My girlfriend and I have been gradually trying to renovate our old Victorian mid-terraced house. This is obviously fraught with problems, the floor however is one of the most difficult to overcome and has left us at quite a stand still.
One room in particular has a very poor floor, which until finished leaves us little room to juggle furniture and progress through the house.
The floor is concrete but quite uneven, as much as 6cm or so from highest to lowest. There is is also evidence that there was once a hearth that has since been removed and refilled separately which has then sunk slightly lower than the rest of the floor (3-4cm gap at the lowest part).
The uneven floor covering doesn't seem to be from subsidence, with the house being over 100 years old there is almost no cracking on the walls plaster or even floor. It seems more than likely that debris under the floor has compressed over time, it's quite possible it has been like this ever since the floor was first laid and set.
We really don't have the budget to throw money at a problem like this, but even using a self levelling compound would probably cost hundreds simply due to the height it would have to make up 3mm at a time.
My father (a plumber by trade), suggested running lats to support a wooden floor. However lack of air flow could cause problems in the long run, and from a DIY point of view I'm not sure how comfortable I'd feel taking on that kind of project.
What other options are there? Other than to dig the whole thing up an have someone come in and replace it.
Ideally we'd like a laminate floor putting down, so any solution would have to ensure a good flat surface.
Any advice appreciated.
