Replacing t&g floors, HOW? Stud walls rest on the floor.

  • Thread starter KillingTime
  • Start date
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KillingTime

Hi,

I'm in the process of replacing the 19mm 8x2ft t&g flooring on the 1st floor of my house.

Both the bathroom floors are shot (long term leaks).
The landing floor is shot (power show pump leaks from above).

When I say 'shot' I mean you can push a screwdriver through it. It's worst next to stud walls.

All the stud walls at the 1st floor rest on the floor, and many stud walls don't even rest directly above a joist (run parallel).

I just want to know what I'm getting into here. Replacing the odd board is one thing. What do people do in my position when their floors have gone right up the edge of the stud wall?

I could cut either side of the wall and nail in loads of noggins to suport the wall, and lay the new floor up to every wall....sounds like alot of effort.

What happens when you get to a doorway? (also nailed to the floor). Cutting round every obstacle seems like a recipie for disaster.

Replacing all the floors in one go (like the house was built, one big floor, then the walls ontop of that), will not be possible without wrecking every wall becasue the walls are nailed to the floor. This means you cant slide the floor out from under the wall. Even if I cut away the plasterboard on every wall to get to the nails holding the wall down, I doubt whether I could get the nails out without wrecking the stud timbers (recessed nail heads)......

Replacing the floor one room at a time sounded good initially, but experience has shown me that T&G flooring gets it's strength from the t&g. If you lay all the floors up to the stud wall / doorway, you have to put in loads of under floor supports (noggins etc) to hold the board where it ends for strength.

I'm half tempted to move out and get the whole 1st floor, walls, plastering and all done on contract.

Is this a DIY project or one for the professionals?

Thanks,
 
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Is this chipboard flooring? If so then you'll know not to use that again :idea:

I suppose theres many options, but personally I'd go with the fiddly route of cutting up to the studs and retrofitting support underneath.

I'm just glad for living in a brick built house. :unsure:

It could be a diy job, depending on how good/confident you are.
 
Hello Deluks,

Yes its chipboard (8x2ft).

I'm just curious as to what a professional would do in this situation. Lay new floor up to every wall & brace, or insist that the new floor must be continuous under the walls.

The new stuff downstairs and in the bedrooms is P5 (green) chip board.

I'll be using marine ply in the bathrooms & landing in case of another leak.

Thanks.
 
If you can get a hacksaw blade under the walls you can cut the nails holding the stud walls to the boards and slide out the old boards / slide in new boards.

Even if you can only get part boards in (8x2 are a pain to handle inside rooms) at least this will allow you to get the joints over joists.

We have the green boards and the coating is so they can fit them before the first floor walls and roof are built!
 
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unscrew and remove all doors. remove casings. remove the bottom 150mm of plasterboard from studs. removal of the perimeter skirtings may also be necessary depending on how accessible the floor fixings are.

using a reciprocating saw cut through the bottom of the studs 100mm up from the floor, hopefully avoiding any fixings. remove the bottom 2" of stud and remove the sole plate.

remove existing rotten floor and relay pine or similar, t&g real timber flooring using floor cramps.

fix a new double 100mm sole plate to the floor. screw the studs down into the sole plate. re-fix strip of board and skim. re-fix new casings and re-hang doors

my only doubts about this method are getting straight cuts with a reciprocating saw, though i do believe you can get a broadish blade that cuts fairly straight.
 
hi noseall,

your idea of cutting the bottom portion of the wall away did occur to me, but i dismissed this idea on account of the extra hassle involved in reconstructing the wall. i'd have to get the stud timber milled to the same size as that used in the rest of the wall, and have to redecorate all the rooms becuase i don't have any of the original wallpaper that was used (textured).
there are also doorways in the wall which are nailed down to the floor. i cannot rebuild the door frame & keep its redigity.

i'll try cutting up to the walls and bracing from there. seems like the only option...

thanks.
 
I have a similar problem but my solution is to remove the stud walls, then replace the flooring (as the stud walls are also wormed). Is there any 'approved' approach that can be used to avoid this problem in the future?

For example, could I fit the wall baseplates directly to the joist, install suitable packers either side and then fit the P5 boards up to the base plate? Then, in the future, I can lift the boards if I need access to the floor space.
 

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