help! survey says look at creaky floor - who to call?

pichon

Hello,

We are first time buyers and we had our structural survey back on the house. There were a couple of category 3 warnings (?) and one that we were not aware of was "creaky floor." The other one is damp problem, and we had a damp proofing guy to check on this before we put an offer.

The surveyor wrote,

The ground floors are a mixture of solid and timber suspended construction and to the first floor timber suspended construction with joist and board finish. Floors were fitted with carpet and other floor finishes which limited inspection and comment. The solid ground floors are to the porch, kitchen, lobby, and bathroom, the remaining ground floor are of timber suspended construction together with the first floors.

Floors generally level and sound underfoot except the rear part of the hall floor which is soft underfoot and a little 'creaky'. The location of this timber suspended floor in relation to the air flow beneath these timber ground floors is away from the main through flow between front and rear reception rooms. It would be advisable to inspect this floor to ascertain the reasons why its support is less firm than elsewhere. Timber specialist company to advise on this any other timber defects to the property. Category 3 further investigation and works advised."

We don't really know what it means to be honest, but as advised, we are looking for a timber specialist company in the local area and we are not sure who to call. An online search generally gives damp proofing companies as a timber specialist or timber sales shops. So are damp proofing companies also timber specialist?
Or do we call a general builder for this type of work?
Or does it sound serious to merit another look?

As we have very little knowledge, we would like any pint pointers, advice, guidance, etc.

Thank you so much in advance.

Hanky_Panky

From just reading the title.....




GHOSTBUSTERS!!


Sorry, couldn't resist :rotfl:

princeofpounds

I'm not sure you need anyone particularly specialist. Any experienced builder who has built timber floors should be able to tell you what's up.


There are basically two worries here. Either the supports are rotten, or they haven't been built correctly. You just need someone who can lift a floor up and knows what a properly built underfloor looks like.

pichon

Hi guess it does sound a bit like Ghostbuster thing LOL

Thanks princeofpounds for your advice. I hope it's okay to lift a floor up when there are tenants living in the house currently....

King_Slayer

Hanky_Panky wrote: »

GHOSTBUSTERS!!

:rotfl:

That just made me LOL .

OP, you can get a reputable builder in to take a look and give you a no obligation quote.

agrinnall

pichon wrote: »

I hope it's okay to lift a floor up when there are tenants living in the house currently....

You've got two issues there then, will the vendors allow an intrusive action such as lifting floorboards, and will the tenants co-operate. You'd hope that if the vendor is keen to sell then the first can be overcome, but the second isn't something either you or the vendor can do much about if they say no, other than wait for the vendor to get vacant possession.

jamie11

Wooden floors often start creaking, all that's normally required is to use some screws to tighten the floor boards so they can't move. It's the same with stairs.

Obviously be careful not to drive the screws through gas pipes or electrical wires or water pipes.

DRP

our vendor wouldnt allow our damp/timber surveyor to lift floorboards (or even the floor hatch) after he detected some 'bounce' in the hallway floorboards - the result? we have spent the last year digging out the damp rubble from under the rotting floor, and installing airbricks! Our fault for not insisting (but it was rather a fraught time for various reasons).

In your case it's probably just a few loose/missing screws, but might be worth further investigation.