Renew floors layed on orignal flagstones

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We have an old 1880s stone building with various floor coverings downstairs, we've discovered through lifting a few bits here and there that the flooring is simply layed over the original flagstones, which themselves appear to be layed directly on the earth (we guess this because we often get ants coming up in the middle of the floor).

We want to sort this out and lay new flooring throughout. I would assume the 'proper' method would be to dig down, lay insulation and DPC and concrete and create a thermally efficient and sound subfloor. When I mentioned this to our handyman (not suggesting he do the work) he said it would likely be a lot harder than we thought becuase there were probably no proper foundations and digging out the floor would require underpinning the whole building.

So a could of questions for the wise here...

1. Who do we need to give us the 'facts' about what can be done and how it needs to be done, is it a structural engineer? Or does it need to be someone who specialises in old buildings?

2. If this proves too costly are there any alternative solutions? We can't afford to lose any more height because it's already low ceilinged so there is no option to 'build up' the floors.

Cheers
 
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We have an old 1880s stone building with various floor coverings downstairs, we've discovered through lifting a few bits here and there that the flooring is simply layed over the original flagstones, which themselves appear to be layed directly on the earth (we guess this because we often get ants coming up in the middle of the floor).

We want to sort this out and lay new flooring throughout. I would assume the 'proper' method would be to dig down, lay insulation and DPC and concrete and create a thermally efficient and sound subfloor. When I mentioned this to our handyman (not suggesting he do the work) he said it would likely be a lot harder than we thought becuase there were probably no proper foundations and digging out the floor would require underpinning the whole building.

So a could of questions for the wise here...

1. Who do we need to give us the 'facts' about what can be done and how it needs to be done, is it a structural engineer? Or does it need to be someone who specialises in old buildings?

2. If this proves too costly are there any alternative solutions? We can't afford to lose any more height because it's already low ceilinged so there is no option to 'build up' the floors.

Cheers
Dig a few selected holes close to the outside wall and see if you can locate the wall foundations.
 
OP,
I've dug out 19thC floors, and - using the "proper method" - re-laid the stone flags back on top in their original finished floor position.
There were no drama's ref underpinning because most Victorian era houses that I worked on usually had some kind of stepped brick foundation.

However, you mention "buildings" - is your building a detached or terraced house, a cottage, or a converted barn or storage building of some sort?
A few pics of the inside & the outside might help?

It always helps the building contractor if, however basic, a drawing is supplied to show whats proposed.
 
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It's a 1884 cotswold stone schoolhouse, approx 400mm stone walls throughout, rendered on the inside when it was converted. I'll dig up a few pictures. Cheers.
 

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