement, molten pitch connecting the two. The blocks are 2 to 3 inches thick. If the wood is soft, as deal, it must be kept clean by washing; if hard, as oak or teak, it can be wax-polished. Parquetry consists of small pieces of hard woods carefully fixed and polished.
For upper floors the ordinary flooring is of floor-boards supported on wood joists, beneath which are wood laths and plaster. The floor-boards should be thoroughly seasoned, otherwise they will shrink, and the joints be filled with dirt. This dirt may accumulate for years between the floor and the ceiling of the room below, vitiating the air and helping to increase the stuffiness characteristic of dirty houses. Various plans are adopted for uniting the edges of floor-boards and preventing dust from dropping between the boards.
Fig. 41.
Tongued Floor.
The one most commonly employed is the ploughed and tongued floor (Fig. 41). In this, both edges of the floor are grooved so as to receive strips or tongues of iron or wood, an equal half of each strip being in the groove of each of two boards when they are in place. A less expensive method than the above is to splay the ends of the boards so that they slightly overlap each other. This is not so efficient as the above, but is much better than simply placing the boards side to side as is commonly done.
Solid wood floors resting on a bed of concrete are free from the risk of harbouring dust, and are relatively fire-proof.
Oak or teak in narrow boards, made with close joints, and then oiled and beeswaxed and rubbed to a polish, makes a good and almost non-absorptive floor. One of the best floors is made of concrete, with iron joists, and oak boards laid above this.
Carpets are commonly made to cover the entire floor of rooms. This cannot be too much deprecated. Carpets, like curtains, are mere dirt-traps, which become loaded with filth of every description. This is abundantly proved when a carpet is swept, and the dust allowed to settle on all the articles in the room. Such dust, if examined, will be found to consist not only of mineral matter, but also of every description of vegetable and animal impurities. The inhalation of such dust, which may contain particles of fæcal matter, as well as the dried expectoration from consumptive or other infectious patients, is a not infrequent cause of infection to healthy persons.
The substitution of a central carpet, for one covering the entire floor, is a great improvement.
The carpet should be easily removable, in order that it and the floor may be thoroughly cleaned at intervals.