Is it normal for floor joists to move?

callmechar

We live in an ex council house bulit in 1962. When replacing some broken floor boards we noticed the floor joists "move" - is this normal?

callmechar

My husband says they "bounce"

DRP

a little movement is normal.

'Bounce' is usually from rot or some other problem.

We had similar and upon removing the boards we found some rot and breakdown of the pier walls that the joists sit on.

leveller2911

DRP wrote: »

a little movement is normal.

I agree.............

'Bounce' is usually from rot or some other problem

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All timber floors will "bounce" dependant on how long the floor joists are and where they are supported. Rot is a seperate issue and quite easy to lift a floorboard where the joists meet an outside wall and see if there is any rot.

sk240

Yeah its notmal, especially that era as ther were a bit thin! or it might be your floorboards moving a littlke

callmechar

Sorry to resurrect my old thread. We've just finished decorating the bedroom. My husband says there is no rot and secured the floorboards which were loose so we were hoping that would help. The bedroom is 4.10m x 4.10m. This is the biggest room upstairs.

Is there anything we can do about the bounce in the joists? The new furniture which isn't secured to the wall moves a bit when we're walking in the bedroom. We will secure it to the wall in time. You can hear someone walking around the bedroom when someone is in the living room below

Doozergirl

If the joist is loose, you can pack where it meets the wall to stop it from moving, but there would usually be a noise, a bit of a bang more than a bounce.

More likely is that you have quite a large span and joists that are a little undersize to carry the weight across the span. To strengthen and brace them would be a bit of a job. It depends on how annoying it really is.

callmechar

Thank you. If the joists are a bit too small that's not dangerous is it?

macman

If the joists are not big enough and regular enough to support the load then yes, it is. But there is no evidence of that.

Doozergirl

callmechar wrote: »

Thank you. If the joists are a bit too small that's not dangerous is it?

Not dangerous. Sufficient but standards have improved over the last 50 years, so not engineered as well as they could be, perhaps.

callmechar

My husband says he thinks the problem is a a piece of timber under the joists? I don't really know and he says there is only a few mm's movement.