Woodworm - replace floor with boards or panels>

Discussion in 'Builders' Talk' started by hotnuts21, Sep 10, 2019.

  1. hotnuts21

    hotnuts21 Member

    Fitting a new kitchen so pulled up the Laminate flooring that has been down since we moved in in 2005. Under the laminate was a mouldy underlay, and under that plastic sheeting on top of the original wooden floor boards. (house from C1900). Needless to say they were damp in places, but worse there is a lot of active woodworm in at least the boards (and probably some beam).

    Floor is a suspended timber floor, and walls are 1m thick stone, rooms about 3.5mx3.5m

    I can get the structure treated, but need to remove any damaged boards, im looking at probably 60% removal.

    I see I have 3 options
    1, replace the remove boards with modern whitewood floor boards.
    2, pull up all the floorboards and replace with MR chipboard panels
    3, go for a mix of chipboard and original flooring.

    The plan is to lay Modern Vinyl tiles on the floor when its back down.

    Any thoughts or is it literally a coin toss decision?
  2. sospan

    sospan Well-Known Member

    With a kitchen and probability of a tiled floor. I would recommend removing all the timber and replace it will an insulated concrete floor.

    Your within the size where it won't be too hard to mix up the concrete yourself and you will benefit from a much warmer floor and also easier to tile.
    rogerk101 likes this.
  3. Mr Rusty

    Mr Rusty Well-Known Member

    Having recently used a local barrowmix company to lay a 50mm concrete floor in an outhouse app 4x2.5, I would never bother mixing quantity again. They came, barrowed, levelled off, no mess, no effort for about £150 and were done and dusted in under an hour. If I'd done that I'd be totally cream crackered
  4. hotnuts21

    hotnuts21 Member

    Interesting Idea, I do have the mains water and all electrical cables running under the floor in this room, so I would need to sort them too, and the stairs go up out of this room, so may involve having to temporarily take up the stairs too, which starts making it a lot more complex. I will have to look into what to do with the services in this instance.

    Barrowmix, is that just a ready mix company? Couldnt get a lorry to park outside the house, as its a one way single lane (busy) road so would have to look at how they would get in. But worth looking into.
  5. sospan

    sospan Well-Known Member

    Whilst not ideal to have the mains pipe through the floor, it is better in concrete than than in the void as it will be better insulated and protected against rodents. Similarly with electrical wire, rodents enjoy nibbling at them. Whilst it would be best to relocate them, they can be encased in a cable conduit or trunking.

    In terms of supporting the stairs, the newel post can be supported with some rebar fixed to the rebar and runs down to a DPM and rests on a small stone pad. Once the main pour is in, the rebar can be cut off and the newel packed up. Screed and tiles will cover any tip showing.

    Somewhere around £400 for the materials so probably not much difference between treating what is left, buying new timber and boards. Where may save is on the tile laying.
  6. Joe the Plumber

    Joe the Plumber Well-Known Member

    Personally I detest concrete floors retro-fitted in old buildings, and my 1911 house had just that done by the last owner. I'm constantly pondering getting the Kango out, but the mess puts me off.

    If I were you, and it will be a big job, I'd rip the lot out and fit proper new joists and floorboards.

    And read up thoroughly on woodworm treatment before you go spraying toxic chemicals about. (No water = no woodworm).
    hotnuts21 and dobbie like this.
  7. sospan

    sospan Well-Known Member

    I tend to prefer them especially down here where most house didn't have any foundations just remove the topsoil and start building. Putting in a solid floor tends to stabilise the buildings. You can often tell the houses that still have the original floors because the outside render has cracks.

    Plus with a solid floor there are no drafts under the floor or space for rodents to run round.

    The problem with a lot of the remedial work to properties is that people try and take it too far and put injection DPC, wall sealers, batten walls and all sorts of things.
  8. hotnuts21

    hotnuts21 Member

    Hi all thanks for the advice. I'm not sure the concrete option is a go-er but it's not off the table.

    But for the sake of thoroughness I'm also seriously considering replacing the whole floor with caberfloor, and it's around this I have a question.

    The current boards are 28mm thick and so line up with the lounge floor. There is also an original fire surround hearth that they are level with, and someone has filled the alcove with concrete (across all the electrical cables ‍♂️) so the floor is level with this too.

    Now caberfloor is 18mm thick so there is gonna be a height difference of 10mm at the doors and along the chimney breast. Is it ok to pack out the existing joists by putting something on top of them? If so what's the best type of wood to use?

    (Yep im aware concrete would solve this problem too)

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