Thickness of Floor Finishes in Hospital Buildings

[shakeelahsan]

Dear all,

We are in the phase of designing a new cardiac center. The building has 7 Floors and has got 400,000 Sft covered area.

What should be the minimum and maximum thickness of (PCC 1:2:4 as floor finish on each slab) for such a hospital building?

The building would be constructed in an area of high seismic activity.




Engr. Shakeel Ahsan
Director Engineering
CMEC - Pakistan

 

[271828]

Hospitals usually have similar floor finishes to other structures. Vinyl tile, carpet, and sheet vinyl are used in most places. A fancier area like an entrance atrium might get a little thicker finish material. Showers on elevated floors also might get a little thicker material and might be depressed into the floor.

 

[hokie66]

Shakeel,

I am not sure I understand your question. When you say "PCC 1:2:4 as floor finish", what do you mean? Will the floor finish be polished concrete?

 

[msquared48]

Hokie:

If it is a private hospital, of course the floors will be polished (concrete).

If it is a public hospital, the answer is inversely proportional to the number of welfare patients. The more welfare patients, the less polished concrete.

It's all about money with the hospitals. I trust you watch "House". I would not have learned this important fact if I did not watch this valuable series. It's too bad though that Hugh Laurie does not want to play the fool anymore. Hope this helps.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

 

[hokie66]

Mike,

It doesn't help me, although I have seen that show a couple of times. Perhaps someone can interpret.

Somehow, I doubt whether the OP's hospital is in the US, as his signature indicates that he is in Pakistan. So there may be something we are missing. Are you saying polished concrete is an expensive floor finish? Where I am, it is typically used in some very cheap buildings.

 

[shakeelahsan]

Here is the composition of floor finishing for this hospital.

Porcelain/ Terrazzo Tile with mortar bed over
1.5" Thick Concrete (1:2:4) over
4 " Thick PCC (1:4:8) over
RCC Slab

My question is if it is right practice to recommend such a flooring, 4" thick PCC (1:4:8) is sometimes required to accommodate laying of electrical conduit/ internal water supply network lines and at points, internal sewerage conduits etc.

Recommendations requested.



Engr. Shakeel Ahsan
Director Engineering
CMEC - Pakistan

 

[hokie66]

I am still a bit confused by your specifications for floor finish materials. In my experience, in terrazzo tile areas, the structural floor is normally set down 50 mm (2") to allow for setting the terrazzo.

1.5" may be enough for the concrete topping for polished finishes, but you should seek advice from the architect based on the required finish.

I don't know why you would ever use a 4" topping to accommodate services. Electrical conduit, water pipes, and sewerage pipes should all be hung below the floor. Sometimes electrical conduit is built into the structural floor itself, at about middepth of the slab if there is sufficient room.

 

[csd72]

hokie66,

Hospitals are a complete different kettle of fish to your average building. The amount of service runs is many times what you would normally have. I have seen photographs of hospital slabs where there was more volume of embedded ducts than concrete.

I understand why you would want to put this in the screed over rather than in the slab, particularly in a seismic zone.

 

[kslee1000]

It is preferable to run the utility lines in a trench type setting, reason is ease of troubleshooting and subsequent repairs without the need to break up the flooring. Though electrical conduit is quite often embedded in rigid duck bank for fire hazard concern.

 

[hokie66]

The problem with embedding services (ductwork, water, sewers, medical gases, etc.) in a floor screed is that they will need to be accessed at some stage. The access is normally in a ceiling cavity high enough to accommodate service personnel. Sometimes it can reach full floor height. But this all depends on the sophistication of the hospital.

 

[shakeelahsan]

For hospital building under consideration, certain ducts have been provided to lead the conduits from one floor to other, however, from point to point, due to architectural planning, it is not possible to run a trench all across the building.

Also, how effective can this thick floor finish be to resist sound from HVAC AHUs and other equipment, walking people on above floor slab to space underneath, was another reason to provide extra thick flooring.

I am concerned about the mass that would elevate up to 110' above ground, we have used shear reinforcement in Raft to limit the thickness of raft.

Your expert opinion is requested.

Engr. Shakeel Ahsan
Director Engineering
CMEC - Pakistan