Types

• Carpet Tile
  Modular tufted carpet squares and planks with stable backings, installed with tackifier or adhesive, used in offices, schools, and other commercial interiors.
• Ceramic and Porcelain Tile
  Fired clay and porcelain floor and wall tile set in mortar with grout joints, used in wet areas, lobbies, kitchens, restrooms, and high-traffic spaces.
• Composite Metal Deck Floors
  Fluted steel floor deck filled with concrete that bonds to the deck and acts with it, used for floors in steel-framed commercial and institutional buildings.
• Floor Underlayment
  Panels, boards, leveling compounds, and resilient mats placed under floor finishes to level, support, and quiet the floor.
• Hardwood Flooring
  Solid or engineered wood strip and plank flooring, nailed, glued, or floated over a subfloor, used in residential, hospitality, retail, and sports floors.
• Luxury Vinyl Flooring
  Printed, multilayer vinyl tile and plank flooring with a clear wear layer, glue-down or rigid-core click, used in commercial, healthcare, education, and multifamily interiors.
• Polished Concrete
  Concrete floor slabs mechanically ground, densified, and honed or polished with diamond abrasives, used as durable, low-maintenance exposed finish floors.
• Resilient Flooring
  Thin, flexible floor coverings such as vinyl composition tile, sheet vinyl, linoleum, rubber, and cork, adhered to a prepared subfloor.
• Resinous Flooring
  Seamless floor systems of epoxy, polyurethane, urethane cement, or methyl methacrylate resins applied over concrete, used in labs, kitchens, healthcare, and industrial spaces.
• Slab on Grade
  Concrete floor slab cast directly on prepared base and subgrade, used as the ground floor of most commercial, industrial, and residential buildings.
• Terrazzo
  Poured or precast flooring of stone or glass aggregate in an epoxy or cement matrix, ground and polished, used for durable floors in high-traffic public spaces.
• Wood-Framed Floors
  Floor structures of sawn joists, I-joists, or floor trusses with wood structural panel subfloor, used in residential and light commercial buildings.

Code reference

Always verify the adopted code edition and local amendments for the project jurisdiction.

Governing editions

Interior floor finish

• IBC 2024, Section 804.1: floor finishes and coverings meet Sections 804.2 to 804.4.2; traditional finishes (wood, vinyl, linoleum, terrazzo) and non-fibrous resilient coverings are excepted (hardwood flooring, luxury vinyl flooring, terrazzo, resilient flooring)
• IBC 2024, Section 804.2: classification by critical radiant flux per ASTM E648 or NFPA 253: Class I 0.45 W/sq cm or greater; Class II 0.22 W/sq cm or greater (carpet tile)
• IBC 2024, Section 804.3: floor coverings tested by an agency and identified with a hang tag or similar; carpet tested as proposed for use, including underlayment (carpet tile)
• IBC 2024, Section 804.4.1: in all occupancies, floor coverings meet DOC FF-1 (16 CFR 1630) or ASTM D2859 (carpet tile)
• IBC 2024, Section 804.4.2: in interior exit stairways and ramps, exit passageways, corridors, and rooms not separated from corridors by full-height partitions: Class I in Groups I-1, I-2, and I-3; Class II in Groups A, B, E, H, I-4, M, R-1, R-2, and S; in fully sprinklered buildings Class II may replace Class I, and pill-test materials may replace Class II (carpet tile)

Toilet and bathing rooms

• IBC 2024, Section 1210.2.1: outside dwelling units, toilet, bathing, and shower room floors have smooth, hard, nonabsorbent surfaces, with a smooth, hard, nonabsorbent base extending at least 4 in. up the walls (ceramic and porcelain tile, resinous flooring, terrazzo)

Slabs on ground and structural floors

• IBC 2024, Section 1907: slabs on ground at least 3-1/2 in. thick; 6-mil polyethylene vapor retarder with joints lapped at least 6 in. between base and slab, or approved equivalent; exceptions include detached R-3 accessory structures, small unheated rooms and carports, flatwork not to be enclosed, and occupancies where moisture migration will not be detrimental; structural slabs designed per ACI 318 (slab on grade)
• IBC 2024, Chapter 19 and ACI 318-19: structural concrete slabs and composite slabs (slab on grade, composite metal deck floors)
• IBC 2024, Section 2308: conventional light-frame construction (wood-framed floors)
• IBC 2024, Sections 1705.2.3, 1705.3, and 1705.5: special inspection of cold-formed steel deck, concrete, and wood construction (composite metal deck floors, slab on grade, wood-framed floors)

Sound transmission

• IBC 2024, Section 1206.2: floor-ceiling assemblies between dwelling and sleeping units, and between units and public or service areas: STC 50 by ASTM E90, or NNIC 45 field tested by ASTM E336 (wood-framed floors, composite metal deck floors)
• IBC 2024, Section 1206.3: impact sound: IIC 50 by ASTM E492, or AIIC 45 field tested by ASTM E1007 (hardwood flooring, luxury vinyl flooring, ceramic and porcelain tile over framed floors, floor underlayment)

Accessibility

• 2010 ADA Standards, Section 302.1: floor surfaces stable, firm, and slip resistant
• 2010 ADA Standards, Section 302.2: carpet securely attached, pile 1/2 in. maximum, exposed edges fastened with trim (carpet tile)
• 2010 ADA Standards, Section 302.3: openings in floors do not allow passage of a 1/2 in. sphere; elongated openings perpendicular to travel
• 2010 ADA Standards, Section 303.2: changes in level up to 1/4 in. may be vertical
• 2010 ADA Standards, Section 303.3: changes between 1/4 in. and 1/2 in. beveled no steeper than 1:2
• 2010 ADA Standards, Section 303.4: changes over 1/2 in. ramped

Energy

• IECC 2024, Section C402: floor and slab-on-grade insulation for the building thermal envelope (slab on grade, wood-framed floors over unconditioned space)

Referenced standards

Sources

• UpCodes: 2024 IBC Chapter 8 interior finishes (Department of Defense adoption), https://up.codes/viewer/department-of-defense/ibc-2024/chapter/8/interior-finishes
• UpCodes: 2024 IBC Chapter 12 interior environment, https://up.codes/viewer/department-of-defense/ibc-2024/chapter/12/interior-environment
• UpCodes: 2024 IBC Chapter 19 concrete, https://up.codes/viewer/department-of-defense/ibc-2024/chapter/19/concrete
• Commercial Acoustics: IBC Section 1206 sound transmission requirements, https://commercial-acoustics.com/sound-advice/ibc-1206-sound-transmission-requirements/
• Corada: 2010 ADA Standards Section 302 floor surfaces, https://www.corada.com/documents/2010ADAStandards/302
• Corada: 2010 ADA Standards Section 303 changes in level, https://www.corada.com/documents/2010ADAStandards/303