Bare floorboards in house/flat conversions

[saturn839]

Are there any regulations regarding going back to bare floorboards in house/flat conversions ?


I live in a basement flat.

My neighbours of 1 year in maisonette upstairs are complaining of cooking smells at night.
They can smell them 2 floors up at front house on first floor.
My kitchen is at rear of basement flat.


The people they bought property from removed flooring & went back to bare floorboards through whole property.

I have lived here 15+ years with 3 previous owners upstairs & never had anyone complain until this last year.
The house is Victorian, built in 1890s, split into 2 properties in mid 1980s.

I am not sure how reasonable they are being or just making mountain out of molehill & being over-sensitive.

Any ideas ??

 

[big-all]

heeelllooo and welcome saturn839
if only floor coverings removed then no building regs applicable
there are off course regulations to comply with as far as sound transference and as required by fire regulations

you may however have a covenant or similar on the deeds requiring a specific floor covering or not allowing another covering to avoid noise transference

 

[saturn839]

heeelllooo and welcome saturn839
if only floor coverings removed then no building regs applicable
there are off course regulations to comply with as far as sound transference and as required by fire regulations

you may however have a covenant or similar on the deeds requiring a specific floor covering or not allowing another covering to avoid noise transference

How does this work in an old house with bare floorboards ?

Do they just look or check anything ?

It's just bare floorboards in most of upstairs rooms, so what is there to check ?

There's nothing in the lease or property deeds about this.

 

[b3taman]

Firstly, are you doing a lot of cooking? Maybe the smell is coming from another property?
Do you have an extractor fan? Maybe the smells are drifting up and in through an open window upstairs.
Are there any visible cracks or gaps in your ceilings?
Do you get a lot of unwanted noise from your upstairs neighbours? Maybe you could suggest that they put down some laminate flooring or similar to form a better seal between the flats.
Best of luck!

 

[saturn839]

Firstly, are you doing a lot of cooking? Maybe the smell is coming from another property?
Do you have an extractor fan? Maybe the smells are drifting up and in through an open window upstairs.
Are there any visible cracks or gaps in your ceilings?
Do you get a lot of unwanted noise from your upstairs neighbours? Maybe you could suggest that they put down some laminate flooring or similar to form a better seal between the flats.
Best of luck!

No, I'm not doing lot of cooking, but I do cook late at night sometimes.

I've got a cooker hood fan, but it's not an extractor type & does not ventilate out of kitchen to outside.

Their floors are bare floorboards, there going to be porous, full of holes/gaps which will let gas & cooking smells through.

Any drafts will pull air through house from my basement back kitchen to top front of house. The house is on a hill, so there maybe a natural airflow between back & front of house.

The only physical seal is my ceiling & their floor which is now mostly bare.

So 1/2 of the physical seal is gone.

Yes, I do get unwanted noise, but just accept it as part of living in a shared property. In one part of my flat I can virtually hear them speaking.

Hot air & cooking smells are always going to rise, that's just part of living in a shared property.

 

[HERTS P&D]

Tell them that you have lived there for 15 years and they are the first people to complain.

Advise them they can hardboard their floor and put carpet down.

Andy

 

[Nige F]

[, but I do cook late at night sometimes.

.

Guilty , M`lud

 

[luisdesign]

Whilst proper ventilation is a major factor in new flats or new conversions of properties to flats the regulations that cover fire separation and sound separation are usually enough to also prevent the passage of smells.

The trouble with older conversions is that they may not have been subject to the same sort of regulations - or may have originally been done illegally. Also, once flats exist owners have a habit of making changes without realising the consequences (much like in this case of pulling up floor coverings).

One concern would be that if smells are permeating up through the building it is likely the flats are also not fire separated. Gaps that smells get through can also allow smoke through to the upstairs.

Are the properties rented?



So what are the options? Well the neighbours choice can be to put a floor covering down. Unlike making noise, I don't think they can stop you from cooking! so if they want to stop the smell they can take steps to do it. They may not like when you cook but they have to understand that people run different lives - if you happen to work odd shifts or what have you then you wouldn't even have a choice.

Otherwise, you can ensure your ceilings are sealed, someone already mentioned about checking for cracks or holes. These can be filled. You can also check for air bricks - particularly ones within chimney breasts that will run up the house. You should not block these off but you can add a vent that you can close when cooking. If a neighbour is getting smels via a chimney then it is likely the flue has an issue, ie, it is blocked or in desperate need of a clean!

You could choose to bring the separation up to current standard but that would be the most costly and to be honest I can't see why you'd want to shoulder all of that yourself - It will stop the noise from above, but it will benefit them more because they get rid of the smells and benefit from fire separation (a fire from above will still burn through the floor downwards though!).[/i]