Internal Linings And Finishes Selection
Finishes in a factory-built dwelling are selected before fabrication rather than during construction, which produces a better result and requires the decisions to be made earlier.
When are finishes selected on a modular project?
Before fabrication begins. A factory line orders and installs materials in sequence, so linings, flooring, tiling and joinery are specified at design stage rather than chosen during construction. The trade-off is an earlier decision in exchange for a controlled installation and a fixed cost.
On a conventional site, finishes are frequently still being chosen while the frame is going up.
On a factory line they are not, and that difference is worth understanding before a project starts.
Why the decision comes earlier
A factory builds in sequence. Materials are ordered against a schedule, delivered to the line, and installed in a fixed order.
Which means the lining, the flooring, the tile, the tapware and the joinery finish are known before the first wall is framed.
That produces two things. A controlled installation, because the material is on hand when the trade reaches that stage. And a fixed cost, because nothing is being priced mid-build.
It also means a late change is genuinely disruptive, which is the subject of [changing a design after fabrication starts](/blog/changing-a-design-after-fabrication-starts).
What gets chosen
**Wall and ceiling linings.** Plasterboard in most areas, with the specific sheet chosen for its performance rather than its appearance: moisture resistant in wet areas, impact resistant where the dwelling will take knocks, and fire rated where the construction requires it.
**Flooring.** The single most consequential selection in an accessible dwelling.
**Wet area surfaces,** which sit over the waterproofing and have to be installed in a way that does not compromise it.
**Joinery finishes,** which carry the most visible impact and the most day-to-day wear.
**Skirtings, architraves and junction details,** which is where a build looks considered or does not.
Flooring in an accessible dwelling
Worth its own section, because the requirements pull against each other.
**Slip resistance** where the floor gets wet, and it has to hold that rating when wet rather than only when dry.
**Low rolling resistance,** because a resident in a wheelchair is pushing across it all day. A soft or high-pile surface is genuinely tiring, and it is a barrier that does not look like one.
**No level changes,** which means the transitions between spaces are flush, including into the bathroom. That is a construction detail, not a flooring one, and it has to be designed into the floor cassette.
**Durability against wheel traffic,** which is concentrated and repetitive in a way foot traffic is not.
**Contrast between surfaces** where it aids a resident with low vision, and no strong pattern where it would confuse someone with a perceptual condition.
Those requirements are why the Specialist Disability Accommodation [standard](/standards) sits behind every MADE dwelling rather than only the ones enrolled under it. Getting flooring right for a resident with high needs produces a better floor for everybody.
Impact resistance is not a luxury
In accommodation used by people with high support needs, walls take impact from wheelchairs, hoists, beds and equipment.
Standard lining in a corridor of a dwelling with daily wheelchair traffic does not survive. The answer is impact resistant sheet in the places it is needed, corner protection where circulation turns, and a wall build-up that can take a fixing wherever one is later required.
Which is a design decision, because the sheet goes on in the factory and cannot be swapped afterwards.
Fixings and what comes later
The most valuable thing a factory build can do for a resident is put structure where a fixing will one day be needed.
Grab rails, hoist tracks, shelving, assistive equipment nobody has specified yet. Timber or steel noggings behind the lining cost almost nothing at framing stage and are the difference between a simple installation later and opening a wall.
A dwelling designed for [changing resident needs](/blog/designing-for-changing-resident-needs) is built with that capacity from the start.
How the selection process runs
Selections are made through the design stages rather than in one meeting, and they are documented in a schedule that goes to the factory.
By the time fabrication starts, every surface is specified. There is no allowance, no provisional sum, and no decision left for someone to make on the line.
That discipline is the reason the finish is consistent across every module and every dwelling in a project, which matters most on [multi-dwelling projects](/blog/multi-dwelling-projects-and-the-value-of-repetition).
MADEmodular / MADEbetter.
MADEmodular / MADEbetter.