levelling joists that have pipes running over/through them

[vexeddaddy]

Hello good people of DIYnot!

I've normally found the answers to my problems on here, but this time I'm stuck! Its my first post so take it easy on me!

My problem is, that I'm trying to level the floor in my landing. The floor joists are 7" by 1 1/2" and as a result they have sagged. The house is a stone walled house, with parts of it probably over 200/300 years old, so I'm not aiming for perfection.

Hopefully you can see in this photo whats causing the problem. The pipes are running through notches on top of the joists. There's also plenty of wiring running through them too. I'd love to be able to bolt sister joists to the original joists and run them level, but I can't get a 5' length of timber with all the pipes/wiring in place (with slightly deeper notches allowing me to level the floor). As the floor dips in the middle (both across the joists and along them), trying to shim the floor level with slips of wood is going to be difficult too.

Untitled

• vexeddaddy
• 7 Mar 2014
• 1

Would I be best to cut more notches into the existing joists and try to slot in notched lengths of wood that run parallel to the wires/plumbing? Should I cut the sister joists, and bolt them in place in pieces with some steel plate as reinforcement over the joints? I'm running out of ideas. I'd have been quicker building a new house! lol

Regards

Stephen

 

[ree]

Perhaps you should live with it. In cutting out and lifting the tongue and grooved floorboards you have already caused yourself some difficulties.
Patching in remedial bits here and there could cause further problems.

What you can do, now the pipework is exposed, is to individually clip each pipe at each joist, and insert thin wraps of insulation say, wherever pipes are touching or liable to rub against each other as they expand and contract.

Before replacing any boards carefully mark the position of all pipes and cables. Face screwing in pre-drilled pilot holes is the best way of re-fixing.
You might also have to fix new batten stubs, and cleats, to catch board cuts that have been left flying.

 

[skhudy]

look like straight edge floorboards.. Pretty common in the UK in old houses.

Bit of a hatchet job on the joists, which is why I guess is why the original boards have been replaced with larger pieces of chipboard or plywood (which is it?).

If you put a level on the joist do they actually dip in the middle? or is it when the boards are in place above, they sag when walking on it i.e they dont have the support from beneath?

It is the ground floor? is there any clearance from the joists to the ground?

 

[vexeddaddy]

thanks for the replies folks.

Ree, the T&G boards had to be lifted out to gain access to the pipes so a boiler stove could be plumbed in correctly. A double radiator was added to the back wall too. It was always on the cards to try and level this floor as it was so far off. I'd rather have knocked a couple of jobs off the list before I had to do this, but its a case of one step forward and ten steps back here!

The plumber suggested that I'd be best to wrap some insulation round each pipe where it comes in contact with the joist......great minds think alike!

Skhudy, its upstairs. The far end of the photo is the top of the stairs, and the photo was taken from the bathroom. The joists all run down the hill from right to left in the photo, and from the background to the foreground the floor runs down by about 2 inches, before rising sharply as they meet what was once a gable wall (about 2 feet thick!) before falling by a couple of inches again. I think the joists have sagged all theyre going to sag. I found some pieces of newspaper from 1973 in amongst the rubbish in between the joists, as well as a wrapper from chewing tobacco!

This all started as taking down an old tongue and groove stud wall to open the kitchen up into the hall. Six months down the line its almost turned into a complete renovation! Pandoras box has been well and truly opened!

 

[skhudy]

My uncle has a house several hundred years old. The landing at theres goes up and down the length of the house, some 15 - 20 meters. They have refurbed extensively, the landing is still uneven, they have a thick plush carpet down. Part of the character of old houses I guess!

 

[vexeddaddy]

Lol....sounds like here. An old house which has 'evolved' over the last couple of hundred years, stone walls, no foundations and a surprise every time you start working on something. I keep telling myself that the fact that nothings plumb or square, means the house has "character" too!