Floor Joists - Which Way?

Hi All,

1960's semi detached house. Is there any particular way that the 1st floor joists tended to be laid? i.e. front to back or side to side? Or is it an inspection job?

Regards. Bill.

Reply to
Bill
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The floor boards should tell you Mine in a 1960s semi go from front to back.

Reply to
allan

At right angles to the floorboards.

mark

Reply to
Mark

Thanks both, but I was wondering if I could establish that without pulling up the fitted carpet! Regards. Bill.

Reply to
Bill

Looking in places like an a airing cupbaord may do the trick.

Or removing a lighting ceiling rose in the ceiling below and seeing which way the grain goes in the hole in the wood that the wires come through or beside.. the wires often have enough slack to pull the rose down enough to look, without disconnecting anything.

Usual caveat about switching the mains off applies..

Reply to
Palindrome

In my experience, floorboards usually run at right angles to the window. Therefore the joists would be parallel to the window wall.

mark

Reply to
Mark

Mark,

Just to be pedantic, my joists run parallel with the windows - thus the boards run at 90 degrees to this :-)

To the OP, if the house is a semi-detached, then the odds are that the joists are going to run parallel with the party wall.

Brian G

Reply to
Brian G

================================== A 'stud finder' used on the ceiling in the rooms below should reveal the direction. Don't assume that the joists are laid in the same direction in all rooms.

Cic.

Reply to
Cicero

Brilliant advice Cic. I have worked in many house where the layout of the joists change directions in different rooms. My original idea was to say the upstairs joists usually run parallel to the gable end.

Adam

Reply to
ARWadsworth

================================== I suppose there are some general rules about joist layout. In a semi it seems obvious that ground floor suspended floors should have joists running back to front so that most of the air bricks can be at front and back. On first floors it seems that it might depend on downstairs openings

- windows and doors. There will be more support for the joists if they're mounted in solid walls where there are no possible weak spots such as lintels in the brickwork below.

Cic.

Reply to
Cicero

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