Floor excitement

[Pip]

BTW I didn't just cross my fingers and hope for the best - the cupboard in my hall has floorboards at the bottom, and when I looked through my neighbour's letter box (I was putting a note through his door okay ) he had floorboards too. I always knew they were there, I was just being lazy and scared.

 

[electrogirl]

I was staring at those floorboards for ages wondering what I was looking for Pip.

I wanted to win the quiz.

When I say ages, I mean more like 15 seconds, but I want them back.

 

[teuchter]

Well doing roughly 1/5 of my living room took less than an hour - if I'd followed internet advice I reckon the whole thing would take me 3 or 4 days.
Anyway, I've got the time

My dad started replacing a hot water cylinder in his house a little while ago and a week and a half later he had taken up the entire floor and dismantled half of the kitchen units. And it was snowing outside. And no hot water or heating.

 

[Pip]

Is the wall damp as well? It seems strange that a leaking pipe in a floor would make the boards above it damp, unless there was rather a big leak in which case you'd have heard all about it from whoever lives below. Could the water be running down inside the wall somehow?

No, it's not. It confused the contractors too, which is why it's not even close to being fixed three days later.

What I think is that there's a leak on the pipe where it's going into the floor. The underlay is acting like a sponge, or the water's traveling down the lines in the tiles or something, and making the rest of the floor wet.

But what do I know?

 

[teuchter]

I was staring at those floorboards for ages wondering what I was looking for Pip.

I wanted to win the quiz.

When I say ages, I mean more like 15 seconds, but I want them back.

This thread is a quiz-winning anticipation graveyard.

 

[scifisam]

That's the spirit

Similar to what I used to say to spook out my teenage friends.

Concrete?! That's odd. Where did you look? Is it possible you peaked under the carpet where the hearth was, because that bit's usually concrete. Are you on the ground floor?

Well, it's actually something like plywood, but not, with concrete about half a centimetre underneath. We're ground floor but not really ground floor - there's the caretaker's basement under us and a dry moat around us.

@raverdrew: they're pretty.

 

[RaverDrew]

All the dirt wafts to the edges of the room saving on cleaning time.

Excellent, I'm sold.

<gets crowbar and starts to tear flooring up>

 

[scifisam]

Actually, we bought floor tiles and I'd tiled the entire hallway and kitchen within one weekend when I was working too. £40 the lot. They are the business.

 

[quimcunx]

No, it's not. It confused the contractors too, which is why it's not even close to being fixed three days later.

What I think is that there's a leak on the pipe where it's going into the floor. The underlay is acting like a sponge, or the water's traveling down the lines in the tiles or something, and making the rest of the floor wet.

But what do I know?

My shower taps leaked behind a stud wall in my bathroom dribbled down the back of the bath onto the wooden floor and lifted up my tiles eventually. My first clue is when the floor made squishy noises when I stepped on them.

However I had chosen to cover my floorboards with expensive cork tiles. So wasn't quite as pleased as you.

 

[mrs quoad]

At some point it will light up

Sometimes, an unelucidated 'omfg' is the only best response.

omfg.

 

[RubyToogood]

The only problem with floorboards is that they provide no sound insulation, and the tenants below will hear you stomping about as if they were living in a big bass drum. Consequently there's usually something in your lease or the landlord's to say that you have to have carpet down (unless you live on the ground floor of course).

I once spent ages polishing a beautiful old parquet floor, only to have the people downstairs complain about the noise, and the landlord recarpeted the whole place.

 

[Pip]

The only problem with floorboards is that they provide no sound insulation, and the tenants below will hear you stomping about as if they were living in a big bass drum. Consequently there's usually something in your lease or the landlord's to say that you have to have carpet down (unless you live on the ground floor of course).

I once spent ages polishing a beautiful old parquet floor, only to have the people downstairs complain about the noise, and the landlord recarpeted the whole place.

I'm pretty sure there's nothing in my tenancy agreement, but a lot of my neighbours have done the same as me. Including the people upstairs, and I can't say I'm bothered about noise from them. We'll see how it goes.

 

[teuchter]

Well doing roughly 1/5 of my living room took less than an hour - if I'd followed internet advice I reckon the whole thing would take me 3 or 4 days.
Anyway, I've got the time

Have you finished yet? By your calculations you should have been done by approximately 4.18 am latest.

 

[Pip]

Have you finished yet? By your calculations you should have been done by approximately 4.18 am latest.

I don't mind subjecting the people below to my clacking round on a bass drum, but ripping up the floor at 4am is a bit inconsiderate, even for me.

I'm doing two hours then going to the hairdressers
Wish me luck.

 

[teuchter]

Good luck and I am logging everything on a timesheet. A progress report will be expected at 16.21.

 

[Pip]

Oi teuch, half of the room's done.
Now I've got to go and buy heavy duty bin bags

 

[teuchter]

Now I've got to go and buy heavy duty bin bags

This has to be included in the time allowance.

 

[Pip]

This has to be included in the time allowance.

If you say so

It's great knowing you're there rooting for me. Or waiting for the fallout. Either way, it's got me through.

 

[teuchter]

Stop chit-chatting on the internet and get on with it.

 

[teuchter]

Well?

 

[Pip]

Oh soz. It's all done, but for the area beneath my bookcase, which is too heavy for me to move by myself.
All I need to do now is fill in the gaps (what's best for that? Woodfiller?), remove/bang in superfluous nails, sand and varnish

 

[teuchter]

Oh soz. It's all done, but for the area beneath my bookcase, which is too heavy for me to move by myself.
All I need to do now is fill in the gaps (what's best for that? Woodfiller?), remove/bang in superfluous nails, sand and varnish

The proper way to fill in the gaps is to take up all the floorboards and then re-lay them, but without gaps.
I don't think woodfiller would be any good because it's not flexible and would probably crack and disintegrate after a while due to the boards moving as people walk on them.
I do know someone who has done it with black silicone sealant would I don't know how successful that will be in the longer term.
Anyway, what we really need to know is how long has it taken so far and is it within your four hours prediction?

 

[Pip]

The proper way to fill in the gaps is to take up all the floorboards and then re-lay them, but without gaps.
I don't think woodfiller would be any good because it's not flexible and would probably crack and disintegrate after a while due to the boards moving as people walk on them.
I do know someone who has done it with black silicone sealant would I don't know how successful that will be in the longer term.
Anyway, what we really need to know is how long has it taken so far and is it within your four hours prediction?

I don't think the gaps are big enough to do that, but I have considered it. I thought it wasn't advised though, because it doesn't allow for expansion?

I thought you were counting
Not including time buying bin bags, moving stuff and clearing up, I reckon it took less than five hours. It was really fun though, so I might have got carried away and lost track of time.

 

[teuchter]

I don't think the gaps are big enough to do that, but I have considered it. I thought it wasn't advised though, because it doesn't allow for expansion?

I thought you were counting
Not including time buying bin bags, moving stuff and clearing up, I reckon it took less than five hours. It was really fun though, so I might have got carried away and lost track of time.

[reminded by ancient house thread]

The expansion/contraction thing is more a problem with new wood floors, I think. Because the floorboards have been there for ages they ought to have decided what size they want to be by now so there shouldn't be too much movement. Also you may well be quite right, but the gaps needed to allow for expansion I'd imagine would probably be much less than what you sometimes discover in old floorboards which is gaps of 5mm or more.

I think I need to to a bit of googling to find a definitive answer which is something I'd like to know myself. Alternatively you can find out and post it here which will require less effort on my part and therefore be preferable.

 

[Pip]

It looks like there are three ways of doing it.

The first is to sand your floors, collect the sawdust and mix with PVA to a paste, which you then squidge between the gaps (this is pretty much what woodfiller is, so I dunno why you can't just use that).

The second (for gaps bigger than 5mm) is to cut strips of wood and hammer them into the gaps with a rubber mallet.

The third option is to use a product called stop gap (http://www.stopg-p.co.uk/), which you push into the gaps and is meant to stop draughts and smells. It probably isn't suitable for big gaps either.

No mention of taking the floorboards up on money saving expert, thank fuck.

My brother in law's a carpenter, I'll ask him and report back, but I reckon I'll probably use that stop gap stuff.

 

[moose]

As a long time sufferer with floorboard gappage, I can reveal:

collect the sawdust and mix with PVA to a paste, which you then squidge between the gaps

Fail. It shrinks eventually, and you get PVA all over your floor. It also draws attention to the gaps cos it's shiny

The second (for gaps bigger than 5mm) is to cut strips of wood and hammer them into the gaps with a rubber mallet.

It works to a degree, but takes a lifetime and specialist equipment to cut that many strips, and then half of them don't fit, or fall straight through. Or work loose and stick up, resulting in hurty toes.

a product called stop gap (http://www.stopg-p.co.uk/), which you push into the gaps and is meant to stop draughts and smells. It probably isn't suitable for big gaps either.

Kind of works, and is suitable for gaps up to 8mm. Till you hoover.

 

[tarannau]

Ah, the joys of gappy floorboards as underfoot draught channels.

I'm afraid I've got to concur with Moose. No filler's ever really lasted past the few month to a year mark before it starts falling through or taken out by a hoover/mop. Rugs and floor coverings are better friends