1st floor flat in old house - flooring options

[welsh]

Hello all, I was after some advice if possible. I live in a 1870 house converted into 5 flats. I live on the first floor. In the lounge, when you walk and put weight onto the floor the bookshelf in the corner rocks as well. I am looking to replace the 20 years old carpet as was wondering what would do you think. Would laminate be too noise as downstairs is someones bedroom. what about engineered wood, more expensive but wold this be quieter? Also would the original floor boards stay or should they be removed? Would a good underlay and carpet be a better option. The mrs wants wooden flooring but i am am concerned about noise and movement. Also my home cinema setup is in the lounge, is it worth putting fibre glass or modern equivalent between the joists?

Also is it worth ( i would like to do this) to take up the floor boards and try and reinforce the joists somehow. Could i put in noggins or whatever they are called. how far apart should they go, does anyone have a guide to doing this?

thanks in advance

 

[MarkBarl]

If your floor is bouncing as it sounds like it is, putting a floor covering down will not fix this. The issue is, that there is movement in the floor and the needs to be sorted before you do anything else. Are the floor joists your responsibility? I would imagine that the best solution would to be run new joists alongside the old and tied into the old, as you would not have to take the ceiling below down. How you do this, in practice, others better qualified than myself would be able to tell you. This would to my mind be a structural issue hence my question about responsibility.

 

[JohnD]

wooden flooring will be far too noisy for the people below. They will probably kill you.

 

[welsh]

hmmm this would be structural, not too sure on responsibilty then. Obviously decorating is my responsibilty but the joists are part are the structure of the house. Does that mean everyone should pay then

So a new wooden flor is not a good idea then ? Even with the limited sound proofing i could do

 

[JohnD]

you could take up a few boards and try to see why the floor is giving way. You never know, it might be something easy to fix. Might be a joist notched by a plumber with a chainsaw. Might be something so serious that it can't wait

Maybe you could take some pics and measurements for us to look at?

 

[welsh]

ok i will do, thanks for your help

 

[Symptoms]

Welsh - when was the house converted? As you're in London if the conversion was done before the GLC was scrapped the appropriate permissions had to be obtained from their local office in addition to the local council. The GLC were strict about prevention of transmission of sound through floors in conversions, and imposed measures to minimise problems. They often required the voids between floor & ceiling to be filled with something like vermiculite (designed to increase the mass of the floor & cut down on sound transmission through the air in the void). They also demanded accoustic quilting to be laid over an existing wooden floor and a secondary 'floating' floor to be installed over the quilt, this minimised impact sound (noise of feet, etc). The exceptions to this rule were rooms over kitchens and bathrooms. Rooms over bedrooms & living rooms had to have the treatment. You may find the above when you peel back a bit of the carpet. If none of the above has been done and you are bullied into putting in a wooden floor then you should follow the GLC standard to prevent making the neighbour's lives a noisy nightmare. Cheaper option replace the carpet with a decent underlay and new carpet.

Bouncy floor - probably a loose board or two where the guys who converted the house didn't fix then down properly; they likely used round wire or oval nails 'cos they were to hand and now the boards have loosened over the years. Fix them with screws (observe the usual precautions re pipes & cables). If it's a joist problem check the ceiling in the flat below for cracks in that area - if the joist is moving the ceiling will give it away.

 

[welsh]

the flat was converted in the mid 80's and yes its in london. No sound proffing at all. checked downstairs and cant see any cracks in the ceiling. gonna check the floor boards soon. cheers

 

[JohnD]

plumber's notch, I bet.

 

[welsh]

hmm may well be. Looking to get some herringbone struts. The joists are 400mm apart and the room is 3.2m wide. So i assume there will be 8 joists running for about 6m. How many struts should i get, 3 per span so that would be 3.8 = 24? Is that overkill? Also i can screw these down as nailing will damage the celing downstairs i am sure.

also whats the best material to pack betwee nthe joist to remove sound, just some stuff from b and q ?

thanks

 

[Symptoms]

Loose fill material 'cos it'll fill all the inaccessable places (around the bracing you're going to put in - & yes, always use screws so a s not to damage the ceiling below). Remember, if the air can get in or through then so can sound so you have to combat airborne sound with the loose fill. The impact sound has to be dealt with using acoustic quilt (underlay, pads, sheeting designed for the purpose) not loft insulation got from B&Q. Google for info & suppliers in your area. Remember the GLC standard!