HawthorneVillager.com

I was visiting one of these buildings 2 weeks ago, they seem to have concrete slab floor/ceilings. You can see the seams in the ceilings, and we didn't hear any stray noises. Smells? Different story.

These appear to be built reasonably well - not prestige builds by any means but not guaranteed ghettos either. What will speed their decent into poo will be just WHO winds up in there, and how well maintained the structures will be. Just a note, they appear to have the best lawn care you can get, looks perfect. We used to live in a condo, and found it absolutely crap for landscaping esthetics.

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I'm no engineer, but I'm not sure you can have a concrete sub floor on multi-levels with wood stud framing.

I'd be willing to admit I'm wrong if someone can provide pics - but I'm pretty sure those are all wood condos.

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I lived in a stacked condo in Burlington with concrete floors. The unit under me heard nothing. I don’t know if it would work in a larger building like this, but I’d think it’s possible.

It’s good if they have, but I stand my by view of them being sh*t holes. They are all new at the moment, but as time passes the place will degrade.

Not an engineer either, and of course I stand to be chastised, but as you look along the ceilings, from one end of a 20' long room to the other, you are seeing seams about 1" wide every 4' or so. They kind of look like the lap joints between slabs of.....?? what material?? is it concrete? I presume it is concrete. Over the surface is the "blown plaster" cottage cheese material we see too often, to make it look swanky. Not.

If it's wood, there would be a traditional joist-based floor, with a smooth drywall ceiling, like our houses. Again I presume.

The "concrete slabs" (if in fact they are) do look like they exist to expedite / cheapen the construction process, they certainly do not lend to aesthetics, looks a bit like a commercial installation!

When they build the campus over on the SW end, Mattamy et al will build these piles of crap like there's no tomorrow, I will guess. By that time, they will have eroded the bylaws over construction height, let's see how high these piles of crap can get!

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This one thing probably never goes away
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Now I'm really not sure!

From what I can see from a quick google'ling is the floors are called cross laminated timber. It's better than the sub floors we have in our homes, but I still don't think its concrete.

http://www.gostructural.com/article/896 ... challenges

http://www.naturallywood.com/emerging-t ... timber-clt

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In Canada, existing building codes forbid anything over 4 stories to be made from wood. CLT is a new design that technically allows for the design of buildings over 4 stories made completely of wood. I recall a story about the manufacturer trying to get the building codes in BC amended to allow for its use.

These buildings are 4 stories, so I don’t think they would need CLT. Perhaps they used it, but it would seem unnecessary.

Even in the photo you posed, the floors aren’t made from CLT, just the supports. You still have a plywood floor.

The seams in the celling described above sound like concrete panels of some sort. I’ve seen those type of ceilings, but I have no idea what they are made from.

I found that pic based on a clt search. I suspected it was based on that.

So where does this leave us? Concrete or wood floors in these condos?

Concrete and wood are not really suited well together. I just can't wrap my head around a concrete sub floor being supported by wood walls beneath it.

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Sounds like these:

http://www.usg.com/content/dam/USG/Unit ... n-SCP2.pdf

Nope. Those appear to be T&G, and so would be a tight, seamless fit. Looks like a swanky product, meant for use in high-rent enviros.



Nope. Too uniform, it's obviously part of some kind of construction system. They got a system!

The "seams" are actually vee-shaped channels, to explain further. The width of these mysterious features is about 1", depth maybe 1/2"? They run along the length of spaces - like 20' to 25' - about 36"? apart. I've scoured the interwebs search results, notta.

Anyway, I'm sticking with concrete, either poured or pre-cast. Maybe this is how they form horizontal pours, supported like crazy until it's cured? Take a look at the shitty seams left over from the forms they used in your basement. Huh? Also could still be pre-cast, a truck bed is like 50' long so not inconceivable.

How about these, on a huger scale, fill-er up with concrete and leav-er be. That would 'splain the groove/channel/seams at regular intervals.

EDIT: this is probably what it is. http://www.bluescopelysaght.com.my/prod ... bondek.php

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This one thing probably never goes away
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Bondek is for steel framed structures. Have a peek at the bottom of that link and see the types of buildings it's used in - then ask if you think a builder in Milton is using something like that to crank a 4 story wood framed condo.

Thus far I'm sticking with a wood or some sort of treated wood subfloor on all levels.

Think how much heavier 4 floors of concrete subfloors are on a wood frame. They just don't seem like they go together. Wood doesn't support concrete, it's the other way around.

We'll watch the next one being constructed. I guess that's the only way we'll convince ourselves here.

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There’s only one way to find out. Somebody needs to go see one of the hookers operating in these units and get a closer look at the ceiling. Maybe take a chisel to it and bring back a sample for analysis.

I nominate NIT.

Absolutely. Then someone can resurrect this thread to update it, to prevent unnecessary duplication. We are all stewards of this community archive, future users depend on us to act responsibly. This of vital importance

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This one thing probably never goes away
I think this one thing is always supposed to stay
This one thing doesn't have to go away

Looks like concrete slab to me as well (& although walls/floors are soundproof, some units have some very strong smells emanating from within)


But the developer did get in trouble a few times for cutting corners

eg
http://www.mah.gov.on.ca/Asset7531.aspx?method=1

Mid winter a similar structure being build for student housing in Kingston went up in flames like a box of matches. Remember the crane operator being rescued via a helicopter? The building was mid construction and not a single piece of concrete around. Wood, wood and more wood.

uhhhh huh huh huh....... wood.

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