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Help! Nightmare of a floor.

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We have a wooden floor in our living/dining room. Previous owners made two rooms into one and, where the walls was, put little pieces of floorboard. They then sanded the floor and varnished it (really badly!!). Unfortunately some boards have split whilst others are not supported underneath at the ends and parts of the floor bow when you walk on it. They also tried to join up the planks of the two rooms so it looks a bit like a jigsaw in some places. The best bit is that the two rooms had floors at slightly different heights, so in the middle of the room the floor and skirting board slope. My problem is that whilst I like the look of varnished real wood I'm fed up with the draughts and bouncy floor. Would I be better off laying a good quality laminate, but then how would I rectify the different heights of the floor. Or should I get someone to take up all the floorboards, level the heights of the joists and lay new boards down. Expensive? This house is turing into a moneytrap!!

Thanks for any advice!
I would if I could but I can't so I won't!

Comments

  • alanobrien
    alanobrien Posts: 3,308 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker Mortgage-free Glee!
    If you go with laminate it really depends on the difference in height between the 2 floors. If its only a few mm then you could put down hardboard to level them up and then lay the laminate as normal. Hardboard is cheap and readily available at most DIY sheds.

    You can also get different types of underlay for laminate some thicker than others so that could also be a way to sort it. Anyway, whatever you decide make sure its level if you go the laminate route otherwise joints can stress and open making it look naff.

    The more expansive route is to pull all the boards up reset the height of the joists and re lay the boards.
    I have seen a place once where someone pulled up boards
    and put spacers underneath to level up the boards. Not recommended as it creates more flexing of the boards. Good luck with the job.
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