Lowering floors

[Rhian]

Hi,

I know this is probably like asking how long a piece of string is but I was hoping some people might have had some experience of how big a job it is and how much it costs to lower a floor.

We have a four-storey georgian house that has the kitchen and dining room on the lower-ground floor. The height of the ceiling in the dining room is just under 7ft which is fine, but for some reason there is a step up into the kitchen and the kitchen ceiling is about 6ft 2 (which is not so good for my 6ft 4 partner!). Clearly we knew this when we bought and it doesn't really cause all that much trouble for us but as we're gutting the whole kitchen soon anyway, we can't decide whether it's worth biting the bullet and getting the floor lowered to the same level as the dining room (which would obviously be better in terms of resale and potentially rental value) or if the cost and hassle is disproportionate to the gain (the gain being that he might do the cooking more often! :wink: )

If anyone has any idea how much lowering the floor would be and also who would be able to do it (I presume it would need to be a specialised builder?) I'd be really grateful for your opinions.

Many thanks.

ps it's not listed

 

[Ian Bond]

Sounds an expensive job to me, you'd need to alter perhaps doorways, skirting boards etc as well. Can't you raise the roof / shorten your partner ?

What's the kitchen floor made of - you may have something nice/interesting that could be damaged by the alterations?

For example, my kitchen had a lovely sandstone floor - ruined when someone layed a gas pipe through it.

(not listed either)

 

[Rhian]

I did try telling him to slouch but somehow I think we might need a more permanent solution! We tried going up but there is only a very thin ceiling right onto the stuts of the room above so we can't get any higher up unfortunately.

everything on the walls etc is going to be pulled out anyhow (it's all horrible 70s pine cladding!) so we can deal with the rest of it. I would be a little sad to see the tiled floor go as they are rather nice old terracotta ones but I think we could probably save some and in the long run I think it might be worth it. As to what's underneath the tiles.... well I haven't got that far yet - am slightly loath to dig up an area until we've actually decided to go for it as otherwise the floor is in very good condition and we'll have a huge hole!

 

[Ian Bond]

I can see it is a problem, mind you I'm only 5'10 and jealous. 6'2 would be OK for me.

It's the classic problem of trying to conserve a period property whilst balancing modern needs, like being tall for example!

You only need to go down a couple of inches for your parter to be able to stand upright in the kitchen (maybe a bit more for comfort!).

It would be a shame to lose nice tiles etc, so I'd do whatever you can to salvage and relay if you must dig 'em up. You never know, there might be an older floor below. I wonder why there's a step up?

Anything below the kitchen? Coal cellar for example?


Ian

 

[Rhian]

no- there's nothing underneath as the coal cellar runs along the side of the kitchen and dining room, under the path (and even I can't stand up in there but that's a whole other question!) We can't work out why there would be a step - especially as the floor in both rooms was obviously layed at the same time but it does worry me that there may be a reason we don't know about. We have been told a way to check how deep the drains are so we can tell whether that's the restriction or if it's just arbitrary.

It would really only need to be a couple of inches but I'm guessing that going down two inches would be just as much hassle as going down two foot unfortunately.

I'd love someone to just come around and give me a figure for how much it would cost so I can decide whether it's worth it but noone we've had round so far seems to do that sort of thing

 

[Ian Bond]

It's important to be careful not to go too deep without supporting the walls. Old houses often have shallow footings, and this is not a problem unless someone does some inadvisable digging.

I wonder if your neighbours have a similar layout - or are you detached ?

Do you think the floor's higher to achieve the necessary 'fall' for the ground floor drains? Interesting.

 

[Rhian]

yes I think getting someone who knows what they're doing in is the only way to go!

We're semi-detached but the other half is up the hill so their lower-ground is more of a basement - lower ceilings than ours and no windows - and the building is unique (in the area at least) so we've noone to compare to!

that was the thinking - or even that the drains weren't dug v deep because they were dug so long ago - will try to find out how deep the drains are and will let you know if I get anywhere!

 

[NT]

I would have thought the only way to know the cost is to dig down and find out why the floor is as it is, and thus what work is needed to 'fix' it. Without knowing that, no-one knows whats involved and thus what cost.

NT