hi
our lounge is carpeted and we are looking at nailing an oak floor down however before i do that i want to remedy a problem with the springy / knocking sound i get in certain areas when the floor is walked on.
the room is 8 mtrs long x 4 mtrs wide. the floorboards run widthways. i took a few of them up to check on how things are underneath and all looks dry and in good condition. no rot that i could see.
the floorboards are nailed to joists that run lengthways not sure if they run the full 8mtr length or if they will be joined at some point?.
these length joists are then resting on to some mortar and another joist that runs widthways and these in turn sit on some damp proof material more mortar and a small 2 (visible) brick wall which runs the width of the room. these dwarf walls are spaced at approx 2 mtrs apart before the next one.
the dwarf wall with the joist on it appears to be level across the 4mtr span however the lenghtway joists that sit on top of it show a gap in the middle area of about 5mm which when walked on causes the floorboards and the top joist to knock onto the widthways joist.
when you see this transferred onto the floorboards above it does make everything wobble as it is moveed around on.
sorry to go on but hard to explain!
my question is can i put some packing into the gap to stop the knock or should the joists be taken up and reset in mortar? to the required level.(major job)
its just that once i nail the oak floor down i waont want to be lifting it!
it seems worse at one end of the room but there is also a knock exactly in the middle.
if packing it out is the answer, what sort of material would be good. i thought maybe some lengths of the damp prrof material which looks like the sort of stuff you put on flat roofs. as this could be slid into the gap and then nailed to the joist to stop it moving? and has a small amount of cushioning.
anyway over to the experts
our lounge is carpeted and we are looking at nailing an oak floor down however before i do that i want to remedy a problem with the springy / knocking sound i get in certain areas when the floor is walked on.
the room is 8 mtrs long x 4 mtrs wide. the floorboards run widthways. i took a few of them up to check on how things are underneath and all looks dry and in good condition. no rot that i could see.
the floorboards are nailed to joists that run lengthways not sure if they run the full 8mtr length or if they will be joined at some point?.
these length joists are then resting on to some mortar and another joist that runs widthways and these in turn sit on some damp proof material more mortar and a small 2 (visible) brick wall which runs the width of the room. these dwarf walls are spaced at approx 2 mtrs apart before the next one.
the dwarf wall with the joist on it appears to be level across the 4mtr span however the lenghtway joists that sit on top of it show a gap in the middle area of about 5mm which when walked on causes the floorboards and the top joist to knock onto the widthways joist.
when you see this transferred onto the floorboards above it does make everything wobble as it is moveed around on.
sorry to go on but hard to explain!
my question is can i put some packing into the gap to stop the knock or should the joists be taken up and reset in mortar? to the required level.(major job)
its just that once i nail the oak floor down i waont want to be lifting it!
it seems worse at one end of the room but there is also a knock exactly in the middle.
if packing it out is the answer, what sort of material would be good. i thought maybe some lengths of the damp prrof material which looks like the sort of stuff you put on flat roofs. as this could be slid into the gap and then nailed to the joist to stop it moving? and has a small amount of cushioning.
anyway over to the experts