Suspended floor surprise

[Dave55]

I have lifted a floorboard on what I was expecting to be a suspended floor as I was going to inspect the joists due to movement of the floor in one or two places and this is what I found, does anyone have any idea why this would have been done, it appears the whole room is similar.
There is a kitchen with a solid floor to the one side of the room and a cellar to the other, the exterior floor level to the front side of the room is to high to have a vent but there is one in the back wall, I'm not sure how any airflow would have been achieved, any ideas on the best way forward with this will be greatly appreciated!

 

[Cubist]

Hi Dave,

How deep is that material? Are those joists or battens pinned to a floor below?

Either way, I'd suggest that rubbish needs to come out. it will harbour any damp and transmit it to the joists/battens and ultimately the floor will fail.

 

[LadyArowana]

How strange, someone digging an escape tunnel and hiding the evidence maybe

 

[Dave55]

Hi Dave,

How deep is that material? Are those joists or battens pinned to a floor below?

Either way, I'd suggest that rubbish needs to come out. it will harbour any damp and transmit it to the joists/battens and ultimately the floor will fail.

Hi Cubist, I haven't checked how deep it is yet, they are joists not battens, I'll dig some out I guess and see how deep it is.

 

[MatthewC]

Cubist is spot on. It needs to go and is probably why your floor has "movement in one or two places"!

The interesting thing will be to find what the joists are resting on, as the ventilation is blocked. It is possible that you might have a good space there, filled with a couple of tons of that rubble.

 

[Cubist]

Hello again Dave,

Sorry, but you've got an unpleasant job to do there. The whole floor will need to come up, the waste - hopefully it's loose - must be removed to below the line of whatever supports the joists are sitting on. Any weak or severely damaged joists will need to be repaired or replaced and any failures of their supports remedied before the boards are replaced. It would be a good idea to apply an anti-woodworm treatment before relaying the boards - a nice, warm and probably damp place like that would be a haven for wood chewers. As Matthew suggests you should also take the opportunity to remedy any air-flow issues while you have the chance.

I don't envy you, the First Lady here would go berserk if I suggested doing that job in the run up to Christmas. Hopefully yours has already bought your gift, and its not a dog-house.
Cheers,
Cubist

 

[Dave55]

Cubist is spot on. It needs to go and is probably why your floor has "movement in one or two places"!

The interesting thing will be to find what the joists are resting on, as the ventilation is blocked. It is possible that you might have a good space there, filled with a couple of tons of that rubble.

Thanks Mathew, I’ll have to get it out and see what what I have

 

[Dave55]

Hello again Dave,

Sorry, but you've got an unpleasant job to do there. The whole floor will need to come up, the waste - hopefully it's loose - must be removed to below the line of whatever supports the joists are sitting on. Any weak or severely damaged joists will need to be repaired or replaced and any failures of their supports remedied before the boards are replaced. It would be a good idea to apply an anti-woodworm treatment before relaying the boards - a nice, warm and probably damp place like that would be a haven for wood chewers. As Matthew suggests you should also take the opportunity to remedy any air-flow issues while you have the chance.

I don't envy you, the First Lady here would go berserk if I suggested doing that job in the run up to Christmas. Hopefully yours has already bought your gift, and its not a dog-house.
Cheers,
Cubist

Yep thanks again, I’ll start next week and see how it goes, cheers for your advice

 

[fernicarry]

Looks just like all of my upstairs floors. Filled with ash and sand and whatever came to hand suspended on boards sat on battens to about half the depth of the joists. Its done for sound deadening (but referred to as 'deafening' here...). Can't imagine why it would be on the ground floor though unless you have a secret basement? You might find it doesn't go all the way down so there is still ventilation below it but digging it out for access is not a fun job, been there got the T-shirt. What I try to do once I get a gap started is lift the boards out carefully with the semi-solid mass of stuff still sat on top and then slide the lot into a bin bag.

 

[a twig]

Consider hiring a vacuum or suction excavator?

 

[Kearn]

Consider hiring a vacuum or suction excavator?

Yep. You’d be surprised what Henry can deal with. Scrap the bag and go to work… I regularly used him to clear out the brick floor of our Georgian cellar!

 

[Cubist]

Looks just like all of my upstairs floors. Filled with ash and sand and whatever came to hand suspended on boards sat on battens to about half the depth of the joists. Its done for sound deadening (but referred to as 'deafening' here...). Can't imagine why it would be on the ground floor though unless you have a secret basement? You might find it doesn't go all the way down so there is still ventilation below it but digging it out for access is not a fun job, been there got the T-shirt. What I try to do once I get a gap started is lift the boards out carefully with the semi-solid mass of stuff still sat on top and then slide the lot into a bin bag.

That a novel technique - kinda reminds me of all the waste materials the kitchen fitters brushed behind the kick-boards of the cabinets - before our time here I hasten to add. That little lot included all the sawdust and off-cuts from the cabinet, busted metal and plastic fittings and spoiled plumbing connectors and among which were the desiccated corpses of a surprising number of mice. Some of which, perhaps, may have given Henry a bit of a challenge.

 

[Feltwell]

may have given Henry a bit of a challenge.

Henry's well'ard you know. Mine is so old it's actually a pre-Henry, it has the face but no name.....

Dates back to the 1970's, has a metal rather than plastic body and has endured countless abuses, and has never had a bag inside it - all the muck just goes straight in the drum, I just give the big cloth filter a blast out with my airline every now & then. Not the world's most powerful vacuum but it's powerful enough, it is probably the world's most durable one though!

 

[Cubist]

Some time ago I was talking to a mate in the forces who had participated in some of the early prototyping and trials of Robot Mine Detectors. He was rather amused to learn that some of the earliest models were based around a Henry Chassis. Not sure if the Army thought they were that 'bomb proof' but... maybe they were right.

 

[a twig]

I cleared an entire blocked chimney using a Henry. The only thing he refused was a fossilised jackdaw. 8 Henry dust bags and 8 rubble sacks of sticks and twigs later - job jobbed.

That was 6 years ago and the same Henry is now on workshop dust extraction duties

 

[88v8]

I have lifted a floorboard on what I was expecting to be a suspended floor as I was going to inspect the joists due to movement of the floor in one or two places and this is what I found, does anyone have any idea why this would have been done, it appears the whole room is similar.

Are there air bricks on the outside? Or where you mention 'vent' are you saying there is only one at the rear?

Yes, it's a bit odd.... but as far as one can see from the small area, the nails are not overly rusty, the fill doesn't look damp, the boards have shrunk a little so they're not damp.

Are the joists loose-bedded in the rubble, or was it a normal suspended floor and the underfloor has actually been filled up with debris.....

Anyway, if it's dry all over I might be tempted to address the movement and leave it alone....

Ivor

 

[Zebra]

Aaw, are we reminiscing about our Henries...? Mine is now a social media influencer, he posts videos of the muck he's about to eat.

 

[BlueTed]

I have lifted a floorboard on what I was expecting to be a suspended floor as I was going to inspect the joists due to movement of the floor in one or two places and this is what I found, does anyone have any idea why this would have been done, it appears the whole room is similar.
There is a kitchen with a solid floor to the one side of the room and a cellar to the other, the exterior floor level to the front side of the room is to high to have a vent but there is one in the back wall, I'm not sure how any airflow would have been achieved, any ideas on the best way forward with this will be greatly appreciated!View attachment 9734

It’s difficult to tell from the photograph, but the infill looks mostly dry. As others have said, perhaps there’s a cellar beneath this room and it was out there to dampen sound?

 

[Zebra]

Aaw, are we reminiscing about our Henries...? Mine is now a social media influencer, he posts videos of the muck he's about to eat.

... he's trying to break into reality TV. He's applied to both Vacuum Island and I'm a Domestic Appliance Get Me Out of Here, but no luck yet .

 

[Feltwell]

... he's trying to break into reality TV. He's applied to both Vacuum Island and I'm a Domestic Appliance Get Me Out of Here, but no luck yet .

Well, in the meantime he's always got his usual nativity play to do.