DIN 18202

Section 5 of the German DIN 18202 (General Building Specification) relates to flatness tolerances of the surfaces of floors, ceilings, screeds and walls. Group 3 and 4 of Table 3 relate to finished floors and gives the deviation limits for variable gauge lengths.

Table 3: Flatness tolerances

Column	1	2	3	4	5	6
Group	Applicable to	Position deviations (limit values). In mm, for distances between measuring points, in m, up to
		0.1	1 *	4 *	10 *	15 * †
1	Unfinished upper surfaces of floors, subfloors and concrete bases.	10	15	20	25	30
2	Unfinished upper surfaces of floors, subfloors and concrete bases subject to more stringent requirements (e.g to receive floating screed, industrial floors, tile flooring and bonded screed), and finished surfaces for minor purposes (e.g. in storerooms or basements)	5	8	12	15	20
3	Finished floors (e.g. screed as wearing courses or screed to receive a flooring, trowelled or bonded floorings)	2	4	10	12	15
4	As group 3, but subject to more stringent requirements	1	3	9	12	15
5	Unfinished walls and unfinished ceilings	5	10	15	20	25
6	Finished walls and ceilings (e.g. plastered walls, wall claddings and linings, suspended ceilings)	3	5	10	20	25
7	As group 6, but subject to more stringent requirements	2	3	8	15	20

* Intermediate values shall be taken from figures 1 and 2, and shall be given to the nearest millimetre.

† The flatness tolerances in column 6 also apply to distances between measuring points over 15m.

Table 3 indicates 5 lengths to consider; 0.1m, 1.0m, 4m, 10m and 15m. In contrast a graph on the following page of the document (figure 1) shows an infinite number of gauge lengths which can be used to check compliance with the specification, checking them all would be cost prohibitive. Face Consultants therefore decided that our Din Meter would check compliance with 3 gauge lengths; 1m, 2m and 4m mean lines.

How the deviation from the mean lines is calculated is explained in our Further explanatory information document.

DIN 18202 does not specify how to conduct a survey to check compliance with these limits should be conducted. It can be checked using straightedges of the appropriate length or by using an optical level; but both of these processes are relatively imprecise and extremely laborious. For continuous measurement of DIN 18202, the FACE DIN Meter is used: the DIN Meter is a wheeled instrument that travels across the floor taking continuous readings as it does so.

An easily legible graph is produced for each mean line – when the floor complies with the limits defined by the specification the graph is green and when it does not comply, the graph is red.

Note: In Table 3, Groups 3 and 4 relate to floor flatness, the rest is a general building specification.

The Face DINmeter

The Face Din Meter

The DINmeter can be used to quickly survey a floor to the DIN 18202 specification. Data is collected by the device before being downloaded to a handheld device for analysis.