Raised Floors
Raised floor (also raised flooring) is a type of floor used in office buildings with a high requirement for servicing such as IT data series, to carry cables, wiring, electrical supply and sometimes air condition or chilled water pipes. Additional structural support and lighting are often provided when a floor is raised enough for a person to crawl or even walk beneath.
This type of floor consists of a gridded metal framework or understructure of adjustable height legs called pedestals that provide support for individual floor panels which are usually 2x2 feet or 60x60cm in size. The height of the legs/pestals is dictated by the volume of cables and other services provided beneath, but typically arranged for a clearance of at least six inches or 15cm.
The panels are normally made of steel clad particle or a steel panel with cementations internal core. There are a variety of flooring finishes to suit the application such a carpet, high-pressure laminates, marble, stone, and antistatic finishes for use in computer rooms and laboratories. To remove panels, a tool with a suction cup on the end that is referred to as a "floor puller", "tile lifter", or "suction lifter" is used. A hook-and-lop lifter may be used on carpeted panels.
Many modern computer and equipment rooms employ an under floor cooling system to ensure even cooling of the room with minimal wasted energy. Cooled air is pumped under the floor and dispersed upward into the room through regularly spaced diffuser tiles or through ducts directed into specific equipment. Automatic fire protection shutoffs may be required for under floor ventilation and additional suppression systems may be installed in case of under-floor tiles.
A problem associated with raised flooring is since the flooring tiles are rarely removed once equipment has been installed, the space below them is seldom cleaned and thus fluff and other debris settles, making working on cabling underneath the flooring a rather dirty job. Smoke detectors under the raised floor can be triggered by workers disturbing the dust, resulting in false alarms.
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