The raised floor or access floor is a system made up of tiles that in their usual format have measures of 600×600 mm and some pedestals on which these tiles rest in order to generate an accessible space or “plenum”, this being the objective.

It is recommended in any living space that requires organizing, hiding and accessing to the installation, either because of its load or because of the convenience of accessing them.
There is a version of the raised access floor for exterior that must meet the requirements of the interior raised floor, with those for the exterior and reasonably it must be water-repellent, antioxidant and more resistant.

Tiles can be built with three basic cores; wood chipboard of different densities, calcium sulfate and finally, lightened cement foam with honeycomb steel body.
To provide resistance to the cores, galvanized steel can be used on the bottom, aluminum or the last option, kraft sheets can be used to establish a barrier against humidity and to protect the core.
The tile can be covered with a multitude of coatings that we find on the market, stratified, vinyl, linoleum, wood, porcelain stoneware, natural stone, etc …

The tile must strictly comply with the measurements of 600×600 mm since the joints between tiles are not hidden and therefore are exposed, they must be registrable and interchangeable and must form a perfect grid over the entire surface of the room. The tile must have a perimeter edge on its four sides that protect, outline and define the size of the element.

There are not many types of pedestal in terms of its appearance. They are usually formed by a threaded tube base with a base plate and a screw head with a post-formed plate on the head, a nut must be carried out on the stem that must be used as a locking element for the thread or lock nut. They are made of steel and are zinc plated. There are several formats in terms of tube diameter, steel thickness, base or head size and height that it reaches.

Eventually these pedestals can be reinforced with beams called crossbars that bracing the pedestals and multiply the resistance of the system. This cross member reinforcement is recommended to be implemented in the system when the finished floor height exceeds 250mm.

The tiles are not fixed to the pedestal since the system must be registrable and accessible to easily access the facilities, which are neatly hidden in the space between the floor and the tile.
The pedestals are glued to the slab by means of adhesives that can be of different composition, they are not fixed by screws.

The support of the lower part of the tile to the pedestal is not directly on the steel, a pad must be used between both elements that is made of PVC and that in its design includes small spacers for the tiles, in addition to making the effect end when walking is comfortable.

The European standard that regulates raised floors is UNE-EN 12825.