Hi all, I have been reading lots of threads on here, but none have answered my problem specifically. Its my first post here, I appreciate this might be a bit detailed, but I thought as much info upfront as possible must be better.
Here is my problem, I have two bed detached Victorian cottage. The house was built on an incline, with the kitchen at the back being about a half a meter lower than the lounge at the front, with these rooms separated by the dining room. Due to previous owners not looking after the property correctly, the outside concrete was built higher than the damp proof course which over the years caused the floor joists to rot at the ends. Someone then decided to fill in the lounge floor space with concrete. The dining room still has a crawl space under it which is ventilated and dry. There are dwarf walls supporting this floor.
When we moved in the floor was laminated, but I could always tell there was something "wrong" with it. When we took the laminate up we found that the floor boards in a poor state. They are not the standard floorboard thickness, they are about 15-18mm, they were really dry and brittle they snapped and splintered really easily. Underneath those I found that a previous "repair" to the joists, it consisted of sawing the ends of the joists off, so that they no longer met the wall by about foot all around. The floor was only supported by the dwarf walls underneath, that what was "wrong" with the floor it wasn't firm. So with the advice and help of a builder friend we lengthened the joists back to meet the wall then and put in 4*2 wall mounts under the joists so it was now supported. Here is where I made the mistake. I didn't take the whole floor up, I could put the wall mounts in without taking it all up, so I did. I know, I wish I had. Anyway, I then put the floor boards back and then put 18mm ply over that and screwed it all down tight and firm. Except that the floor is not flat, the middle joist runs higher from one side of the house to the other. There is a bulge, right in the middle of the floor. I want to put down solid oak flooring, which I have already bought, it wont go over this bulge which is about inch higher in the middle than at the front of the room and back of the room. I guess the joist is twisted?
I believe I have two choices, firstly take the whole floor up and level all the joists or replace them. If I do this I know that the floorboards will not survive, what could I put down in their place? Chipboard or plywood, what thickness? The 18mm can go back down again over the top can't it? Would I need to screw the first lot of plywood down then screw the top layer down too, or is it ok to screw through both layers. If I did this, then this time I would also insulate the floor, but doing this at the beginning of winter sounds like a cold job! My wife really hates the cold.
My second choice is to build up the floor either side of the bulge, using roofing felt and self levelling compound, to me this feels like bodging the job, but seems quicker and less expensive and warmer? I guess a third choice is to fill with concrete? But that will take ages to dry and my solid oak wood floor will have to wait forever!!
Money is a major issue, or rather lack of it. Incidentally, I have cut french drains in the concrete around the house and used an injectable chemical dpc to stop the damp problem from reoccurring.
I know I should have taken the whole floor up the first time, but around the edges of the floor it was flat and was not a problem and with loose floorboards everywhere the bulge wasn't that obvious until the plywood was screwed down. Any advice would be gratefully received.
Here is my problem, I have two bed detached Victorian cottage. The house was built on an incline, with the kitchen at the back being about a half a meter lower than the lounge at the front, with these rooms separated by the dining room. Due to previous owners not looking after the property correctly, the outside concrete was built higher than the damp proof course which over the years caused the floor joists to rot at the ends. Someone then decided to fill in the lounge floor space with concrete. The dining room still has a crawl space under it which is ventilated and dry. There are dwarf walls supporting this floor.
When we moved in the floor was laminated, but I could always tell there was something "wrong" with it. When we took the laminate up we found that the floor boards in a poor state. They are not the standard floorboard thickness, they are about 15-18mm, they were really dry and brittle they snapped and splintered really easily. Underneath those I found that a previous "repair" to the joists, it consisted of sawing the ends of the joists off, so that they no longer met the wall by about foot all around. The floor was only supported by the dwarf walls underneath, that what was "wrong" with the floor it wasn't firm. So with the advice and help of a builder friend we lengthened the joists back to meet the wall then and put in 4*2 wall mounts under the joists so it was now supported. Here is where I made the mistake. I didn't take the whole floor up, I could put the wall mounts in without taking it all up, so I did. I know, I wish I had. Anyway, I then put the floor boards back and then put 18mm ply over that and screwed it all down tight and firm. Except that the floor is not flat, the middle joist runs higher from one side of the house to the other. There is a bulge, right in the middle of the floor. I want to put down solid oak flooring, which I have already bought, it wont go over this bulge which is about inch higher in the middle than at the front of the room and back of the room. I guess the joist is twisted?
I believe I have two choices, firstly take the whole floor up and level all the joists or replace them. If I do this I know that the floorboards will not survive, what could I put down in their place? Chipboard or plywood, what thickness? The 18mm can go back down again over the top can't it? Would I need to screw the first lot of plywood down then screw the top layer down too, or is it ok to screw through both layers. If I did this, then this time I would also insulate the floor, but doing this at the beginning of winter sounds like a cold job! My wife really hates the cold.
My second choice is to build up the floor either side of the bulge, using roofing felt and self levelling compound, to me this feels like bodging the job, but seems quicker and less expensive and warmer? I guess a third choice is to fill with concrete? But that will take ages to dry and my solid oak wood floor will have to wait forever!!
Money is a major issue, or rather lack of it. Incidentally, I have cut french drains in the concrete around the house and used an injectable chemical dpc to stop the damp problem from reoccurring.
I know I should have taken the whole floor up the first time, but around the edges of the floor it was flat and was not a problem and with loose floorboards everywhere the bulge wasn't that obvious until the plywood was screwed down. Any advice would be gratefully received.
