Oly Posted June 29, 2007 Report Share Posted June 29, 2007 OK, I have a suspended timber floor in the downstairs of an old detached Victorian house and I get draughts up through the floorboards in one of the front rooms making it a little chilly. I'm looking at replacing the carpet soon anyway and was just wondering if anyone had used any products to stop the draughts?? I'm thinking along the lines of builder's paper or this stuff (bit pricey though!) under the underlay, then obviously carpet on top. http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?id=51524 Not keen on getting into sealing the floor or concreting it etc etc, just a good draught proofing underneath the underlay whilst retaining some breathability for the joists and not attracting condensation (which is what I'm a little worried about with the stuff from screwfix as it is effectively laminated). Any/all experiences of such materials/products would be greatly appreciated. Cheers, Oly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mungler Posted June 29, 2007 Report Share Posted June 29, 2007 The old dears' house suffered from this especially in conjunction with a large old coal fireplace = dust and drafts. Whatever you choose, get it properly done - I think they had the whole lot boarded out with ply, then sealed, then papered and then underlay and carpet. Because of the dust blowing around, the old carpet had thin black lines running accross it in paralell with the floorboard cracks - the drafts effectively airbrushed the dust up and into the room - that was through thick underlay and carpet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al4x Posted June 29, 2007 Report Share Posted June 29, 2007 there are two options, firstly you could rip the floor up and use either rockwool or board type insulation between the floor joists then re-lay the floor or secongly and this is the least disruptive just put down a really good underlay under the new carpet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
me and my lad Posted June 29, 2007 Report Share Posted June 29, 2007 duct tape or lay hard board over it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham M Posted June 29, 2007 Report Share Posted June 29, 2007 Cover the whole floor with plywood. This will make a good seal as well as stopping the joints showing up through the carpet. G.M. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oly Posted June 29, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 29, 2007 Cheers for the replies fellas and keep them coming. Can't really board over it all as it would cause a step into the room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
me and my lad Posted June 29, 2007 Report Share Posted June 29, 2007 just use thin board Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digger Posted June 29, 2007 Report Share Posted June 29, 2007 4mm ply will do the trick, a 4mm " step " under a decent under lay and carpet will be invisible. Cut the boards to meet half way across the original floor boards and fix with a staple gun, much quicker than screwing them down and a lot safer if you have pipe runs under the floor. Get the m2 of your room and divide by 2.88 (the area an 8 x 4 sheet covers ) add one for cuts and voila, you know how many sheets you need. Its under £4 a sheet and job done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conor Posted June 29, 2007 Report Share Posted June 29, 2007 take up the floor boards insulate it well then put down 3/4" ply. do the job right Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digger Posted June 29, 2007 Report Share Posted June 29, 2007 Nope, dont rip up your floor boards, you will never get them to pull up easily and it will damage them as boards that age dont take kindly to being removed. The reason you have a draught is the void has an air flow, clogging it with rockwool will lead to a restricted flow of air and damp problems. Mmm, try to denail floor boards and restrict the air flow or just confine it to where its meant to be i.e. sub floor ? Tricky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mungler Posted June 29, 2007 Report Share Posted June 29, 2007 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danger Mouse Posted June 29, 2007 Report Share Posted June 29, 2007 I had this issue in the conservetory, all that I did was to tape over the gaps with Duck Tape, then news paper on the floor before underlay and carpet, sorted now, infact it's that warm I wish I had'nt bothered! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al4x Posted June 30, 2007 Report Share Posted June 30, 2007 Nope, dont rip up your floor boards, you will never get them to pull up easily and it will damage them as boards that age dont take kindly to being removed.The reason you have a draught is the void has an air flow, clogging it with rockwool will lead to a restricted flow of air and damp problems. Mmm, try to denail floor boards and restrict the air flow or just confine it to where its meant to be i.e. sub floor ? Tricky thats why you have to put the rockwool between the joists so the floor void is maintained. As said if they are original boards then they don't lift easily how much void have you got? our old victorian terrace had about 4ft of void so in theory you could have got underneath and filled the joist gaps from there. We're doing up a house at the moment and to meet current regs if we keep our suspended floor we need 120mm of celotex/kingspan between the joists Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oly Posted June 30, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2007 take up the floor boards insulate it well then put down 3/4" ply. do the job right Like the boys have said, don't really want to rip the boards up, as (havent seen them yet) they're probably the original boards so if I (or the next generation!) ever wanted to expose & seal the good looking boards I don't want to lift the carpet and be faced with 3/4" ply! Thanks for the thought though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter-peter Posted June 30, 2007 Report Share Posted June 30, 2007 take up the floor boards insulate it well then put down 3/4" ply. do the job right Like the boys have said, don't really want to rip the boards up, as (havent seen them yet) they're probably the original boards so if I (or the next generation!) ever wanted to expose & seal the good looking boards I don't want to lift the carpet and be faced with 3/4" ply! Thanks for the thought though. cover existing boards with 8 by 4 sheets of thin hard board its dirt cheap and a nice flat finish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conor Posted June 30, 2007 Report Share Posted June 30, 2007 might not be too pretty alright be no cold air coming up tho! the old boards probaly not the best if they were covered in the first place. its not that hard get a floor up just have to be carefull. if it was my house id take the old stuff up (unless its very good) and get a nice hardwood floor in native oak or something nice instead of carpet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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