How deep is a floor?
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Here I've been worrying about building walls, but I haven't a clue how deep a floor usually is. Any architects to my rescue before Bryce falls though? Thanks!
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Aren't they usually 1 pixel?
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Thanks, Hazza. Bryce is now lying on the first floor. However, it's really a serious question. It's just never occurred to me before.
--Marlise
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Marlise,
It depends on many things including the materials of the building and the building type. Offhand it varies between 4 inches and 2-4 feet. In addition to the structure in the floor are things like electrical and mechanical equipment. It also matters if it is on the ground floor or a basement or a upper floor.
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The depth of a floor depends on the materials used to make it and the method of construction.
Often floor depths in models will include the thickness of the floor finish (e.g. tile) the subfloor (e.g. plywood, concrete), the secondary structural members (e.g. wood joists, steel trusses) and a ceiling finish (e.g. drywall).
For a wood frame second story residential floor try 1'- 1 1/2". (Or just use a foot for the model until you know what it is). But this will vary in different houses, and the depth can be quite a bit different for other types of buildings, for a variety of reasons. There are some good books like Building Construction Illustrated by Francis Ching. Don't worry about it, get a good book.
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You could always walk halfway up the stairs and measure it.
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No, go down to the basement and measure it. The structure is all exposed. My first floor is constructed out of 2 x 10s 16 inches apart. The span of the floor is about 13.5ft. So for normal wooden homes, room is 8 ft tall with 1 ft floor thickness.
Floor thickness is a function of amount of load it needs to carry and its span. It’s a beam. So for wider room, the beam needs to be deeper to carry the load. In most cases, architect and city inspector just follow the building code. If you want to design some thing different, than everyone needs to get there calculator out and analyze it. It is added design and inspection work.
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Thank you all so very much. Living in an apartment, I'm not sure how I'd measure it, but I'll start with something and thank heaven no one's going to be living there. You're all very kind. It occurs to me that the easiest place for me to begin would be with the vigas (beams) in an old adobe house with no electrical or other stuff.
--Marlise
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@marlise said:
Bryce is now lying on the first floor.
Lying? Did you model some booze and he got stuck into it?
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@marlise said:
Here I've been worrying about building walls, but I haven't a clue how deep a floor usually is. Any architects to my rescue before Bryce falls though? Thanks!
Don't you live and work in "buildings" ? Look at them... You can see floor thicknesses at stairwells etc and wall thicknesses at doorways and windows etc... You must be deciding how high your rooms are 8/9/10' or 2.4/2.7/3.0m etc...
Anyway assuming you are not designing 'to code', but just making up some initial ideas - I'd make your main load-bearing-walls and floors ~30cm/12" [or 20cm/9" if they're 'internal']; and other internal 'partitions' 10-15cm/4-6" - then you won't go far wrong. A main steel or concrete beam should be about 1/20 of its span... [you guess that then calculate it to see if it works...] If you are making domestic floors make the floor boards ~2.5cm/1" and the ceiling ~1.3cm/1/2" and the timber joists at 40cm/15" at 1/2 x span (in feet) + 1 and change result to inches... so span=14' 14/2=7 +1 =8 8"(20cm) deep timber floor joists...
Look and learn...
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A typical floor for a house is made with 2x lumber, I-joists, or floor trusses. 2x, as in: 2x8, 2x10, and 2x12 (actual dimensions are 1.5"x7.25", 1.5"x9.25", and 1.5"x11.25", respectively). The longer the floor framing has to span, the deeper the floor. 2x's are typically good for 20 feet or less. I-joists come in 10" (actually 9 1/4" or 9 1/2" depending on the manufacturer), 12" (11 7/8" usually), 14", and 16" sizes. I-joists are typically good up to around 30 feet. Floor trusses are built in 2" increments from 10" to 24" deep. They are completely custom and the length is mostly limited to the manufacturer's equipment. This is not really an issue however, as the majority of houses do not require more than 30 feet. For floor depth you also add the floor sheathing, usually 3/4", but not the sheetrock (drywall, or whatever ceiling below). Also, 8 foot walls can actually be 8'-1 1/8" tall. Wood studs are not the length you would think they are. I think they vary by area and species (SPF, SYP, etc). A wall is usually a 2x4 flat (1.5", bottom) + stud (~92.625") + 2 2x4's (3", top). Typically, however, exact wall heights do not affect architects. In fact, most do not draw with precise framing dimensions. For example, they draw 2x4 walls 4" thick and typical wall heights in 12" increments. This is fine, or at least until you get into the the really fancy multi-million dollar custom homes. Then it might be an issue.
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More sage advice! Thanks again. I'm obviously not an architect but have been learning American architecture, and therefore modeling, first with Paint Shop Pro and then (yippee) with SU because my perspective on perspective is so skewed. It's made me aware that a lot more goes into building than one-pixel walls and floors.
Took a walk halfway down to the next floor, and lo and behold, figured out how deep the floor is. If I knew how to use a smiley, I'd use the embarrassed one.
Appreciate your input, one and all. It's super for a newbie blonde to have folks who really help after they're finished laughing.
PS. Hazza, want a model of the hooch that put Bryce out? Will post it after I figure out how to print it out.
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