The flooring in any structure or building has to meet several key requirements in accordance with the usage of that specific structure. The floor surface of a bus or airplane is understandably different from that of manufacturing unit, which is in turn different from that of a residential house. As such, the flooring structure and covering have to be chosen keeping the specific needs, costs and constraints in mind. Any typical floor has two levels. The lower level which adds the necessary structural integrity to hold the weight is called as the sub floor. This is generally made from packed earth, or concrete. In buses and airplanes however, these are in accordance with their own different specifications.

The top most level is called as the floor covering and it is this part of the floor that affects movement and comfort of the users. As such, there are different kinds of surfaces that can be used. The most popular ones, like the vinyl, wooden, timber or black butt flooring, are obviously used in residential homes. Hard surfaces are ideal for areas which have to bear large weights and the chemical floorings which are seamless are ideal for wet areas such as labs and kitchens.

The floor covering, is basically the accessible and visible surface that is used in the day to day operations of the building. As such, it can be seen that it is the part of the floor that requires daily maintenance and cleaning and also may require additional handling. Depending on the nature of use, the floor covering is basically of five types:

• Wood Covering: Wood floorings are basically a mixture of different species of woods to makes two forms of flooring called planks and parquet and black butt flooring is flooring made of timber which is more popular these days.
• Soft coverings: Includes wall to wall carpets and also carpeting over stairs and rugs. The carpets however are immobile but the rugs can be fixed temporarily.
• Hard covering: Ceramic and porcelain tiles and also cut stones.
• Resilient Flooring: Includes linoleum, rubber, PVC and so on.
• Seamless Chemical flooring: chemical flooring such as latex, polyester and epoxy compounds.

Depending on the nature of usage, cost, sound insulation, comfort and cleaning requirements these choices have their own set of pros and cons.

Additional Features in flooring
Apart from the sub floor which is the muscle and the floor covering which is the skin, there are a number of additional features that are optional for use but sometimes highly efficient and extremely functional. It can in fact be said that most of these additional features are essential in every structure these days. They cater to a variety of functions which may include, floor decoration, maintenance of the clean floor and traction advantages.