Flooring material on first floor, following chimney removal.

[Jack Fate]

I have removed a small chimney completely from loft down through a first floor bedroom and into the ground floor kitchen.

I am now into making good the bedroom floor prior to arranging plastering.

I have fitted joist extensions/ replacements for the floor supports .

So my question now is ,

what material do folks think \ I should best use for the flooring. ?

The area I have to refloor is circa 1mtr x 1.2 mtrs ( including the hearth area that I also removed ) . over 3 new joists running parallel to the old chimney.

The house is 1909 and the rest of the room are original pine floorboards with gaps between the boards.

The bedroom will eventually be re - fitted carpeted so appearance/match of the floor covering is not important.

The thickness of the existing floor boards seems to be circa 18mm . Which seems to be the standard for modern sheet flooring material ?.

On the other hand should I look at buying new / reclaimed boards.? If new , what timber should I be looking for.?

The sheet material seems to come in much larger area than I need. However for a small area cost is not really an issue. I wondered what was considered correct and acceptable to building inspectors in these circumstances.

Many thanks for any thoughts.

Regards

Richard Morley

[Lobster]

If you've ripped out a chimney breast from a 1909 house I don't know why you're asking what's considered 'correct and acceptable'! Kind of like fitting an E-type Jag with a Toyota engine and then worrying about the colour of the tyre valve caps...

Anyway - I really don't think building control will care what you use. Personally I hate chipboard flooring because it's murder when you need to access something under the floor - that would be my biggest consideration. If it's just to fill in a relatively small area where the chimney breast was, I'd probably go for it though. You can certainly buy it in reasonably small lumps.

David

[The Natural Philosopher]

Unless you want it exposed use proper chipboard flooring GLUED together so it won't creak.

Old Victorian pine floors are utter crap. Never lay pine. If you want natural wood floorboards cough up for hardwood and learn to maintain it.

[Jack Fate]

Thank you Lobster and NP for your comments.

NP . Could you explain exactly what you mean by "GLUED together" . Are we talking about the fixing process , or possibly the spec of the board. ?

Lobsters comments about what he sees as my vandalism , did hit me hard. Mainly because , in general terms , I come from much the same philosophy as he, with regard to these matters.

In my pathetic defence. I have lived in this house for 14 years , the other

3 chimneys are intanct & contain 5 open fireplaces. These will not be changed under my stewardship .

I only undertook this change after several years of thought & advice. The chimney was already capped in the loft

The only remaining function had been to house a fllor standing CH boiler in the kitchen and its flexi ali flue.

Now that I had a new walled hanging boiler the chimney was an intrusive waste of space paticularly in the kitchen. It was easier & more logical to remove it completly than enter into a stategy for suppoprting it above the kitchen.

Thanks again

Richard

[Lobster]

OK, I'll let you off then! But only if you promise not to top-post again... David ;-)

[The Natural Philosopher]

Depoends on how much area you are replacing - I had assumed you might want to do the whole room. Chipboard for flooring comes in tongue and grooved sheets. Gluing the tongues before screwing onto the joists stops the little bits of sliding that make the creaking noises.

All you have to remember is that the Victorians used pine the way we use MDF. It was simply the cheapest naffest material that would JUST do the job.

I wonder if in 50 yrs time we will all be giggling at our grandchildren doing 'stripped MDF' makeovers...or .'natural grain stained and polished chipboard'

Pine is cheap, it grows fast, it has pronounced ring structures. It varies in strength and hardness over its entire volume dramatically. The things you have to do to use it are atrocious - tongue and groove to prevent gaps opening up when dry, expansion joints when humid etc. Dreadful surface that wears betweeen the rings appallingly.. No Victorian builder with access to chipboard would have used pine for a floor, I can assure you.

Contrast say a tropical hardwood - fine even grain, due to even summer/winter growth - some warping and movement problems, but stays pretty stable if cut correctly, is uniformly hard wearing and takes a tremendous polish finish.

Yoiu have at some pont to decide whether you want to live as the Victorians lived, cold damp and uncomfortably, and short, with outside bucket tolets TB and cholera and the like, or to preserve the appearance of some aspects of it, whilst updating the house to be comfortable. No victorian would have DREAMED of fitted carpets. Or electrical sockets, or central heating..or mains drainage and an unpolluted water supply, or indeed piped hot water.

Authenticity can go too far you know.