"DjB" wrote in message
...


Thanks for all the replies, I'll answer to all the posts here rather than
reply to each individually

I'm going to take Bigwallop's advise and remove the old joist and replace
it
with new. My only concern about this is that it looks like it might be
tricky to get a joist exactly the same size (the existing ones are 2.5" x
6.25"ish), so I'm considering installing two 2" joists to replace the old
one i.e repair the holes left and install one each side of the original
position. I quite like this idea as I can run further joists if required
between other joists in the floor if I think they need reinforcing.
Regarding joist hangers, I'm not sure how I could angle the joists into
the
hangers if the boards are still in place upstairs, it seems easier to
remove
the boards (the room is empty, there's no carpet of anything) and then
drop
the joists in from above. I can then take my time chiselling out the
corners
to get the joist(s) level with the others.

A couple of things I'm not clear about - when installing the hangers into
a
brick wall, do they have to be bolted? Or is it sufficient to cut a small
chase into the wall, slot the hanger in place and apply some mortar? The
other ends of the joists have to be fitted to hangers that are fitted to
the
joist running across the fireplace, I presume I need to find some sort of
hooked hanger that will hook over the joist. I had a look in a timber
yard
over the weekend and they had some that had long ends which can be bent
over
but they didn't look that strong. Are there stronger ones available or is
there a better way of doing this?

The question about Rentokil and why they didn't see this problem, I can
only
guess about this but I think that the true extent of the damage was only
visible once the ceiling downstairs was removed. I'm pretty content with
the
job they did, at least they didn't try to pull the wool over my eyes by
telling me the whole house needed excessive treatment...




looking at the photos the interesting bit is going to be dealing with the
wiring. Obviously, you can't simply drill a hole through the joists and
thread the wires through, so I suppose that leaves you with the only option
of notching the joists.

remember to have a google search thru this group for notched joists if
you're planning to do that - I remember there being a couple of discussions
about it in the past - the positioning of and depth of allowable notches
when it comes to maintaining the strength of the joists vs safety of the
electrical installation.

cheers
Richard

--
Richard Sampson

email me at
richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk