Hello,

I have a 1920s house I am remodelling and got to the floor phase.
Decided for hardwood. Problem is that the upper floor sagged about
15mm (in the centre) over the years and I cannot push the floor back
up.

The hardwood planks are about 10mm thick and about 50mm wide and come
in different lengths.

Right now I am considering two options.

1) get laminated wood in several different thicknesses, cut strips and
screw them to the old floor trying to eliminate or, at least, reduce
the sagging to a minimum and then nail the hardwood planks to them.

2) pour self-leveling compound (a kind of cement) and then glue the
hardwood planks to the cement, as suggested by a friend, but I am not
very fond of this method.

Anybody has experience with this problem and how it was solved?

Thanks in advance!

Rookie_Remodeler wrote:
Hello,

I have a 1920s house I am remodelling and got to the floor phase.
Decided for hardwood. Problem is that the upper floor sagged about
15mm (in the centre) over the years and I cannot push the floor back
up.

My first instincts would be to remove all floor back to the joists then
start from scratch.
Solid wood floor is extremely noisy and whipping up the old floor would
allow for the addition of insulation between joist which would also
absorb alot of sound rather than give it scope to bounce back up again.

Trouble is... as I found out... you think while I'm back to scratch and
installing insulation, I may as well install underfloor heating (wet)
which then, for me lead to having to re-wire and re-plumb. All of which
needed doing anyway.

A bit more info might help.

"upper floor" do you mean up-stairs of simply the current floor surface
(floor boards or WHY)

better to do the job properly first time than spend money on a nice
floor which is ruined by bodging the install.

Pete


--
http://gymratz.co.uk - Best Gym Equipment & Bodybuilding Supplements UK.
http://fitness-equipment-uk.com - UK's No.1 Fitness Equipment Suppliers.
http://water-rower.co.uk - Worlds best prices on the Worlds best Rower.
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Hi!

Thanks for the reply.

"Upper floor" means the second floor. Removing the subfloor will not
help since the joists are sagged themselves. Therefore, I can either
fix the sag by adding strips of wood with different thicknesses or add
the self-leveler (not very keen on this one unless somebody chimes
in).

My concern about using the wood strips is that some of the wood planks
will be "floating", that is, will not be supported by the subfloor,
ergo asking what can be done in this case.


On the heating the rewiring, I redid all electrical and added a
baseboard heater just to help the old central hot air furnace in
colder days. On average it suffices.

Cheers!



Pet @ www.gymratz.co.uk ;¬) wrote:
Rookie_Remodeler wrote:
Hello,

I have a 1920s house I am remodelling and got to the floor phase.
Decided for hardwood. Problem is that the upper floor sagged about
15mm (in the centre) over the years and I cannot push the floor back
up.

My first instincts would be to remove all floor back to the joists then
start from scratch.
Solid wood floor is extremely noisy and whipping up the old floor would
allow for the addition of insulation between joist which would also
absorb alot of sound rather than give it scope to bounce back up again.

Trouble is... as I found out... you think while I'm back to scratch and
installing insulation, I may as well install underfloor heating (wet)
which then, for me lead to having to re-wire and re-plumb. All of which
needed doing anyway.

A bit more info might help.

"upper floor" do you mean up-stairs of simply the current floor surface
(floor boards or WHY)

better to do the job properly first time than spend money on a nice
floor which is ruined by bodging the install.

Pete


--
http://gymratz.co.uk - Best Gym Equipment & Bodybuilding Supplements UK.
http://fitness-equipment-uk.com - UK's No.1 Fitness Equipment Suppliers.
http://water-rower.co.uk - Worlds best prices on the Worlds best Rower.
http://trade-price-supplements.co.uk - Bulk Order Supps. at Trade Prices

Rookie_Remodeler wrote:
Hi!

Thanks for the reply.

"Upper floor" means the second floor. Removing the subfloor will not
help since the joists are sagged themselves. Therefore, I can either
fix the sag by adding strips of wood with different thicknesses or add
the self-leveler (not very keen on this one unless somebody chimes
in).

My concern about using the wood strips is that some of the wood planks
will be "floating", that is, will not be supported by the subfloor,
ergo asking what can be done in this case.


What you normally do is take the floor up and start planting and sanding
and cutting bits of timber up to fully level the joists.

Even better. gets some new (flat) joist and bolt them alongside the new
ones, with a level and a steel rule laid over their tops..or a string..

That will stiffen the floor a lot..

On May 1, 1:25 pm, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Rookie_Remodeler wrote:
Hi!

Thanks for the reply.

"Upper floor" means the second floor. Removing the subfloor will not
help since the joists are sagged themselves. Therefore, I can either
fix the sag by adding strips of wood with different thicknesses or add
the self-leveler (not very keen on this one unless somebody chimes
in).

My concern about using the wood strips is that some of the wood planks
will be "floating", that is, will not be supported by the subfloor,
ergo asking what can be done in this case.

What you normally do is take the floor up and start planting and sanding
and cutting bits of timber up to fully level the joists.

Even better. gets some new (flat) joist and bolt them alongside the new
ones, with a level and a steel rule laid over their tops..or a string..

That will stiffen the floor a lot..

Thanks for the suggestion. However, like I said before, raising the
floor (eliminating the joists sag) is out of question. Folks who did
the remodeling before built walls that would have to be torn down or
the ceiling (and roof) would go up.

So, the question is. How much a 15mm thick wood plank can "float",
that is, assuming I use the different thicknesses strips to level the
floor and nail the hardwood planks to them. So, how much they can
"float" without the support of the underfloor? 20, 30, 50mm?

On May 1, 11:36 pm, Rookie_Remodeler wrote:
On May 1, 1:25 pm, The Natural Philosopher wrote:



Rookie_Remodeler wrote:
Hi!

Thanks for the reply.

"Upper floor" means the second floor. Removing the subfloor will not
help since the joists are sagged themselves. Therefore, I can either
fix the sag by adding strips of wood with different thicknesses or add
the self-leveler (not very keen on this one unless somebody chimes
in).

My concern about using the wood strips is that some of the wood planks
will be "floating", that is, will not be supported by the subfloor,
ergo asking what can be done in this case.

What you normally do is take the floor up and start planting and sanding
and cutting bits of timber up to fully level the joists.

Even better. gets some new (flat) joist and bolt them alongside the new
ones, with a level and a steel rule laid over their tops..or a string..

That will stiffen the floor a lot..

Thanks for the suggestion. However, like I said before, raising the
floor (eliminating the joists sag) is out of question. Folks who did
the remodeling before built walls that would have to be torn down or
the ceiling (and roof) would go up.

So, the question is. How much a 15mm thick wood plank can "float",
that is, assuming I use the different thicknesses strips to level the
floor and nail the hardwood planks to them. So, how much they can
"float" without the support of the underfloor? 20, 30, 50mm?


Forgot to ask. What are the problems of gluing hardwoord floor
instead of nailing it? Can it be done?

Suppliers advice:

http://www.britishhardwoods.co.uk/fl...ing_floor.html

They recommend laying hardwood flooring at 90 degrees over the top of
existing boards using a secret nailer.

I'd consider thin plywood shims/sheets as necessary to take out any
dips/uneveness in the original boards.

wrote:
Suppliers advice:

http://www.britishhardwoods.co.uk/fl...ing_floor.html

They recommend laying hardwood flooring at 90 degrees over the top of
existing boards using a secret nailer.

I'd consider thin plywood shims/sheets as necessary to take out any
dips/uneveness in the original boards.


Yes. If you go that route EVERY NAIL needs support..

The model shop will be able to supply l=ply in 1/64", 1/32" 1/16" and
1/18" sizes..

The thicker stuff you get from a timber merchant.
Just shim the floor completely till there is a level base with support
strips no more than 400mm apart running across the span of the new floor.

Its easy enough..using strings and levels..to get a series of lines
marked out level, and build 'new joists' up to the required depth.
..