Tile

A tile is a manufactured piece of hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, or even glass, generally used for covering roofs, floors, walls, showers, or other objects such as tabletops. Alternatively, tile can sometimes refer to similar units made from lightweight materials such as perlite, wood, and mineral wool, typically used for wall and ceiling applications. In another sense, a tile is a construction tile or similar object, such as rectangular counters used in playing games (see tile-based game). The word is derived from the French word tuile, which is, in turn, from the Latin word tegula, meaning a roof tile composed of fired clay.

Tiles are often used to form wall and floor coverings, and can range from simple square tiles to complex mosaics. Tiles are most often made of ceramic, typically glazed for internal uses and unglazed for roofing, but other materials are also commonly used, such as glass, cork, concrete and other composite materials, and stone. Tiling stone is typically marble, onyx, granite or slate. Thinner tiles can be used on walls than on floors, which require more durable surfaces that will resist impacts.

Floor

A floor is the walking surface of a room or vehicle. Floors vary from simple dirt in a cave to many-layered surfaces modern technology. Floors may be stone, wood, bamboo, metal, or any other material that can support the expected load.

The levels of a building are often referred to as floors although a more proper term is story or storey.

Floors typically consist of a subfloor for support and a floor covering used to give a good walking surface. In modern buildings the subfloor often has electrical wiring, plumbing, and other services built in. As floors must meet many needs, some essential to safety, floors are built to strict building codes in the first world.

Special floor structures

Where a special floor structure like a floating floor is laid upon another floor then both may be referred to as subfloors.

Special floor structures are used for a number of purposes:

Valley

A valley is a low area between hills, often with a river running through it.

In geology, a valley or dale is a depression that is longer than it is wide. The terms U-shaped and V-shaped are descriptive terms of geography to characterize the form of valleys. Most valleys belong to one of these two main types or a mixture of them, (at least) with respect to the cross section of the slopes or hillsides.

Valley terminology

A valley in its broadest geographic sense is also known as a dale. A valley through which a river runs may also be referred to as a vale. A small, secluded, and often wooded valley is known as a dell or in Scotland as a glen. A wide, flat valley through which a river runs is known in Scotland as a strath. A mountain cove is a small valley, closed at one or both ends, in the central or southern Appalachian Mountains which sometimes results from the erosion of a geologic window. A small valley surrounded by mountains or ridges is sometimes known as a hollow. A deep, narrow valley is known as a cwm (also spelled combe or coombe). Similar geological structures, such as canyons, ravines, gorges, gullies, and kloofs, are not usually referred to as valleys. See also: "chine". A valley formed by erosion is called an erosional valley; a valley formed by geologic events such as drop faults or the rise of highlands is called a structural valley.

Floor (legislative)

The floor of a legislature or chamber is the place where members sit and make speeches. When a person is speaking there formally, they are said to have the floor. The House of Commons and the House of Lords In the United Kingdom, the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate all have "floors" with established procedures and protocols.

Activity on the floor of a council or legislature, such as debate, may be contrasted with meetings and discussion which takes place in committee, for which there are often separate committee rooms. Some actions, such as the overturning of an executive veto, may only be taken on the floor.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom's House of Commons a rectangular configuration is used with the government ministers and their party sitting on the right of the presiding Speaker and the opposing parties sitting on the benches opposite. Members are not permitted to speak between the red lines on the floor which mark the boundaries of each side. These are traditionally two sword lengths apart to mitigate the possibility of physical conflict. If a member changes allegiance between the two sides, they are said to cross the floor. Only members and the essential officers of the house such as the clerks are permitted upon the floor while parliament is in session.