Confused - my floor! Slope?

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Hi,

I want to have bare floorboards on my ground floor. I have a large crawl space underneath my 1939 terraced house.

I recently took out fireplace and put a skirting on (see picture). The skirting board is almost plumb, if anything it’s going with the slope a little bit.

The rest of the floor is level.

as you can see in the pic, the boards to the right are almost an inch higher. It looks very noticeable.

so I suspected rotten joists (they run forward and back, not side to side)

just got boards up and the joists are fine. Beautiful, no rot, they are oak and look lovely. The crawl space is so dry it’s mummified.

the concrete in the middle is the chimney breast. It looks like it might slope a bit?

From the right side, the floor slopes down slightly but just at the chimney breast bit into the concrete.

It slopes away left a bit after as well. Only a tiny bit.

the house is on a slope and it’s going with the slope.

this is not happening at any other part of the floor. There is a room to the left which is totally level

I just can’t work out what’s going on.
House settling? Poor work when it was built? As I say, level on the rest of the floor is pretty much plumb level everywhere.

I guess I can rip off the skirting and just sand the boards on the right down till they are level? I’d really like to understand what’s going on though.

can anyone explain what it is, or what to look for underneath to see what might be happening?

thanks
 

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Dylan123, good evening.

A couple of thoughts?

Easy fix, get some quarter round moldings and fit them, you may find that as you remove the carpets more small areas such as you describe may be located?

More of a fiddle, remove the skirting and fit / trim a strip of timber yo the bottom edge of the skirting then re-fit the skirting.

Last, probably least practical?? can you get a taller skirting made in the same profile? [probably not?] if it exists you could trim to the uneven floor but maintain the top line of the skirting.

Such a [dare I say it] minor discrepancy is common around fire places

Caution, if you are removing the carpets, the room may feel colder, if you can suggest installing under floor insulation of some sort??

Ken.
 
How old is the house?
Many old houses didn't really have "proper" foundations while being perfectly safe then and now.
It's possible that there's been a bit of movement in the past, nothing to worry about, and the house has just settled.

The original woodwork may have been put up by eye and replaced with a spirit level.
Like replacing one piece of old wood with a new one, it can just draw attention to the other.

Easiest thing is some trim
 
How old is the house?
Many old houses didn't really have "proper" foundations while being perfectly safe then and now.
It's possible that there's been a bit of movement in the past, nothing to worry about, and the house has just settled.

The original woodwork may have been put up by eye and replaced with a spirit level.
Like replacing one piece of old wood with a new one, it can just draw attention to the other.

Easiest thing is some trim

ok so I don’t know what trim is but my friend google will help!

its 1939, the builders signed the chimney stack in the loft - it’s my favourite thing about the house. I wonder if those lads were off to war the next year? I doubt you’d find redrow signing their work these days!
 
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Dylan123, good evening.

A couple of thoughts?

Easy fix, get some quarter round moldings and fit them, you may find that as you remove the carpets more small areas such as you describe may be located?

More of a fiddle, remove the skirting and fit / trim a strip of timber yo the bottom edge of the skirting then re-fit the skirting.

Last, probably least practical?? can you get a taller skirting made in the same profile? [probably not?] if it exists you could trim to the uneven floor but maintain the top line of the skirting.

Such a [dare I say it] minor discrepancy is common around fire places

Caution, if you are removing the carpets, the room may feel colder, if you can suggest installing under floor insulation of some sort??

Ken.

thank you. I will go with the trim once I work out what it is! I assumed the slope will just make it always seem ****ed. To compensate I would need to drink more beer (never a chore but my wife wouldn’t like it!)

I am intending on getting under the boards and batoning some batts between the joists, and stuffing mineral wool up the sides.

I wonder if you can help - I read you need a vapour barrier? To stop the joists rotting? Is this unnecessary?

I also read if you want to sell house, ground floor insulation is a building regs job and it would upset the conveyancing. Any idea of this? My wife is foreign and we may emigrate next 5-10 years.

glad to hear this discrepancy is common and not a big deal! I just can’t work out what’s going on.
 
Thr trim mentioned above is often known as Scotia beading. It's basically a batten with one edge 'scooped' out along it's length Commonly used to hide the gap between skirting boards and laminate flooring.

You can get it at most DIY shops such as B&Q (see link below)

GoodHome DECOR 175 Wood effect Scotia trim, 220cm | DIY at B&Q

ah - scotia trim! Used it in my bathroom.

i don’t think it’s going to work - if you see in a bit more detail below it is too big on one side. I guess you can get bigger versions? I may need a bit of wood to fill the gap in the floor too
image.jpg
image.jpg
 
I’ve seen far bigger gaps on old places between skirting and exposed floorboards. I think it looks fine and would leave it. Or if it really bothers you redo the skirting and scribe it. I wouldn’t scotia bead it as it looks rubbish, reminds me of quick fix laminate flooring jobs.
 
Or if it really bothers you redo the skirting and scribe it. I wouldn’t scotia bead it as it looks rubbish, reminds me of quick fix laminate flooring jobs.
Wot he said.
I replaced the skirting in previous house and scribed as no floor was level. Pain but was worth it
 

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