Bouncy floor

[Ian Smeaton]

Before I set about putting laminate floor in the dining room, I thought I should investigate why walking across part of it caused a nearby coffee table to wobble to such an extent that the cordless phone on it became disconnected and reconnected to the charger thereby producing a 'beep'.

The hatch cut in the chipboard reveals a dwarf-wall with a piece of damp-proof course on top of it, and a gap of about 3 to 5mm between the dpc and the joists.

It looks like wedges might be an answer to bridging the gap, but would they stay in place?

Any other suggestions please?

Ian

[mrcheerful]

I had this, I had to build new pillars, I raised the floor a little then lowered it onto the set pillars, an alternative is to build up the pillar and drive wedges between or under the bricks to hold the floor up till the cement sets.

[Owain]

They will if you slather them in glue before whacking them in, and do it last thing at night so it sets before the floor is walked on.

Or you could fill the gap with car body filler.

Owain

[John Rumm]

Slate.

Lift the joist a little (or more if it has sagged) before inserting it (long pry bar, trolly jack or acrow), and place in as many layers as required. It has the advantages of being very strong in compression, thin enough to add in layers, and it won't bridge moisture to the wood.

[chris French]

In message , Ian Smeaton writes

IME yes. Well for a bout a year before we moved anyway.

I had this problem, as well having to rebuild a couple of pillars etc.

I used some of those ridge wedges that you can get that you use in pairs to space out laminate flooring etc. from the wall. - because I had a load of them.

[rrh]

Slate is excellent as John Rumm says. Otherwise pieces of wood or ply. If not an exact fit I use pieces of DPC cut from a roll to adjust.

I advise against just whacking in as much material as you can find until you it can go no further. You might find that you have then raised the joist further than it should go and have new gaps elsewhere to fill.

[Cicero]

================ If you haven't got any slate handy you can use strips of lead which can be folded to size. Use a small 'pre-load' as suggested by other posters before inserting the lead which is slightly compressible.

Cic.

[Ian Stirling]

A DIY scene: The caption, "No more squeaks". A 2" hole drilled through the floor, and 18 empty 55 gallon drums of car body filler that have been poured through the hole.

[Michael Mcneil]

It would apear that the majority of posts on this group lately are not seriously concerned with diy.

Anyway to business:

No-one has sugested why the wall no longer supports the floor.

Is there a chance you have missed the obvious and that the packing that was supporting it has fallen off the wall?

Put a strip of exterior grade 1/4 ply on top of the wall. Put it on a layer of damp proofing. Make it wide enough to put a few screws up into the floor or screw down through the floor into the ply.