Replacing Floors in Victorian House

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Originally Posted by vGolfer

I guess I was planning to do it room by room by ripping up the entire floor and the sub floor and starting from scratch. I don't mind if it takes a bit longer and is hard work as I can't afford to pay someone to do it all in one go. The floor boards are no good to keep and in many places it is just chip board.

Just out of curiosity, can anyone tell me what the spacings for joists and bearers for a floor should be?

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Lifting the floor and doing a room at a time is a practical way of doing it.
You need to use any chimneys in the house as the reference points for levels as they are likely to be stable.

If the joists are 450mm (18") spaced them 19mm PB is ok (yellowtongue)
if the joists are 600mm (24") spaced you need to use 22mm PB (redtongue?)

If the joists are 100 x 38 (4"x1.5") nominally they should span abouit 1800mm 100 x 75 bearers should span about 1800mm.
Hopefully someone with current framing manuals can fill you in more exactly. Normal roughsawn timber is F8 grade wnen green (but if seasoned it is F14 stress grade).

Thanks a lot for all the tips everyone, much appreciated. Any more advice and/or experiences is welcome!

My house is pretty old too.. around 1900 2 storey double brick. Under the floors I found the old termite eaten stumps and new (1930) dwarf walls built at 1800 spacings. Hence no bearers. The joists were burnt on the outside with solid wooden cores. Scared the cr*p out of me, thought I'd bought a dud!

The dwarf walls are another option but probably more difficult to make.

Does anyone know why burnt wood would be recycled? (no woodchuck jokes please)

Cheers
Pulse

Sounds alot like my house which is a Victorian in Moonee Ponds. In the
centre of each room there is a brick pier and a main bearer
resting on a notchout in the bluestone foundations and that pier.

The joists sit on the bearer and bottom plates which run along the top
of the foundations.

andy

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Originally Posted by ajwans

Sounds alot like my house which is a Victorian in Moonee Ponds. In the
centre of each room there is a brick pier and a main bearer
resting on a notchout in the bluestone foundations and that pier.

The joists sit on the bearer and bottom plates which run along the top
of the foundations.

andy

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Have you tried to do any work on these yourself?

Sounds very much like the project I started a little over a month ago. Tore up the floor to replace eaten out bearers and joists, only to discover cracking in the footings (c.1930's).
Advice received indicted that underpinning of footings necessary to prevent further movement/reduce future cracking.
Currently feels like we're digging to China (through clay). Have started the cement pours and hope to be finished the re-pinning in about 3-5 weekends time.
When I finally get to replace the floor (current bare dirt) I'll go for hyspan
I-joists and replace the original 'brick on a lump of concrete' stump with a decent stump. I'm including sub-floor insulation and will then lay a termite treated, yellow tongue floor. Next is to re-line the walls/ceiling with gyprock and finish it with a loverly re-sawn blue gum T+G floor.
I've also got to remember to drill in some ventilation holes for the sub-floor area - currently none!
I think I'll get a professional in to finish the floor - couln't handle the concept of after all this work I bugger about $1700 of nice blue-gum.
Nothing ever seems to be straight forward in this reno game.

hawthorn, victorian and "limited knowledge/experience without professional advice (no offence intended at all, I have only restumped one home ..... NEVER AGAIN) equals warning bells to me for the following reason:

You own a very high-value home, therefore prospective buyers will likely have the funds to commission a detailed property report. If they see what youre describing it could detract greatly from the value of the home. Not saying you intend to sell now, but this issue will only get bigger over the years.

Flooring Timber selection should be carefully thought through, for the same reasons, as buyers of these homes in this area are usually very particular.

Archicentre is located within a few K's of you and offers a very reasonably priced assessment of such things. In additon, there is Authentic Age

http://www.authenticage.com.au/

in Hawthorn, who are expert in the renovation of Period Homes.

Make sure you learn to lift the existing flooring correctly as it is likely to be 150mm by 22mm Baltic Pine or thicker........ it's being sold currently for $14 per metre at one of the big reno-warehouses in Port Melbourne...... floor lifters are available for hire.

There are quite a few books on this available I believe, though I dont have any.

hope this is at least a little helpful.

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Originally Posted by seriph1

hawthorn, victorian and "limited knowledge/experience without professional advice (no offence intended at all, I have only restumped one home ..... NEVER AGAIN) equals warning bells to me for the following reason:

You own a very high-value home, therefore prospective buyers will likely have the funds to commission a detailed property report. If they see what youre describing it could detract greatly from the value of the home. Not saying you intend to sell now, but this issue will only get bigger over the years.

Flooring Timber selection should be carefully thought through, for the same reasons, as buyers of these homes in this area are usually very particular.

Archicentre is located within a few K's of you and offers a very reasonably priced assessment of such things. In additon, there is Authentic Age

http://www.authenticage.com.au/

in Hawthorn, who are expert in the renovation of Period Homes.

Make sure you learn to lift the existing flooring correctly as it is likely to be 150mm by 22mm Baltic Pine or thicker........ it's being sold currently for $14 per metre at one of the big reno-warehouses in Port Melbourne...... floor lifters are available for hire.

There are quite a few books on this available I believe, though I dont have any.

hope this is at least a little helpful.

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Thanks for that...no offence taken at all.

I do see your point with regard to Hawthorn. I am in a tricky spot as the floors are crap, but I can't really afford to have them done professionally.

Try the timber auctions for packs of flooring boards, lots of variety, kiln dried etc. half the price of anything else.
I've done lots of floor on concrete footings, brick piers, ant caps, hardwood bearers, hardwood joists, cramp up the floor boards and secret nail em with a nail gun... Easy and very satisfying.
Last but not least...geta pro in to do the finish, then you will be delighted. Sanding is the one thing where mistakes CANNOT be corrected and anyway you will never be able to hire a really high quality professional sanding machine.