Estimated cost of new upstairs floor?

[Richard Blackwood]

I know this may be another 'How long is a piece of string' type question but I thought I'd try to get a rough idea here before asking carpenters to come around.

I have a 3 bed terraced house with sloping floors - about 3.5 inches over roughly14 feet (the width of the house). My cousin who knows more than I about these things says it should cost no more than £600 for a carpenter to take the old floorboards up and put new, level ones down. I was expecting much more but admit to being quite clueless wrt diy/houses etc.

Is £600 roughly in the ball park?

Also, is there any risk of incurring damage to the downstairs artexed ceilings if I get a carpenter in to do this job? Money is real tight and I dont want to solve a problem upstairs only to face new ones downstairs.

Help much appreciated.

[Andrew Gabriel]

It will be amazing if you get a carpenter to come round. If you do, it will be a miricle if you ever hear from them again.

[Andrew Barnes]

How many rooms and what size are they?

[MikeS]

On the other hand you could take up the floor boards and have a timber merchant make tapered pieces of wood to fit on top of the joists and level the floor this way ( same as the tapered wood on flat roofs to give fall). But, a big but, this OK if the slope is away from the door if this is the case go for it, if not forget it.

The above is for first floor, ground floor is different where you can remove the floor and start from scratch rebuilding the dwarf walls etc. realigning the floor would be simple but not cheap unless you could do the job yourself one room at a time even so it will cost money. you could get a small builder to do it one who can do rudimentary carpentry and brick laying a prerequisite I would have though. Get quotes before going any futher.

MikeS

[Autolycus]

Think about it: how would new floorboards (typical thickness 3/4") change the height of one end of the floor by 3.5 inches? Sure, you could level it by fastening packings to the tops of all the joists first, either tapering in thickness from 3.5" to zero or different thicknesses on each joist, depending on which way the joists run in relation to the slope, but it might have some interesting implications for doorways, stairs, bathroom fittings, fitted furniture, and so on. Then you'd need to move the skirting boards and re-decorate accordingly.

I think I'd be rather more worried about how the structure of the house had accommodated such a massive distortion. Are the walls vertical or at right angles to the floor? Does the ground floor slope, too, and if not, how has the extra (or reduced) wall height downstairs been accommodated. Is it still moving? Can you run fast?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

If you do mean new floorboards, I doubt your 600 quid would even cover the cost of the materials.

[N. Thornton]

the floor boards will be level already: the problem is either in the joists supporting the floorboards, or in the foundations supporting the walls supporting the joists supporting the floorboards.

Simplest solution is usually to remove boards and pack the existing joists, ie fit more wood on top as necessary to make it all level, then relay boards.

I cant imagine that getting done for 600, but its generally diyable for £100.

NT

[The Natural Philosopher]

I would say that about £60-£80 per sq meter would cover the cost of levelling a floor with new boards or chipboard laid over on sized battens.

But as others have said, why is it not level? Deeply disturbing...

[in2minds]

until you lift the current flooring to reveal the joists, and the reason for the fall, you can't possibly guestimate the cost.

we had a similar problem, 10cm drop into 1 corner of the back bedroom, turned out the joists at that end had been replaced (I say replaced, what I really mean is bodged) by John Wayne and his possy.

take a look...

the joist on top of joist (scrap wood really) and lapped (rotten) joists held together with nails.

I ended up replacing 5 joists and the entire bedroom floor and the ceiling downstairs.

cost me (because I did all the work except plastering the ceiling) less than £500

LJ

[Dave Plowman (News)]

So say three bedrooms at an average of 4 x 4 metres?

That's near 4000 quid - assuming floorboards being the more expensive option than chipboard.

Perhaps the OP's cousin missed off a zero?

Of course, I'd guess you could re-use most of the original boards

[in2minds]

forgot to mention, that was for...

5 joists 15 sq mitres T&G flooring 18 mitres mdf skirting 2 x 5 litre ronseal wood stain/varnish 6 12mm foilback plaster board 3 bags board finish plaster 18 mitres coving ? tubes of no more nails plasterer

and other sundries that I can't remember

it worked out roughly the same (within a few quid) to lay T&G as it would to lay chip board floor with either underlay and a quality carpet or underlay and laminate

LJ

[Richard Blackwood]

Hi Mike,

This is what I had in mind. Why do the doors make a difference? Couldnt they just be planed if they need to be?

[Richard Blackwood]

The surveyor noted that movement had occured but was of the opinion that the movement had occured in the past and should not be an ongoing problem. I live in the ex-coalfields of SE Wales where subsidence is quite common.

[in2minds]

as did our surveyor and how wrong was he, the house hadn't moved at all, see my other reply

LJ

[Rob Morley]

Surely it was obvious from the fit of the skirting boards that it was the floor moving, rather than the wall?

[in2minds]

no, the previous owner had fixed the floor "in their own unique way" and installed fitted wardrobes along 1 wall and replaced the skirting along the short wall so it didn't look that far out of place especially with the bed in the way.

it wasn't until we ripped out the hideous wardrobes that the extent of the fall became apparent.

LJ

[N. Thornton]

yes but youd then have a step at the doorway. It may thus be preferable to do the whole floor.

NT

[MikeS]

[MikeS]

See in2minds post he has the tee shirt. Send the kids and Misses on holiday or to the M in Laws for a week get your pals round hire a skip etc this of course takes a lot of forward planning (thinking it through) arranging plasterer to come and do his stuff. When you put up the plaster board on the ceiling make sure to stagger them and use a good scrim on the joints(well make sure the plasterer does if he wont, some dont, sack him). Bear in mind you have to make a platform of scafold boards on cripple stands(hired) to cover the floor so that the plasterer can get the right hight to plaster as he has to have the ability to walk back and forth to get a fine finnish. Thats all I can think of at the moment as its some 15 years since I did anything like this as a diy project. Best of luck MikeS

[Mark]

Bear

Professional plasters use Stilts these days.