How to lay Victorian pine square edge floorboards in hall with different adjoining floor levels so it is flush? Help, advice, information, answers and tips on all types of flooring from laminate and carpet to timber and vinyl

[Rich05UK]

Hi,

I live in an old Victorian House (built 1890's), I employed a builder to fix some damp issues where it required the hall floor to be pulled up. The old floor has been dug down to allow air to circulate from some newly fitted air bricks under the front door step, all the way through the length of the hall and then through some further air bricks into the cellar. The cellar is also well ventilated and so I hope this now resolves the problem which has been ongoing for years.

Anyway, the builder used a lazer level and fitted a fantastically level sub floor using new joists and a 1" thick marine ply to ensure there is no flex in the floor whatsoever, it partly goes over a cellar and has been problematic with movement in the past. The issue is that the new subfloor might be perfectly level and fit for a new build house but being an old house, its now presented me with a problem as the adjoining room floor heights and the front door step are at different levels. The drop in floor height at one end is 30mm, in the middle to the 1st room is 20mm and then at the far end of the hall the drop in floor height is 35mm.

My intention is to fit some reclaimed vicorian square edge floorboards lengthways down the hall to match the adjoining living room floor.

The floorboards are approx 20mm thick, they are perfectly level with the living room floor but how can I adjust the levels to raise the floorboards by approx 15mm at the far end of the hall and by approx 10mm at the near end of the hall floor?

I then plan to nail the boards with square headed nails to give the same look as the boards laid in the adjoining living room floor. I assume this is ok and that fitting on top of a marine ply subfloor wont represent a problem?

To finish I will give them a sand down and then apply a floor polish/protector identical to what was applied to the living room floor so that it matches.

Thanks in advance for any help and advice.

Cheers,

Richard.

[stoneyboy]

Hi again rich05uk
You will probably have to fit hardwood door thresholds in the doorways, these can either be slightly proud of the deepest adjoining floor or you could plane them to match floors both sides.
Use oval nails driven in at angles to pin the floor down.
Regards S

[Rich05UK]

Thanks again stoneyboy,

Seems you've helped me on both my threads. :)

I was hoping to avoid using hardwood door thresholds in the doorways but instead try to fit something like a shim to slowly raise the floor height by the 10mm or so as required at each end of the hallway. I have no idea however if such a thing exists and where these can be purchased or if they can be made somehow?

Another idea I had was to perhaps fit a series of battens across the subfloor at each end of the hallway in line with the joists underneath the subfloor such that I could then nail the reclaimed floorboards to these. The issue I suspect is that this would need various thicknesses of battens starting at 1 or 2mm and then increasing in 1 or 2mm increments up to 10mm as required, can these be purchased from anywhere?

I have also read about perhaps lifting up the subfloor and mounting to each of the existing joist, another joist in parallel but at the desired height and then re-fit the subfloor back down again. As I plan to do this myself, I don't feel comfortable pulling up the existing subfloor as its solid now and I don't want to ruin what's already there, I think it was glued and screwed anyway so it wouldn't be easy to pull back up? It was a pig to fit too, very heavy large sheets of 1" thick marine ply and the 2 contractors struggled to get them in place, doubt I could do this on my own.

Any further ideas / suggestions?

Thanks,

Richard.

[stoneyboy]

Hi rich05uk
The only workable suggestion is battens ontop of the joist position. You could get a local timber yard to cut up strips of timber or buy yourself a circular saw and make them yourself.
Regards S

[Rich05UK]

Thanks for all the info everyone.

I've been looking into either cutting my own timbers or buying timbers to fix as battens on top of the joist positions as suggested, but for the thicknesses needed both options seem almost impossible (for me anyway). I don't own a suitable saw and to cut a 1mm or 2mm thick strip of wood seems a specialist job from what I've been reading. I've also contacted a number of timber mills in my area and none of them seem interested in cutting these for me and they often don't return my calls.

Anyway, I was about to give up but came across these Flat Packer Sets and wondered if it would work using these instead? The description suggests they can be used on floors.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00 ... _qh_dp_hza

or

https://www.amazon.co.uk/INNONEXXT%C2%A ... 07ZPBVDLY/

They can be used in pairs to pack a gap between 1mm and 10mm in 1mm increments. I would aim to just pack under the floorboards at the point of fixing into each joist only. Would this work, should I nail either side of the spacer or maybe through the spacer to prevent them from moving over time?

Thanks.

Richard.

[stoneyboy]

Hi rich05uk
The broadfix packers are fine and are readily available. They can be brittle and tend to rotate if you fix through them. Suggest you stick them in place using silicone mastic.
Regards S