Main Bedroom - Part 1: The floor
Main Bedroom - Part 1: The floor
When we moved in we realised that we couldn't move straight into the main bedroom. The spare bedroom looked a little better and so we decided to use that room for the time being.
We started by taking the carpet up, it was stained with what we'll call 'pet puddles', which it turns out had soaked through to the floorboards (and as we later discovered, into the insulation). It was a relief to get rid of the carpet, there was an instant improvement in smell.
Floorboards
When we removed the carpet we also found that some of the floorboards had begun to sink. It turns out they had been laid the wrong way - along the joists rather than across them. We got advice from our amazing builder friend who said that a sort the floor properly we would have to remove the old floorboards and replace them. So the mission began...
First all the skirting boards needed to come off..
We worked as a team with our fab builder to get the old floorboards up. This is when we realised that those 'pet puddles' many of which unfortunately fell over joins in the boards had soaked through further into the insulation below. At this point we decided in for penny in for a pound and made an unplanned trip to Wickes to buy replacement insulation and did the whole lot.
Ceiling heating
At this point the discoveries continued as we came across some sort of electronic matting, below the insulation and first floor joists but above the downstairs ceiling. It turned out many of the houses on this estate (which was built in 1977 - the year of the Queen's Silver Jubilee) were built with ceiling heating. A bit of a strange concept if you ask me as my GCSE science knowledge in the depths of my brain tells me heat rises, but hey ho, it was apparently a thing. A quick check that this was all disconnected from the mains electricity and bits came out.
With the new insulation installed the floor boards started to go down...
I admit to staying out of the way at this point and 'leaving the boys to it' not because I'm averse to getting stuck in, but because I dodgy feet and know walking alone joists is just never going to happen. Whilst downstairs busying myself I heard the saw go on again and then a crashing sound, only to look up and see the other half dangling from the ceiling having slipped on a joist and falling halfway through the ceiling...
A little bruised and grazed, but otherwise he was thankfully fine. Certainly gave us a shock, and gave our builder another job to do before he went home, but has added to the funny stories we can tell in the future.
The improvement with the new floorboards down was indescribable - fresher and certainly safer. During the floor replacement we had to remove the radiator and decided that we would move it to another wall. This meant that one floorboard would just be slotted in, not glued or screwed down and another just covering is place so that we could access pipes later once the walls had been done.
When we moved in we realised that we couldn't move straight into the main bedroom. The spare bedroom looked a little better and so we decided to use that room for the time being.
We started by taking the carpet up, it was stained with what we'll call 'pet puddles', which it turns out had soaked through to the floorboards (and as we later discovered, into the insulation). It was a relief to get rid of the carpet, there was an instant improvement in smell.
Floorboards
When we removed the carpet we also found that some of the floorboards had begun to sink. It turns out they had been laid the wrong way - along the joists rather than across them. We got advice from our amazing builder friend who said that a sort the floor properly we would have to remove the old floorboards and replace them. So the mission began...
We shopped around for floorboards and ended up going with a company called Cornish Fixings, they were fab and even delivered.
Ceiling heating
At this point the discoveries continued as we came across some sort of electronic matting, below the insulation and first floor joists but above the downstairs ceiling. It turned out many of the houses on this estate (which was built in 1977 - the year of the Queen's Silver Jubilee) were built with ceiling heating. A bit of a strange concept if you ask me as my GCSE science knowledge in the depths of my brain tells me heat rises, but hey ho, it was apparently a thing. A quick check that this was all disconnected from the mains electricity and bits came out.
I admit to staying out of the way at this point and 'leaving the boys to it' not because I'm averse to getting stuck in, but because I dodgy feet and know walking alone joists is just never going to happen. Whilst downstairs busying myself I heard the saw go on again and then a crashing sound, only to look up and see the other half dangling from the ceiling having slipped on a joist and falling halfway through the ceiling...
The improvement with the new floorboards down was indescribable - fresher and certainly safer. During the floor replacement we had to remove the radiator and decided that we would move it to another wall. This meant that one floorboard would just be slotted in, not glued or screwed down and another just covering is place so that we could access pipes later once the walls had been done.
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