Standard Methods for Simulated Service Testing of Wood and Wood-Base Finish Flooring

The test methods presented herein are intended to provide both a factual and comparative means of appraising the suitability of finish flooring. The procedures developed simulate some conditions of use that may require either maintenance beyond that considered normal or replacement of the floor surface material.

It is important for some of the evaluations that the substrate to be used beneath the finish flooring be duplicated because the type and degree of support will have a direct influence on the value obtained from test. For example, in some present-day construction, low-density materials are used for sound-deadening immediately below the finish flooring. The way this substrate distributes loading and absorbs energy will have an influence on evaluations such as those in rolling and concentrated loads.

The test methods presented herein may be used to compare different finish floorings as to their resistance to severe and ordinary service loads and also may serve as the means to set specification limits. The properties obtained by these test methods are needed in addition to such basic material properties as stiffness, strength, hardness, and dimensional stability.

Not all test may be required for any specific investigation. There may be an interrelation between two tests, and when it has been demonstrated what the interrelation is, a complete evaluation will only be required as a final stage of a study. In each instance, therefore, it will be necessary to determine which evaluations should be made to fulfill the objectives.