Homer Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Bit of advice please on the state of the floor in my extension (see pics) I noticed a small damp pach on the floor after pulling back the carpet today, after pulling up one board (none of which are screwed down) I found what was in the picture.. The leak has been found and fixed (no sealant used on one side of the patio door), but I am a bit concerned about the constuction and insulation used - The joists are solid, but the construction seems a bit hap hazard, is it normal to do the floor like this? - The inner row of bricks are loose and several can just be lifted out. Shouldn't these be secured in? Also should they be connected to the floor joists at all? Though the joists are solid they only appear to be resting on the inner course - There are huge gaps in the insulation and a lot of cold air is coming in, primarily because there of the gaps in the brickwork which leads to the wall cavity. Is this normal? I'm tempted to rip it all out and start again but want to get some opinions from the experts first Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wantthatone Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 im no expert, but i've never seen a floor like that. was the sub floor lower than the outside patio? i would of thought they would of poured a new floor on a damp course membrane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homer Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 im no expert, but i've never seen a floor like that. was the sub floor lower than the outside patio? i would of thought they would of poured a new floor on a damp course membrane The floor is above the patio, about 14 inches or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieP Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Its fine, if you want to you can cement the joist in but it will have no real effect, the small sections of timber are noggins to stop the floor bouncing. It must have been done a long time ago as you are not allowed to do ground floors like that any more, we only ever do block and beam floors, i dont like solid concrete floors either as you can get heave between the summer and winter months if the sub soil is not stable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 I looks like a fairly standard floating timber floor to me. If you lift a piece of insulation there should be a DPM at the bottom of a small airspace, but it doesn't look like there has been prolonged damp in there. You could lay a vapour permeable membrane to limit the air leakage but it depends what the rest of the house is like wether you would see any real results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozz Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Looks like my extension floor but I did mine myself and i'm no builder :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homer Posted February 18, 2011 Author Share Posted February 18, 2011 Good stuff, thanks for the replies gents There is a DPM on the sub floor, so that looks okay, it's just a lot of the poorly cut polystyrene insulation has dropped out, or just had broken up bits wedged in that are causing some drafts. Will try and replace that (is there a better insulation material than 2inch polystyrene?) The rest of the house is well insulated but this room has always been a little bit colder than the rest of the house so wanted to try and find out why. I think it's mainly the draft coming in from the cavity that's causing it so will think about rebulding the brickwork there Also, can I use an insulation material to fill the cavity between the inner and outer course of brick work just inside the patio door? Would something like filler foam be okay? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieP Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 Celotex is far better than polystyrene , comes in a range of thickness's, 100mm is good for floors, stuff some rockwool insulation down the cavity below the door. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homer Posted February 18, 2011 Author Share Posted February 18, 2011 Thanks Jamie, much appreciated as always. Celotex sounds ideal. At £10.88 sq/m that seems pretty good value when looking at the insultation specs compared to polystyrene, there's about 19 sq/m to do so should be worth it if it helps keep the rooms in the extenstion a bit warmer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieP Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 The other option would be to leave the polystyrene in place and put a secondary layer of thinsulex over the complete floor joist, its good stuff, used for vaulted ceilings and loft conversions mainly but its good for something like that and very simple to fit, the floor boards would screw down over it just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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