What is DIN 18202?
A DIN standard is a standard drawn up at the German Institute for Standardization (DIN)
- DIN 18202 superseded DIN 1801.
- It was revised and released as DIN 18202 in April of 1997
It has not been updated since.
- The standard applies to building tolerances in general, however, the section applicable to floor flatness (Section 5) uses a form of a GUSE or “Gap Under Straight Edge” standard.
Gap Under Straight Edge
There are many forms of Gap Under Straight Edge (GUSE), the DIN18202 uses the following:
DIN 18202 Flatness Tolerance Table
Rules of DIN 18202
Flatness Tolerances
- Table 3 gives position deviations in the form of permitted flatness tolerances, applicable to the surfaces of floors, ceilings, screed, floorings, and walls irrespective of their position.
- They shall not apply to sprayed concrete surfaces.
- If the flatness of surfaces is to be subject to more stringent requirements (cf. lines 2, 4, and 7 of table 3), this shall be agreed on in the bill of quantities.
- Where the depth of masonry is equal to the thickness of a brick, the flatness tolerances shall only apply to the fair face.
- Where walls, floors, ceilings, screed, and floorings have finished surfaces, jogs shall be avoided except where such features are part of the design.
- Jogs between adjacent components shall be dealt with separately
- The permitted deviations from flatness for construction materials shall be taken into account separately as they are not included in the flatness tolerances specified here.
Permitted Deviation for DIN 18202
The only other applicable parts of DIN 18202 to a flooring contractor or floor flatness test company, or consultant are Table 1 Group 2, which specifies the dimensions in elevation limits.
Application of DIN 18202
There is no specification for the number of tests on the floor.
The tests can be laid out randomly or in a grid pattern that must be tied to a reference plane.
Real World DIN 18202
As a GUSE standard, DIN 18202 is inherently subjective.
Thus, the questions one needs to ask as either a contractor or a test agency with a DIN 18202 standard up front:
- How do I find the highest and lowest point?
- Whose level do I use?
- How do I determine which direction to point the level?
- Since it is usually random, how many tests do I perform? (Common practice is to use the Divide by 10 rule.)
- How do I use this to accomplish the design intent on a project?
References:
DIN 18202 Tolerances in building construction – Buildings April of 1997
