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| FLOORING
TIPS |
| New
flooring on existing oak beams |
Its
not unusual to find that existing oak beams are either
not level or have distorted over time, which makes laying
a new floor, particularly chipboard sheets and parquet,
very difficult. Apart from the distortion, the beams
are often too widely spaced. The maximum comfortable
span between joists for chipboard sheets in general
is 400mm.
Faced with this problem we laid lengths of chevron (80x60mm)
timber at right angles across the existing beamwork
from wall to wall at 400mm intervals. These were studded
together with chevron at their ends to hold them together
and form a stable framework. Some studwork was also
inserted at intermediate parts of the runs to further
stabilise them. The gaps between the chevron and the
beams were then chocked with wooden wedges until the
whole platform was level and resting on all of
the beams. This gave a level and stable base on which
to fix the chipboard sheets, or new floorboards. Although
the span for 22mm chipboard can be as much as 600mm
we have always found this to be too springy and 400
to 450mm is preferable. In the case of tongue and grooved
pine timber floorboards the distance between the chevron
runs can be increased to 600mm. Substantial tongue and
grooved oak boards can tolerate an even larger span.
Two things to watch out for, chevron should only be
used if the gap between the existing beams is not more
than around a metre, also you will lose 80mm off your
present floor to ceiling height. This method avoids
the hassle of inserting intermediate beams into the
wall.
Although the entire chevron frame literally rests on
the existing beams (it is nailed into the beams in only
half a dozen places) the finished product is extremely
solid with none of the "bounce" associated
with the old floor.
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