Choosing and Specifying an Insulated Floor Panel
Most of the questions we field about Platinum “R” Floor are not about what the panel is. They are about which thickness a particular build needs, what the engineer has to sign off, and what a builder should write on the drawings so the floor arrives right and installs without a phone call.
The panel comes in four thicknesses, and all four install over the same framing within the same rules. That is the most useful thing to know at the start, because it means panel selection is a thermal decision rather than a structural one. A builder is not choosing a panel to span further, they are choosing a panel to hit an R-value.
The product data itself, the full table of core thicknesses, ply thicknesses and panel weights, sits on the Platinum “R” Floor page alongside the downloadable design guide. This page covers the decisions around that data: how to work back from a thermal target, what the project engineer determines, where the framing changes, and what a complete specification looks like. The wider case for structural insulated panels in Australian conditions is covered separately.
Platinum “R” Floor is manufactured in Brisbane and supplied across Queensland and nationally.
The Four Panels and Where Each One Fits
Platinum “R” Floor is manufactured in 54mm, 64mm, 84mm and 99mm thicknesses, delivering R1.2, R1.5, R2.0 and R2.5 respectively. Each panel is built the same way: a 17mm tongue and groove structural plywood top skin, a 7mm structural plywood bottom skin, and an Australian manufactured foam core between them. The core thickness is what changes, and the core thickness is what moves the R-value.
The 54mm and 64mm panels cover most standard residential work where the thermal target is moderate and the floor build up is tight. The 84mm and 99mm panels are specified where the assessment demands more from the floor, which in practice means elevated and exposed subfloors, colder climate zones, and projects chasing a higher overall rating.
Because all four run on the same framing, a change of thermal target late in design does not force a redesign of the subfloor. It changes the panel and the floor build up height, which is a far smaller change than re-engineering joists.
Panel weights run from 40.9kg for the 54mm up to 45.3kg for the 99mm, averaging around 14kg per square metre depending on thickness. They are handled by two people and cut on site with standard construction tooling, so irregular shapes and penetrations are dealt with the same way as any sheet floor. Full weights and core dimensions are in the product information and design guide.
54mm Panel, R1.2
- 30mm foam core, 24mm total ply
- 2400 x 1200 sheet, 40.9kg
- Moderate thermal target, tight floor build up
64mm Panel, R1.5
- 40mm foam core, 24mm total ply
- 2400 x 1200 sheet, 41.9kg
- The most commonly specified thickness
84mm Panel, R2.0
- 60mm foam core, 24mm total ply
- 2400 x 1180 sheet, 43.9kg
- Where the assessment asks more of the floor
99mm Panel, R2.5
- 75mm foam core, 24mm total ply
- 2400 x 1180 sheet, 45.3kg
- Highest thermal value, exposed subfloors
Where the Framing Changes
Two aspects of a panel floor differ from sheet flooring over joists, and both are framing decisions rather than flooring decisions.
The first is wet areas. Wet area set downs do not require the joists to be notched, set down, or run at different heights, which removes a fiddly and error prone step from the frame. What is required instead is a strip of fibre cement flashing between the edge of the flooring panel and the 19mm wet area flooring. That gives the step down automatically and allows the fall to the waste to be created, ready for waterproofing to the relevant standard.
The second is steel. On a steel joist system there is normally a need for a barrier between the joist and the flooring. Platinum “R” Floor provides that thermal break itself, so no separate material needs to be specified, ordered or installed.
Both are worth resolving on the drawings, and both feed into the installation sequence, which runs from the top of the structure in one pass.
What to Put on the Drawings
A specification that avoids questions on site carries five things, and they fit comfortably in a flooring note:
- Panel: Platinum “R” Floor structural insulated floor panel, thickness to suit the required R-value
- Sheet size and set out, noting the 1180mm width where 84mm or 99mm panels are specified
- Joist size, spacing and material to the project engineer’s design, within 800mm maximum centres and 45mm minimum joist thickness
- Blocking under all load bearing walls
- Wet area set down detail using fibre cement flashing to the 19mm wet area substrate
If the thermal target is still moving when the drawings are issued, note the R-value rather than the panel thickness and let the panel follow. That keeps the specification correct through a change that would otherwise need a reissue. The same note works across the floor panel range.
07 3803 7488Getting the Specification Right Early
Almost everything that goes wrong with a panel floor is decided at frame stage rather than at flooring stage. The blocking, the wet area detail and the set out are all straightforward when they are on the drawings, and all awkward when they are not.
The quickest way to get a specification checked is to send the floor plan and the target R-value. If the thermal target is still being worked through, send the plan and our team will work back through the options with you. Freight and lead time depend on where the site is, and Platinum “R” Floor is supplied from Brisbane across Queensland and nationally, with panel cost set per project on quantity, specification and freight.
The specification is not complicated. It just rewards being settled early.
Structural Flooring Compared: Which Subfloor Material Wins
Particleboard, structural plywood, fibre cement and insulated structural panel all carry a floor, but they do not carry the same amount of the job. Here is how the four compare for an Australian residential build, and what actually drives the cost.
Suspended Floor Insulation: How to Insulate a Timber Floor
A suspended floor loses heat through the ventilated void underneath it, not through the timber. Here are the ways that void gets insulated, what goes wrong with underfloor retrofits, and why the insulation is better built into the floor.
What Is a Subfloor?
A plain-language guide to what a subfloor is, the five materials used in Australian homes, how joist spacing and airflow affect it, and where structural insulated panels fit in.
