Joist level help please??.

[bulltaco]

Hello,
I'm renovating a 1920s brick built end terrace house and am well advanced with things - cavities, solum, blown plaster, remove damp concrete floors, knock through walls, etc.
What degree of accuracy do I need to work to when putting in and levelling the new joists on the ground floor?. The living/dining area will need two lengths to stretch from front to back. The scarcement walls and sleeper walls are pretty rough on the tops with bits of old lime mortar and slate having been used originally. No wall plates have been used in the original, and what seems to have been liquid bitumen as DPC is flaked off.
Is there a modern product that could be used to fill the frogs and level off the scarcement/sleeper walls?.
Cheers,
Bulltaco.

 

[splinter]

Could'nt you take off one course of bricks put down a DPCand bed a wall-plate down on a mortar mix

 

[bulltaco]

Thanks, that's one option in the main room but wouldn't work in the other half where joists pass through holes in the internal walls.
My real question is - do the joists have to be dead level in both planes or do I have some leeway with that??.
George.

 

[splinter]

I suppose it is what you are happy with at the end of the day.But it would be benificial to get them level now while you have a mind to do it ,you might want to sell the house in the future.
I would have thought that you could elongate the holes and temporary prop the joists and put a strong mix of mortar and piece/s of slate under each joist

 

[bulltaco]

Sometimes you can't see the wood for the trees, I didn't think about that!. It's clear now that I have to spend a bit of time levelling off the first one properly then work off that. I've done lots of work in several houses we've had over the years but never stripped down to a shell like this before and it can be slightly mind frazzling at times!.
Many thanks.

 

[andymarshal]

Hi,

You really need to get the floor as level as you can, as its suprising how much you can feel under foot. As a prvious poster siad i would knock the top course of bricks off and level the wall and fix a wall plate.

And again where the joists pass through holes in the wall, do what splinter said.

Also its usual for joists to have a round edge so make sure you get that the right way up.

If you replacing a rotten floor it may be worth buying tanalised joists and floorboards.

Also if the floor is rotten you definatley have to establish why, ie not enough airbricks and airflow and remeby the cause.

If you need anymore help then let me know.

Andy

 

[bulltaco]

Cheers Andy,
The rot came from wall cavities filled in places to about 6" above DPC, flower beds about 12" above DPC/air bricks and wet earth solum touching joists in some places. These 104 houses were thrown up pretty quickly and cheaply to house workers in a new aluminium factory in 1924.
I'm extremely grateful for all this advice. As I said above, being immersed for the past 6 months in what is for me a major project (at age 61), and stripping the house out to a shell before starting to renovate, I'm so close to the action it gets a bit mind frazzling sometimes!.
The consolation is that after looking at other similar properties up the road which are being renovated by builders and hearing the prices charged, I reckon I've saved at least £10,000 in labour costs so far and I'm doing a better job all round!. I've done the wall cavities, taken out a concrete floor in the kitchen, dug out, DPM'd and concreted all the solums,repointed internal walls (was very poor lime mortar) bought all the joists, taken down all the wet and blown plaster walls and ceilings, taken out a redundant chimney for an old wash boiler,put in air bricks and am in the process of installing a 4m RSJ to remove a dividing wall (got Building Warrant!) and including buying a good Makita SDS max breaker/drill, 9" angle grinder, 6 acrows, trestles and all materials I've only spent about £700 so far. The downside of DIY of course is that when I tackle some new operation it takes me ages sometimes just to work out all the pros and cons where a professional would have previous experience to call on.
Many thanks again to both of you.
George.