Edwardian kitchen floor mystery

[sidehaas]

Hi all,
I'm confused about the construct of the kitchen floor in the house we are buying. It is definitely the original kitchen space as it has a huge wide chimney breast where the range would have been. I'm interested in the construction of the floor because there is minor damp at low level in an adjacent wall (see my previous post last week) but I can't pull up a floorboard as we haven't exchanged contracts yet...

The floor is wooden floor boards and if not original, is certainly pretty old. However our surveyor told us that floors in kitchens in buildings of this age/type were always solid floors, and it's certainly true that others we've seen have been quarried tiles where original. He said lack of damp-proofing in the solid floor might be the cause of the damp.

However I went back today to have another more detailed look at the area. Interestingly, the wooden floor is actually clearly suspended in some way (you can feel it vibrate), and there is an old/original-looking air-brick in the upper part of the damp proof course (the blue brick bit) in the kitchen's external wall at under-floor level. In addition, the suspended floor at its current height is still at least 4 inches below the level of the hallway and dining room floors (the latter also being a suspended wooden floor), so I'd be surprised if the original floor had been even lower.

So, has the house got an unusual original suspended wooden floor in the kitchen, or is there some alternative explanation?

Thanks

 

[Feltwell]

There's no such thing as "standard", just common and unusual! Each builder would build how they saw fit, within certain local restrictions.

For instance, nearly all houses of that age made of brick will have solid 9" thick walls, but someone posted up on here recently about an 1890's property that had cavity walls.

It's possible that the floor has been built above an original tiled floor that was in poor condition, but let's face it quarry tiles are as tough as old boots to begin with and if you did want to replace a few broken ones it would be easier to do that rather than erect a complete suspended floor structure.

I'd suggest that unless there are clear signs of the floorboards having been reused (nail holes where there are no joists) or that airbrick is different to the others on the property then the floor probably is original. You'll know for sure when you lift a board!

 

[Lime]

My house and the two next to it were built at the same time (Edwardian) and have almost the same appearance on the outside but the interiors are quite different.
Apart from the upstairs in each house being completely different from one another (different number, size and positions of bedrooms) the construction of the ground floorings are different too.
Mine has a tiled hall, pantry, kitchen and scullery, the rest of the floors are suspended wooden floors, another house has tiled floors throughout while the other house has suspended wooden floors throughout except for the pantry.
All are original constructions.

 

[JoceAndChris]

I wouldn't believe what surveyors say, at all.

I guess where you've got a typically Georgian style of house with the kitchen in the basement then you'd expect hard flooring laid on earth. If the kitchen is on a ground floor level then it sounds more sensible for it to have a suspended floor.

 

[Penners]

our surveyor told us that floors in kitchens in buildings of this age/type were always solid floors

Either you misunderstood or your surveyor is a dolt. It's impossible to make a sweeping generalisation like that. A suspended kitchen floor may not be the commonest feature, but it's far from unusual.

How old is the house and what's its method of construction?

 

[MatthewC]

He said lack of damp-proofing in the solid floor might be the cause of the damp.

Old solid floors are meant to breathe, and if the surveyor really said that then he is certainly the wrong person for the job. If it does have a solid floor, then covering it with joists and boards and not ventilating the space is the more likely cause of any dampness.

 

[MattW]

A suspended kitchen floor may not be the commonest feature, but it's far from unusual.

My house was built in 1832. Both it and the neighbouring one in the terrace had suspended basement floors where the kitchen and the scullery were. Interestingly they had a single ring of flagstones around the edge of each room and the centre was pine floor boards.