Dealing with Problem Floors in London
We have nearly 20 years of experience – if we haven’t tackled a problem with wooden flooring before, and solved it, no one has! The two classic problems we come across are woodworm infected boards and joists and the laying of Deal (young pine) by inexperienced or unscruplous installers.
Woodworm
Woodworm-affected joists – if penetration is not critical, they can be ‘treated & cleated’ that is treated with a low-odour, water-based woodworm treatment/prevention, repaired and structurally ‘beefed up’ using cleats made from lengths of new joist timber (also treated).
Affected joists tend to crumble on their edges (right angles) – as long as the woodworm has not fully penetrated the joist, they are usually treatable and may only need basic cleating.
‘Cleats’ installed alongside weakened original joist timber and resting correctly on the ‘plate’ – the structural wood that runs below and perpendicular to the joists and supports them.
Another classic problem: ‘Deal’- young pine
It shrinks like mad for up to 6 months after being purchased/laid. Ideally, it should be avoided like the plague as it’s too unstable. It’s worth paying the extra for seasoned reclaimed timber.
The floor below was a tongue & groove ‘deal’ that another contractor had laid, sanded, and stained rosewood. They finished it all correctly with several coats of good quality lacquer & when the job was finished, it looked good. Fast Forward six months and a whole winter central heating cycle, and you can see that the boards shrunk substantially. Significant gaps opened up, showing the ‘blond’ un-stained tongues of the boards.
We had to fill all the gaps with specially mixed two-component filler, re-sand, and stain everything from scratch. The client paid twice for the same job.
The moral of the story is don’t scrimp and buy new pine, however cheap it seems at the time – buy reclaim or live to regret it!
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