On the ground floor my joists are supported by mini walls. On top are small pieces of wood which sit on top of the stone but support the joists. Some are rotten and I would like to replace them, any ideas on how I could the old stuff out and the new ones in?
wood under joists
- Thread starter Chrispy6169
- Start date
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The "small pieces of wood" are called packings.
You could crawl below and prop the joists near to the packings just enough to slip in fresh packings on a piece of DPC material.
Or, you could use a jack to slightly lift the joists.
Only do one packing at a time, and replace all the packings. Keep checking for a level floor.
Check where your joist tails sit on or in brick pockets - check for wood decay.
Why has this decay to the packings happened? Perhaps there isn't sufficient thro ventilation in the sub area? Or is the oversite damp?
Taking pics and postingthem on here might help?
You could crawl below and prop the joists near to the packings just enough to slip in fresh packings on a piece of DPC material.
Or, you could use a jack to slightly lift the joists.
Only do one packing at a time, and replace all the packings. Keep checking for a level floor.
Check where your joist tails sit on or in brick pockets - check for wood decay.
Why has this decay to the packings happened? Perhaps there isn't sufficient thro ventilation in the sub area? Or is the oversite damp?
Taking pics and postingthem on here might help?
Awesome, thanks for that! The wood is one long length so would need to lift a few joists at a time or cut into sections and change one by one.
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Oh, from your first description i thought that you were talking about "packings" when it seems that you are referring to "wall plates".
So, yes, you will have to very gently raise just a few mm's the joists that sit on the plates.
Two people working at this would be best.
The rotten wall plates might have decayed & dropped a touch, allow for a little extra room.
Remove the plate and slide in the length of DPC - then slide in the length of wall plate.
This kind of thing is done professionally by using a beam and two jacks to lift the joists in one go, and let the joists down together.
If using a full length wall plate seems too much to attempt then revert to using packings after removing the wall plate.
Constantly check the floor for level. Beware of cables and pipes thro the plates or joists.
So, yes, you will have to very gently raise just a few mm's the joists that sit on the plates.
Two people working at this would be best.
The rotten wall plates might have decayed & dropped a touch, allow for a little extra room.
Remove the plate and slide in the length of DPC - then slide in the length of wall plate.
This kind of thing is done professionally by using a beam and two jacks to lift the joists in one go, and let the joists down together.
If using a full length wall plate seems too much to attempt then revert to using packings after removing the wall plate.
Constantly check the floor for level. Beware of cables and pipes thro the plates or joists.
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