Tag: floors

Work is progressing well on re-installing the first floor timbers.  All of the oak beams have been installed and now it is a case of putting up the joists.  These are attached to the beams and the wall plates via metal joist hangers.

Just a case of bending the top of the joist hangers over and nailing them down. With 6-8 nails per hanger, this takes a while!

Half installed with the metal joist hangers still to be bent over and nailed in position.

The joiner has started to reinstall the first floor.  It is around 30mm higher than the previous first floor.  This provides us with more headroom downstairs and this makes up for the fact that we will be installing underfloor heating throughout the house.  Downstairs (due to the existing cellars) we had no option other than to put the underfloor heating on top of the existing floor.  This raises the floor height by 120mm.  Lifting the first floor by 30mm partially compensates for this, while having little impact upstairs as we are going to leave the roof beams exposed.

There are two main beams made of green oak in each of the downstairs rooms.  Joists are attached to these using hangers and are then attached to a wall plate that has been glued and bolted to the inside wall.  The joists are attached to the wall plate using hangers.

Made of green oak these are substantial peices of wood that take a lot of manhandling to get into position.

The metal joist hangers are still to be bent over and nailed in place. The wall plates have been installed, but the resin for the bolts has to cure before the joists can be installed.

The kingpost truss has been sandblasted and looks pretty good now the roof has been finished.

All of the timber for the first floor was removed when we gutted the property.  The existing timbers were either rotten, had holes cut in them all over, or were just bent.  This meant that the existing first floor undulated, particularly in number 8.  We took the decision early on to replace all the timber.

The timber for the new first floor arrived today.  There are 6 green oak beams that make up the first floor.  Two beams in each cottage.  These beams are very heavy.

Then there are joists that run from the beams to the walls.  The floor deck is tongue and groove chipboard.

Made from green oak. These beams are seriously heavy!