Joist Span too far apart with infilled concrete

[newman12]

Hello,

I have been getting work done on my living room and found out the joist span I have in the living room is too far apart in a small section of the room with concrete infilled between the joists. Weirdly the majority of the floor is fine without concrete infilled between joists but just about 1.5 meters of floorboards from the doorway across the entire width of the room is like this.

The span in the wide area is 800mm, the house is very old and the floorboards are very thick so I've not noticed much bounce when the carpet was on top of the floorboards until taking the carpet up. I was planning on sanding the floorboards down instead of putting carpet back on top, I was wondering if there's anything I can do to help support this wider area? Or if I just need to get some quotes on removing the concrete and adding additional joists for that area.

Thanks,

 

[blup]

That area might have historically been a hearth or kitchen hardstanding. If its damp chop it out, if not does it all need to come out if it can be covered by and sit under suitably protected floorboards.

Blup

 

[newman12]

It's not damp at all, I have floorboards that span the entire width of the room and they feel fine but one probably has been replaced in the past as it's not full sized so there's a slight bounce to it as it seems the edges are over the joists. It's not to the point it's really bad probably due to the thickness of the board but noticeable compared to the rest without carpet over the top. I was wondering if I could attach something to the concrete in the middle of the board so it's got less bounce and fix the middle of the board to that.

 

[foxhole]

Photo might help

 

[newman12]

So after removing some more floorboards I can confirm that the joists are too far apart for a small section of the floor. The rest of the floor the joist spacing is fine but I do have some damp issues towards the front of the house. Weirdly part of the floor with the span too far apart has space between the joists but there's another section where it looks like the joists are directly inside of the concrete and have rotted slightly due to probably pulling the moisture out of the concrete. The other side of the room is a void. I actually have airbricks at the front of the house but I can't see them through the void. I've attached some photos so you can see a bit clearer but I have no clue what to do and have some people coming to take a look as it's very strange. It's hard to tell but there are joists on that small strip of floorboard which I removed that are very slightly above the concrete without any gaps like the start of the room does and are a bit damp.

I'm not sure if the best thing to do would be concrete the entire floor or remove the concrete that's currently there and properly ventilate the subfloor.

I spoke to my next door neighbour who has over the past year had a lot of work done on his house as I thought he may know more and in his hallway there are floorboards and then concrete flush with each other on the other side of the wall in the photograph. He said he has never removed the flooring so it must have always been like that in that house but someone in my house has tried to floorboard the entire area so cut some holes to put some joists inside of. Bit of a nightmare but if anyone has any thoughts please let me know.

I am also going to call an electrician as I assume it being done like that is quite dangerous and even more so with damp.