On Sun, 28 Oct 2007 16:42:54 +0000, Andy Hall
wrote:

On 2007-10-28 15:58:21 +0000, Maria said:

I agree, but have some reservations as the house (a terrace on a hill)
has obviously subsided at some point and there is a large gap between
the floor and skirting at one end of the rooms, so I have left the
laminate in the living and dining rooms for now. I'm not sure how you
address an uneven gap like this...relocating the skirting to hide the
gap at one end will lead to an obvious problem. Aside from ripping up
the floorboards and relaying the floor so that it is higher at one
end, I can't see how else to do it.

Move the skirting?

Surely the skirting will then be sloping like the floor is!

Ah, OK, different problem.

Since the whole room now won't be square - - it probably never was - it
becomes a case of repairing what needs to be repaired, truing up where
possible and then making adjustments after that for a reaasonable
visual outcome.
You might not be able to achieve all of those.

Assuming that the structure of the house is now stable, it would then
depend on the floors underneath and what you want to do. If they do
turn out to be mosaics that you want to keep then that would define and
limit options in that area. However, more likely is to have suspended
timber floors.

It's timber floors in the living and dining rooms, but definintely
solid in the entrance hall - it could just be concreted I guess.

You could lift the boards of those and pack the joists
to make up the gap. The boards could be cleaned up (or not) and put
back or they could be replaced with new wood. People even put in
concrete floors. It would probably be a good idea before doing
anything substantial to get a structural engineer to take a look.

I'll do that.

Like all these things, you need to decide what you are willing to spend
before starting.

We weren't planning to spend anything on this! We didn't notice it
before we purchased...still it's 120 years old and these things are
bound to happen, especially on clay on a steep hill like this.
It's quite difficult doing major work because we have 5 children and
so the house is always full...I might just grit my teeth and ignore
it!