exposed joists

Gloomendoom

I live in a very old house and some rooms have exposed joists. You can hear everything going on in the room above, and vice versa.

They also collect dust and are cobweb magnets.

phoebe1989seb

Our last house - a non-listed, Georgian thatch - had exposed joists in almost every room. The PO had started a refurb (had done new thatch, oil-fired boiler and timber treatments including some replacement joists etc) but then got ill so sold up. Some ceilings he had obviously intended for the (original) joists to remain on view as he had waxed them along with the elm beams, others were new so it's hard to say what his intentions were. In two of the reception rooms we kept the joists exposed and I can confirm it was both noisy and dusty - although the multi fuel stove didn't help

In a couple of the bedrooms (those on the middle floor) and two of the bathrooms we boarded and plastered - using the smaller sheets of plasterboard as FreeBear suggests, mainly because this was a DIY house project! We did the same in the breakfast room as it made it possible to fit the lighting we wanted.

Our current house, whilst built in the 1850s, had an Arts & Crafts extension/makeover in the early 1920s so we again have lots of exposed joists and beams. These were meant to be on view so thankfully have lath and plaster between, meaning there are no noise/dust issues. Sadly [STRIKE]some idiot[/STRIKE] a PO put woodchip between every joist and it's been my job to remove it all.......happy days :mad:

Furts

phoebe1989seb wrote: »

Our last house - a non-listed, Georgian thatch - had exposed joists in almost every room. The PO had started a refurb (had done new thatch, oil-fired boiler and timber treatments including some replacement joists etc) but then got ill so sold up. Some ceilings he had obviously intended for the (original) joists to remain on view as he had waxed them along with the elm beams, others were new so it's hard to say what his intentions were. In two of the reception rooms we kept the joists exposed and I can confirm it was both noisy and dusty - although the multi fuel stove didn't help

In a couple of the bedrooms (those on the middle floor) and two of the bathrooms we boarded and plastered - using the smaller sheets of plasterboard as FreeBear suggests, mainly because this was a DIY house project! We did the same in the breakfast room as it made it possible to fit the lighting we wanted.

Our current house, whilst built in the 1850s, had an Arts & Crafts extension/makeover in the early 1920s so we again have lots of exposed joists and beams. These were meant to be on view so thankfully have lath and plaster between, meaning there are no noise/dust issues. Sadly [STRIKE]some idiot[/STRIKE] a PO put woodchip between every joist and it's been my job to remove it all.......happy days :mad:

An original arts and craft makeover sounds really fascinating. It would be good to see it! However bear in mind the ceilings are probably non compliant and would have been back in the 1920s. If one thinks back through history, building had a bit of a shake up after the Great Fire of London, and ceilings seem to have come in after that point as part of fire protection to a home.

Gloomendoom

Furts wrote: »

An original arts and craft makeover sounds really fascinating. It would be good to see it! However bear in mind the ceilings are probably non compliant and would have been back in the 1920s. If one thinks back through history, building had a bit of a shake up after the Great Fire of London, and ceilings seem to have come in after that point as part of fire protection to a home.

I'm no expert on fire regs, but as far as I am aware, that would very probably depend on the locality.

Furts

Gloomendoom wrote: »

I'm no expert on fire regs, but as far as I am aware, that would very probably depend on the locality.

A lot of accepted practice gradually came from London, including, I think, the concept of Buildings Regulations and also the Party Wall Act. I suspect much was not legislation but more good practice and accepted practice. If one goes back 100 years then bear in mind society had proper apprenticeships, proper training, and proper crafstmen and women.

Regardless, i suggest your ceiling detail has existed for nigh on 100 years, everybody has been happy with it, and it probably looked fantastic before the fashion for woodchip came in!

Some people collect stamps, others train numbers, but one of my peculiarities is a an interest in the architecture, and building, of houses. So I do have empathy with your Arts and Crafts concept.

Gloomendoom

Furts wrote: »

Some people collect stamps, others train numbers, but one of my peculiarities is a an interest in the architecture, and building, of houses. So I do have empathy with your Arts and Crafts concept.

It wasn't actually my Arts and Crafts concept.

However, I do have happen to have an interest in the Arts and Crafts movement, architecture in particular. I have a quite sizeable collection of books on the subject.

Gloomendoom

Furts wrote: »

Some people collect stamps, others train numbers, but one of my peculiarities is a an interest in the architecture, and building, of houses. So I do have empathy with your Arts and Crafts concept.

It wasn't actually my Arts and Crafts concept.

However, I do happen to have an interest in the Arts and Crafts movement, architecture in particular. I have a quite sizeable collection of books on the subject.

leveller2911

Gloomendoom wrote: »

It wasn't actually my Arts and Crafts concept.

However, I do have happen to have an interest in the Arts and Crafts movement, architecture in particular. I have a quite sizeable collection of books on the subject.

Arts & Crafts movement/era is one of my favourites and I really like Robert Thompson (Mouseman) furniture and its a great story on how he began making furniture. Apparently many of the long serving craftsmen who worked for him could tell who made a particular piece of furniture by the way the way the mouse was carved. Some carved slim,long mice and others preferred short dump mice.

He employed ex soldiers from WW1 who had been gassed during the war.He didn't employ them out of pity but because they were blind they got a better finish to the furniture through touch than a fully sighted worker... Cracking stuff imo..

Its one of the reasons I got into Joinery