Cavity under floorboards Help, advice, information, answers and tips on all types of flooring from laminate and carpet to timber and vinyl

[andyclark]

Hello,

The cavity under my bedroom floorboards appear to have been filled with rubble and debri. Was this some kind of primitive and/or lazy insulating technique? Could this lead to damp or other long-term problems? Should I clear it all out? I'm on the first floor. It's no surprise as whoever lived here before was clearly the most inept DIY person since Reg on The Kenny Everett Show...

Cheers,

Andy Clark

[bd3cc]

How old is the property?
It cant cause damp problems unless there is a plumbing leak, and then I would think the problem would be on the ground floor.
Why would you be looking below your bedroom floor?

[andyclark]

Suspect property is around 60-70 years old. Am on the first floor. Reason I am looking under floorboards is that some need replaced. Looks like the whole floor cavity has been filled with rubble and debri. Just wondering if this was common practice back in the day or some kind of cheap/lazy way of getting rid of bulding waste.

[acsimpson]

I don't know when it went out of practice but I did live in a top floor flat which was built sometime in the 19th century and had rubble under the floorboards. I believe it it a primitive sound proofing technique, the more mass the floor has the less sound will penetrate it. I wouldn't expect it's woth worrying about it unless you are planning on taking a ceiling down below it in which case you can expect even more dust.

[andyclark]

Cheers guys, just mentioned it to an old plumber who said it was common practice in the old days. A type of sound-poroofing but also a way of gwtting rid of all the debri, saving a trip to the skip!

[rosebery]

Quite frequently some tradesmen "loose" their rubbish under the floorboards - saves disposing of it and it builds up after time. A very lazy and discourteous practice IMHO.

Cheers