A Nice long weekend to move a radiator and an plug socket!

[nrwilliams]

Hi,

So we had a nice long weekend, my plan was to move a radiator and a double socket and just take the bounce out of the floor in the dining room.

Started to investigate and it turned out it was going to be a much much larger project.

Exposing some of the joists revealed previous questionable repairs, including two new joists floating in the air, fence posts to replace joists and a lot of rotten wood.

So a panic decision on a Saturday afternoon resulted in a trip to Wickes on Sunday morning to purchase replacement joists! The old floor was stripped out. Eric the collie helped.

New joists laid out in position, damp course replace in all the holes in the walls and on the sleeper wall.

The wood burner will be going in the corner so I over engineered the floor a little here.

Floor boards went down as I went along, but pretty much finished.

So next weekend I might actually get to fit the new rads!

Nothing ever goes to plan.

 

[JohnD]

I really enjoy shovelling out the subfloor rubbish and sweeping it clean. Square-edged boards with countersunk screws make it so easy to take up a board next time.

I suppose it's too late now to lay insulation between the joists.

Hope you remembered to clean out the airbricks too.

 

[masona]

I really enjoy shovelling out the subfloor rubbish and sweeping it clean.

Should always be 100% clean from any brick rubbles or debris as this will allows the damp to penetrate and also reduce the air-flow, not sure it's done looking at the photo's. Insulation will stop draughts through the floor joints unless you're having carpet

Good job by the way

 

[nrwilliams]

Hi,

All the debris was cleared as we went so was as clean as could be.

The job was a bit of a panic so did not get a chance to insulate as I would like to but after all that work I still have to move a socket and fit two rads, so I might at that time insulate as well.

Thanks for looking.

 

[nrwilliams]

So last night I thought I might as well have a look under the floor in the other end of the room, as that had a little bounce as well.

It is one room now measring 7m x 4m. It was originally two rooms at 3.5m x 4m each with a chimney on the middle, the chimney has been taken down to floor level.

Anyway there was me all happy, it cant be any worse that what I have just seen. Oh how wrong was I.

Timbers so far look ok. Except the piece of transparent wood that has been used to replace a piece of joist.

Electrickery, well you can see the mass of wires, the it looks worse under the rest of the floor.

Plumbing, mmmmmmmm I count to many pipes so that needs further investigation.

The only bit that worries me is the pool of water on the sub floor, at least it did not smell like sewer. It smelt like washing machine and was very stagnant.

I really am not sure where to start with this problem, there is a drain on the outside of the wall right next to the pool of water, but thats the other side of a cavity wall.

Off to do some googling but any suggestions appreciated.

Thanks

 

[masona]

Well if it was me, I would take up more floorboards, clean all the debris, tidy up the wiring/plumbing. (also more sockets?) This is your only chance to do it properly. You will also find out better the reason for the pool of water

 

[derv1980]

We had a similar problem regarding water under the living room floor. I was convinced the fish tank was leaking or something cus it was that kind of smell. With a bit of investigation and also speaking to a neighbour we found out that the rain water downpipe only goes to a soakaway, and as our living room is the only suspended floor downstairs it was pooling there and going stagnant. for now i have chopped the downpipe and put a water butt there untill this bloody rain stops and i can get up there and divert the rainwater into the drain.