We are often called on to treat suspended timber floors and infestation which often involves spraying the affected timber with fungicide.
There are instances where it may be more prudent and cost effective to replace the old floor timber joists and floor boarding with new depending on the circumstances. Some considerations are listed below:
- Extent of decay and infestation may be uneconomical or otherwise undesirable to repair.
- Removal of floor opens up access to deal with other issues which may be otherwise be hidden and inaccessible under the floor such as:
- Sub floor water ingress and standing water.
- Dry rot in brickwork.
- Brickwork structural repairs such as joist bearings, dwarf support walls, foundations or fireplace base structure.
- Damp proofing or replacement of sub floor brickwork such as fireplace foundations and joist bearings.
- Improve or replace services such as electric cables and central heating pipes.
- Provide a level new floor where existing is out of level through structural movement.
- Lack of ventilation into the sub floor void.
Other benefits to providing a new floor are that the new floor construction timber components will provide improved resistance to dampness and draughts over the sub floor void which is inevitably a very damp and humid environment.
For example a new floor may comprise pressure treated joists and damp resistant tongue and groove floor boarding all sealed at the edges to prevent draughts penetrating the room. This would also provide an opportunity to properly fix the joists in terms of their structural cross sectional area providing better structural stability and less ‘bounce’ in the floor.
A new suspended timber floor may also provide a more uniform flat dry surface which is essential when installing quality timber floor covering such as real timber, engineered laminate or normal laminate flooring. Timber flooring requires very specific conditions to be laid correctly and provide long term serviceability and we would be pleased to advise you in this regard.
The installation of other floor coverings such as ceramic tiles would also greatly benefit.