Timber floor construction for multi story buildings has many advantages but provides a few challenges when it comes to services. Some items to consider when designing with timber floors include:
- Where is the fire rating: Fire rated ceilings that are also the finished ceiling require fire rated or surface mounted light fittings and fire rated HVAC grilles/diffusers which are expensive and complicated to install
- Joist penetration restrictions: Joists can only be penetrated in a zone in the middle and often require additional flanges for penetrations. This greatly restricts how far the drains can run and may result in more risers being required.
- Joist layout vs fixtures above: with less space between joists the locations of fixtures like toilets and shower need to be considered to ensure they do not sit directly above a joist
A good option to combat most of these items is a lower “finished” ceiling under the fire ceiling with sufficient space between to run the services.