A significantly troublesome problem in our "new" house, built in '49, is that the floors on the upper level give and sway. The house is a wooden house with 2 floors plus a basement.
No matter how quietly and carefully you try to tiptoe around, it moves and the furniture sways and lightly thumps against the wall they're placed by.
Sometime in the 70s or 80s, an opening on the lower floor was widened, and above the opening, the floor has settled about a centimeter, and the baseboards no longer touch the floor. They attempted to support the wall but did not succeed; the heart wall where they widened does not rest against the beam they installed.
We will extend upon that beam, stamp, nail, and glue a new one next to it and extend the entire wall, as a carpenter advised should be done.
However, I am doubtful that this alone will remedy the swaying of the floors since it sways a bit here and there on the upper floor.
Is there any other way to make the floors stable?
No matter how quietly and carefully you try to tiptoe around, it moves and the furniture sways and lightly thumps against the wall they're placed by.
Sometime in the 70s or 80s, an opening on the lower floor was widened, and above the opening, the floor has settled about a centimeter, and the baseboards no longer touch the floor. They attempted to support the wall but did not succeed; the heart wall where they widened does not rest against the beam they installed.
We will extend upon that beam, stamp, nail, and glue a new one next to it and extend the entire wall, as a carpenter advised should be done.
However, I am doubtful that this alone will remedy the swaying of the floors since it sways a bit here and there on the upper floor.
Is there any other way to make the floors stable?
Is it a floating floor?
Otherwise, there is a method where you screw down the floor with countersunk screws and plug the hole.
/Jörgen
Otherwise, there is a method where you screw down the floor with countersunk screws and plug the hole.
/Jörgen
There are many ways to rectify shaky floors. It all depends on the effort you want to make.
There are probably a multitude of solutions, but very few will likely suit you.
If you're willing to tear up all the flooring on the upper floor, you can install stronger joists or double the number of joists for a denser framework (from about c600 mm to c300 mm).
If you have tongue and groove wooden floors, you can screw them with 1 screw in each board and joist. This assumes you know where the joists are... Then you can glue floor gypsum with framework-stiffening adhesive (e.g., ardex s48, maxit 616 among others). This operation has the same effect - a c600 framework becomes as rigid as a c300 framework.
You can also self-level the entire upper floor - about 12-15 mm thick. That layer also stiffens the framework - though I believe it requires fiber-reinforced filler - or mats.
If you're able to tear up all the flooring, you can also use blocking which reduces the sway - I'm the wrong person to answer by how much.
There are no miracle cures for shaky frameworks - provide a little more information about the house - the condition of the framework (dimension of joists - cc distance, floor plan) so you can get more suggestions and more accurate suggestions for your house.
There are probably a multitude of solutions, but very few will likely suit you.
If you're willing to tear up all the flooring on the upper floor, you can install stronger joists or double the number of joists for a denser framework (from about c600 mm to c300 mm).
If you have tongue and groove wooden floors, you can screw them with 1 screw in each board and joist. This assumes you know where the joists are... Then you can glue floor gypsum with framework-stiffening adhesive (e.g., ardex s48, maxit 616 among others). This operation has the same effect - a c600 framework becomes as rigid as a c300 framework.
You can also self-level the entire upper floor - about 12-15 mm thick. That layer also stiffens the framework - though I believe it requires fiber-reinforced filler - or mats.
If you're able to tear up all the flooring, you can also use blocking which reduces the sway - I'm the wrong person to answer by how much.
There are no miracle cures for shaky frameworks - provide a little more information about the house - the condition of the framework (dimension of joists - cc distance, floor plan) so you can get more suggestions and more accurate suggestions for your house.
I forgot to mention that we want to keep the floor
I went down and checked where we tore down the outer wall and could see the studs. They are on cc 490(haha) and the stud is 70*x, since I couldn't reach to measure downward.
Tongue-and-groove parquet that is nailed at the ends under the baseboard.
The sway in the floor is worst in the living room and dining room above the area they messed up in the '70s. We can probably live with the sway in the other floors, but when the kids gallop upstairs, you're just waiting to pay yourself an unexpected visit downstairs!
How much can merely reinforcing the wall help? Should stabilize a little at least?
I went down and checked where we tore down the outer wall and could see the studs. They are on cc 490(haha) and the stud is 70*x, since I couldn't reach to measure downward.
Tongue-and-groove parquet that is nailed at the ends under the baseboard.
The sway in the floor is worst in the living room and dining room above the area they messed up in the '70s. We can probably live with the sway in the other floors, but when the kids gallop upstairs, you're just waiting to pay yourself an unexpected visit downstairs!
How much can merely reinforcing the wall help? Should stabilize a little at least?
Yes, another option is to embed an I-beam across the joists at half the span. It can then be supported by beams that go down through the floor on the first floor all the way down to the basement where they are placed on a stable base (e.g., two new pilasters).
The thought has also crossed my mind to have a beam in the middle, but of course, there are doors in the middle of the room leading to an extension. The alternative would be a pillar somewhere in the room, which is also not preferable.
We'll have to wait and see if it helps to support that opening.
Unless something else comes up, of course.
(Now the 3-year-old is incoming, I can feel it from the floor sway)
We'll have to wait and see if it helps to support that opening.
Unless something else comes up, of course.
(Now the 3-year-old is incoming, I can feel it from the floor sway
)Exactly! Maybe I should keep the sway anyway
I'm thinking about another thing. We've been tearing into the walls downstairs and have removed the cladding inside the air gap in the outer wall. We've only done this in the living room downstairs. The living room upstairs is directly above, and I'm now wondering how much our demolition might have affected the sway. I can't really say I've noticed any before/after difference, but it's not entirely impossible. Sure, the plank has a certain stabilizing function besides the obvious "have-something-to-screw-something-into-and-nail-treetex-on-after-the-air-gap...?"
I'm thinking about another thing. We've been tearing into the walls downstairs and have removed the cladding inside the air gap in the outer wall. We've only done this in the living room downstairs. The living room upstairs is directly above, and I'm now wondering how much our demolition might have affected the sway. I can't really say I've noticed any before/after difference, but it's not entirely impossible. Sure, the plank has a certain stabilizing function besides the obvious "have-something-to-screw-something-into-and-nail-treetex-on-after-the-air-gap...?"
I am not a constructor, but I don't believe the stability of the outer walls has been noticeably affected. Additionally, it's probably the sway in the floor joists that is the big problem - not that the outer walls sway outwards and inwards when the three-year-old runs upstairs.
If the outer walls were swaying, at least I would be quite worried as a homeowner.
If you have the same framework as I do, then you have a plank wall 2-2.5 inches x 4-6 inches which is notched.
If the outer walls were swaying, at least I would be quite worried as a homeowner.
If you have the same framework as I do, then you have a plank wall 2-2.5 inches x 4-6 inches which is notched.
Oh no, misunderstanding
What I mean is the sway in the floor. The upper floor joists "rest" to some extent on the tongue-and-groove plank wall just behind the treetex. They get extra support 30mm towards the center of the floor. We have torn down this plank wall to expose a 30 mm air gap and the timber frame while awaiting an insulation decision.
What I mean is the sway in the floor. The upper floor joists "rest" to some extent on the tongue-and-groove plank wall just behind the treetex. They get extra support 30mm towards the center of the floor. We have torn down this plank wall to expose a 30 mm air gap and the timber frame while awaiting an insulation decision.
Yes, we have the same stomme
Hi!
Have you heard about krysskortling?
You kortlar in a cross between all the floor joists. A bit hard to explain but imagine an X between two joists... they should be glued and nailed. Then the floor becomes stable. Check with a carpenter, he probably knows what it is..
Have you heard about krysskortling?
You kortlar in a cross between all the floor joists. A bit hard to explain but imagine an X between two joists... they should be glued and nailed. Then the floor becomes stable. Check with a carpenter, he probably knows what it is..
Surely I am being a nitpicker in this case, but you probably mean a krysskolvning?Isak76 said:Hello!
Have you heard of krysskortling?
You brace in a criss-cross pattern between all the floor joists. A little hard to explain, but imagine an X between two beams... they should be glued and nailed. Then the floor becomes stable. Check with a carpenter, he probably knows what it is..