COMPARATIVE STUDIES ON THE SUITABILITY OF SELECTED PALMS FOR FLOORING

Abstract

The use of selected palms, namely coconut, oil palm, betelnut, manau cane and nibong for flooring were investigated and tests were conducted in accordance to the ASTM D 1037-72a. The common flooring timber used in Malaysia, kempas (Koompassia malaccensis) was used for comparison. The results show that while nibong and betelnut palm are superior to kempas, the rest (tested) are inferior and could only be used under light and medium traffic flooring conditions.