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Hi, I've read several posts on here but can't quite find what info I need, so hopefully someone will read this and be helpful!!
We have a random stone built 1860s cottage with a suspended timber floor in the living room. Many of the boards have rotten (several patch jobs done over the years) and so have the joists, especially where they were simply pushed into the wall. We've had a chemical dpc injected and had boards up for new central heating so had a good look then. What has happened is someone has chocked the joists up on piles of half bricks at random intervals- no mortar or dpm, and the floor is terribly un level and bounces. There is no sleeper wall in the middle, the room measures approx 15' by 13'. The joists run accross the 13' length.
We want to pull it all out and put in new joists and t&g floor boards (which will be varnished), and put in whatever is required to support it all properly, and the correct damp proofing etc.
My questions are:
1. Do I need a sleeper wall to run under the middle of the floor to support the middle of the new joists? Or will new treated timber joists prevent this anyway, as the old ones must be weak and flimsey?
2. What is the best way to support the joist ends at the walls? I was considering building a sleeper wall beside each wall of the house, topped with dpm and wall plate, so that the new joists don't actually come into contact with the (damp) wall of the house. The new injected dpc is at floor level, so would be above the joists
Or can I just screw a timber wall plate to the stone wall, and if so how would I damp proof it??
3. If sleeper walls are the way to do it, is it ok to build these straight onto the ground under the floor - it is just a load of earth and rubble and rubbish. Or do I need some kind of foundation first?
Thanks in advance!!
We have a random stone built 1860s cottage with a suspended timber floor in the living room. Many of the boards have rotten (several patch jobs done over the years) and so have the joists, especially where they were simply pushed into the wall. We've had a chemical dpc injected and had boards up for new central heating so had a good look then. What has happened is someone has chocked the joists up on piles of half bricks at random intervals- no mortar or dpm, and the floor is terribly un level and bounces. There is no sleeper wall in the middle, the room measures approx 15' by 13'. The joists run accross the 13' length.
We want to pull it all out and put in new joists and t&g floor boards (which will be varnished), and put in whatever is required to support it all properly, and the correct damp proofing etc.
My questions are:
1. Do I need a sleeper wall to run under the middle of the floor to support the middle of the new joists? Or will new treated timber joists prevent this anyway, as the old ones must be weak and flimsey?
2. What is the best way to support the joist ends at the walls? I was considering building a sleeper wall beside each wall of the house, topped with dpm and wall plate, so that the new joists don't actually come into contact with the (damp) wall of the house. The new injected dpc is at floor level, so would be above the joists
Or can I just screw a timber wall plate to the stone wall, and if so how would I damp proof it??
3. If sleeper walls are the way to do it, is it ok to build these straight onto the ground under the floor - it is just a load of earth and rubble and rubbish. Or do I need some kind of foundation first?
Thanks in advance!!