More Associations Adopt Floor Flatness Statement

St. Louis, MO, April 15, 2014 -- Three additional national associations have endorsed a position statement on floor flatness tolerances written by the American Society of Concrete Contractors.

The position statement had previously been endorsed by the National Wood Flooring Association and the Flooring Contractors Association.

The new associations adopting the statement are the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers, the Tile Contractors Association of America, and the International Masonry Institute.

Members of the associations will use the document to help resolve this ongoing construction issue.

The statement explains that flooring contractors and concrete contractors measure floor flatness by different means. In addition, floor flatness changes with time, due to a process called curling. Curling makes it impossible to predict what the flatness of a slab will be when the floor coverings are installed.

The solution to this, the associations agree, is for the owner to provide a bid allowance, established by the designer and based on the floor covering requirements, for grinding and patching necessary to close the gap between tolerances.