Change of floor. Building regs required?

[HawkEye244]

It's a ground floor flat. The joists sit on timber which are bedded in concrete.

If I ripped out the solid floor and replaced with a sub-base (chipboard or ply for example) and then fitted a floor finish e.g. laminate? Is this notifiable under BG because the sub-base would be drilled to the joists which are in theory structural?

 

[Doggit]

Sorry HawkEye, but your description is a little difficult to comprehend, so pictures please. A wall is structural, but a floor isn't; unless they are tied in to each other, so I expect it won;t be notifiable.

But why can't you just add the laminate to the existing floor.

 

[HawkEye244]

Right so joists are 50x50mm at mostly 300 centres.

Flooring is t&g 18mm solid oak.

I was thinking about taking it up in just the hallway where the boards are most noisy and re-laying 18mm plywood with the laminate on top.

I know people here will say why take out such a nice floor? Well I will stack it in store and re-use it in the future. Definitely will NOT skip it.

I don't know how to de-squeek such an old floor and make it look nice. I'd need someone to come in and do it properly and there's no money for that right now.

Just considering my options really.

What do you think Doggs ?

I could put laminate on top I suppose but would that eliminate a noticeable amount of the noise?

 

[Nakajo]

What problem are you trying to solve?

 

[HawkEye244]

Good question. In theory I want it to look nice and to eliminate the squeak as much as possible. We may be selling and moving on and I feel the hallway floor really needs a spruce and would be more attractive to a potential buyer.

 

[geraldthehamster]

A worn oak floor would be more attractive to me, as a buyer, than cheap laminate.

Cheers
Richard

 

[Nige F]

If you can pin down the squeak you might get away with some talc down the gaps in the boards

 

[HawkEye244]

Yeah ****ing about with talcum powder is not going to solve the problem.

Gerald as I've already said the floor is in a p1ss poor state and has been cut up to fit pipes over the years. It's not attractive in the slightest.

 

[geraldthehamster]

Put some cheap carpet down then. Laminate, just say no.

 

[HawkEye244]

Your opinion on the laminate though gerald. Laminate is in most properties now, and most people find it acceptable.

I understand your sentiments but I don't think that's reality these days.

 

[geraldthehamster]

Are you going to be putting in expensive, good quality engineered laminate flooring just to sell the house, or cheap stuff? If you're going for a cheap tart-up (as I would), I'd go for carpet. Cheap laminate looks dreadful, it's never going to be a selling point.

 

[HawkEye244]

Fair comment I suppose. I'll look into carpet. Thickest possible underlay then to muffle the squeaks?

 

[Doggit]

Actually HawkEye, talc is a well tried solution to getting rid of a sqeak, it takes out the fricton between the boards that squeek, but I don't know how long the solution lasts.

Laminate is a well accepted nowadays, but trust me, it's nowhere near the quality of an oak floor, and I suspect even with the sqeek, it would be a vote winner - ask the estate agents.

The squeek comes from movement, and if you can find out where the movement is, and eliminate it, then you could hire a sander to clean the floor up, varnish it, and you'd have a million dollar floor. It may be as simple as putting in a couple of wedges under the joists to stop them dropping/moving, but taking up the boards may well ruin the tounges, so part of me would suggest you actually leave well alone, and just hire the sander - unless there's enough floorboard to warrant taking it with you of course.

 

[HawkEye244]

It runs through into 2 bedrooms and the lounge. That's the trouble if I sanded and treated the hallway I have to do the whole lot. I don't have the confidence to do a suitable repair. In places it is chipped up or gashed. I'd probably need to get some extra from a timber reclemation yard. It's just outside my skill set I have to be honest with myself. I could be weeks doing it and I don't think I'd get it right. I sense I would start out trying to wedge here and there and push the problem on elsewhere. Specialists in this area are a fortune and it's justified.

If there's a step by step approach I can follow then maybe I'd have a chance but not on my own with just my own brain for company.

 

[Doggit]

Sanding an oak floor isn't difficult, (just dusty) though the edges need a little carful work, and the corners are done by hand, but even with the cost of hiring everything, it'll still be cheaper than the laminate, and unlike the laminate, it will add value to the property. Oak flooring is about £40 per sqm plus, so that should show you the difference in the two finishes. If you're doing it up to sell it, it'll add far more value to the property than a laminate floor will. Have a look on youtube for sanding an oak floor, and then decide. If the damage isn't too bad, then they can be forgiven as it's partially what you expect from an old floor, but there a lot of fillers that you can get to help sort out the floor, and a lot of the filling will blend in when you sand and oil or varnish the floor.

Post a few pictures of the damaged bits though,