Specifying timber floors for hotels, restaurants and high-traffic interiors

At a glance

England. Approved Documents B, E and M and the HSE sheet were read on 5 November 2026; see the rules table below. The partner flooring workshop confirms what it supplies for commercial use.

The tick-sheet

A busy timber floor goes wrong in a handful of predictable ways, and each has a question for the designer and a piece of evidence to ask the maker for. The tick-sheet lists nine. Tick each box when the item is written into the specification and its evidence is in hand. The table below turns each box into the question, the evidence and what the rules say about it.

Most of the boxes have no number in a standard. Where a number appears it comes from a document we read, with the edition named, and England is assumed. The numbers are the rules' limits, not a design target.

What the rules say, and what they leave out

Few of the nine checks have a figure in the Approved Documents, and one important check has none at all. The table sets out what the three Approved Documents and HSE say, quoted where the wording matters. The editions are in the standards list.

England only. The documents were read on 5 November 2026. Approved Document E prints its tables as 0.1a and 0.1b in the text and 1a and 1b in some cross-references; the figures are the same. Check the current editions and your building control body, and use the specialist (fire engineer, acoustician, access consultant) for anything that is not a plain number.

Sound in a hotel: three questions about one floor

Sound is the check that surprises designers most on a timber floor. There are three separate questions.

• The floor between rooms. Approved Document E Table 0.1b sets impact sound for the floors and stairs that separate rooms for residential purposes, which the document says covers hotel rooms: 62 dB L'nT,w at most for purpose-built rooms and 64 dB for rooms formed by a change of use. The lower the figure the better. Impact tests are made on the floor without a soft covering, except for separating floor type 1 and for a base with an integral soft covering (Annex B, B2.13). Type 1 is described as a concrete base with a ceiling and a soft floor covering, so, as we read it, a timber floor in place of carpet no longer matches that type. The floor then needs a tested design, such as a floating layer, and a plan for pre-completion testing. That is for the acoustician.
• The neighbouring use. Paragraph 0.8 says the table values suit spaces used for normal domestic purposes, and that a higher standard may be needed between those and communal or non-domestic spaces, such as a restaurant or bar under bedrooms. It asks for specialist advice.
• The corridor. Requirement E3 applies to corridors, stairwells, hallways and entrance halls that give access to rooms for residential purposes. A hard timber floor adds little: in the document's table of typical absorption coefficients, a parquet or lino floor on concrete absorbs 0.05 at 1,000 Hz where carpet absorbs 0.15 (and 0.40 against 0.06 at 4,000 Hz). So the absorption has to come from the ceiling or the walls. Method A covers an area at least equal to the floor area with a Class C absorber or better, and Method B asks for at least 0.25 m² of absorption area per m³ for a corridor.

Typical sound absorption coefficients from Approved Document E, Table 7.1 (octave bands). A higher figure absorbs more.

Wear, finish, upkeep and renewal

Wear, finish, upkeep and renewal are one decision made four ways, so settle them together and write the regime into the specification.

Wear. We found no wear class for timber floors in the three Approved Documents, so the evidence is the maker's: its stated intended use in writing, the species and a hardness figure for it, and for an engineered board the depth of wear layer above the tongue and groove, which sets how many times the floor can be sanded. The arithmetic is on solid vs engineered wood flooring. The grade of the timber is about appearance, not strength: see wood flooring grades.

Finish. Our wood floor finishes guide compares the two main families. A lacquer forms a hard, sealed film, is the most resistant to spills and heavy traffic and is cleaned, not fed; a repair means sanding and recoating, so it is harder to hide. An oil soaks in, can be refreshed and repaired in worn areas without sanding the whole floor, and takes a maintenance oil from about once a year to every two to four years depending on the product and the traffic. The guide says neither is better in itself. Choose by the room and by who will look after it.

Slip and upkeep. HSE warns that makers' slip data are usually produced from the product as supplied, and that the slipperiness of a floor can change significantly with installation, cleaning, burnishing or polishing, and after short periods of use. Ask for the pendulum result on the finished sample, and keep the cleaning regime the same as the one tested. Grit is what wears a finish, so entrance matting, regular sweeping and felt pads under furniture do most of the work.

Renewal. Plan the first refinish before the floor is laid: the interval, who does it, whether a worn area is touched in or the whole floor is sanded, and what stock is kept. Ask for spare boards from the same batch, since colour can differ between batches (see the grades sheet). The suggestion is ours, not a standard.

Heat, transitions and handover

Heat. Over underfloor heating the floor maker's maximum surface temperature, the commissioning and the build-up all need agreeing: see underfloor heating under wood and stone. Subfloor and site. A big floor in a new building is only as good as the screed beneath it and the conditions around it: see subfloor requirements and acclimatisation and site conditions. Transitions. Where the timber meets another floor or a door, the threshold rules above apply, and the movement joint sets how the junction behaves: see floor transitions and movement joints.

Handover. Ask for a pack the operator can keep: the maker's statement of intended use, the finish data sheet and maintenance manual, the wet pendulum report, the declared reaction-to-fire class, the underfloor heating commissioning record, the acoustic test or design evidence, the retained approved sample, and the spare stock. Our partner flooring workshop confirms what it supplies for commercial use and the evidence it holds; this sheet does not say what any partner supplies.

Timber floor for [hotel restaurant] use: [engineered oak, [ ] mm overall, wear layer [ ] mm above the tongue and groove, multi-layer core]; species and [hardness figure] stated by the maker, with the maker's written statement that the product is suitable for [commercial] use at this location.

Floor surface as finished to achieve a pendulum test value of [36] or more, wet, [Slider 96 rubber; Slider 55 where barefoot], to BS 7976, tested on [a finished sample / in situ] before [approval / handover]. The report is to state the finish and the cleaning regime used in the test.

Floor build-up to achieve impact sound insulation of not more than [62] dB L'nT,w [purpose built rooms for residential purposes] where it separates [ ], shown by [pre-completion testing / the acoustician's design]. Corridor absorption to Approved Document E [Method A / B], by [the acoustic consultant]. Reaction-to-fire class of the floor as laid to be declared to BS EN 13501-1 and agreed with [the fire engineer]: [ ].

Maker to issue a maintenance manual (daily cleaning, matting, refreshing interval, approved products), the number of sanding cycles the wear layer allows, a repair method statement, and [ ]% spare boards from the same batch, delivered [with the floor].

Standards and sources

• Approved Document B volume 2 (2019 edition incorporating 2020 and 2022 amendments, with forthcoming 2025, 2026 and 2029 changes, online version): B2 Intention box; paragraph 5.17; Appendix B para B6. Read 5 Nov 2026.
• Approved Document E (2003 edition, reprint October 2015 incorporating 2004, 2010, 2013 and 2015 amendments): Table 0.1b; 0.8; Section 7 (7.10, 7.18, Table 7.1); Annex B2.13. Read 5 Nov 2026.
• Approved Document M volume 2 (2015 edition incorporating 2020 and 2024 amendments): 2.7(e), (h); 3.14(j), (k); interpretation of 'contrast visually'. Read 5 Nov 2026.
• HSE, Assessing the slip resistance of flooring (technical information sheet): Table 1 (UKSRG 2011). Read 5 Nov 2026.
• BS 7976, BS EN 13501-1, BS EN 1534, BS 8201:2011: named; not read. Confirm against the current editions.

Questions we are asked

Does a timber floor in a hotel need a fire rating in England?

Approved Document B volume 2 says Requirement B2 does not include guidance on the upper surfaces of floors and stairs, so it gives no floor fire class for England. A class can still be asked for by the fire strategy, the insurer, the operator, or the rules in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which we have not read. Ask the maker for its declared class to BS EN 13501-1 and agree the requirement with the fire engineer.

What impact sound must a hotel bedroom floor meet?

Approved Document E Table 0.1b, for rooms for residential purposes, which includes hotel rooms, gives 62 dB L'nT,w at most for separating floors in purpose-built rooms and 64 dB for rooms formed by a change of use; lower is better. The floor is tested on site, without a soft covering for most constructions. A timber floor needs a tested build-up, and a restaurant or bar below may need more: ask an acoustician.

Does the corridor need acoustic treatment?

In a building with rooms for residential purposes, yes, under Requirement E3. Approved Document E asks for added absorption in corridors, by covering an area at least equal to the floor area with a Class C absorber (Method A) or by providing at least 0.25 m² of absorption area per cubic metre (Method B). A hard timber floor absorbs little, so the ceiling does the work.

How slippery can a restaurant floor be?

HSE reads a pendulum test value of 36 or more as low slip potential, 25 to 35 as moderate and 24 or under as high. Test the finished floor wet, with the finish and cleaning regime it will have in use, because HSE warns that makers' as-supplied data can change after installation, cleaning, polishing and wear. The Approved Documents ask for slip-resistant finishes but give no value.

What is the commercial rating for a timber floor?

We found no wear class for timber floors in Approved Documents B, E or M, and no single commercial grade like those used for some other floor types. The evidence is the maker's written statement of intended use, the species and its hardness, and for engineered boards the wear layer depth. Ask the partner flooring workshop what it supplies for commercial use.

Oil or lacquer for a restaurant?

Our wood floor finishes guide says neither is better in itself. Lacquer is the most resistant to spills and heavy traffic and is cleaned, not fed. Oil can be refreshed and repaired in worn areas without sanding the whole floor, but needs a maintenance oil from about once a year to every two to four years. Choose by who will look after the floor.

Can a hotel floor have underfloor heating?

Yes, with the maker's approval of the build-up and the heating, a floor surface limit (UK makers quote 27 °C), commissioning before fitting and a gradual restart afterwards. See our sheet on underfloor heating under wood and stone.