Concrete v wood flooring costs

CouponWoman

I bought a bungalow that had been empty for several years that needed complete renovation for me to live in. But costs and problems are escalating and I need some advice.

Atm the floors are wood but due to a damp problem the surveyor said the beams are rotten under several rooms and have a weevil infestation so the floors need replacing and he recommended we have concrete floors put in.

Basically I need to make cut backs. Originally we had builders estimates of £70K which now is £200K. My ds has started a lot of labouring work to reduce costs, he took out the ceilings, removed all the plaster off the walls, removed skirtings, doors, the kitchen etc. The builder hasn;t started yet as we cannot agree what has to be done now and what can wait.

We are getting so much conflicting info but now the builder has said to save money have the wood floors replacing where necessary and not concrete all the floors.

Does anyone have an idea of costs involved, concrete v wood floors.

thanks guys
CWx

Wookey

At 200k you could demolish and rebuild from scratch, if your son is prepared and knowledgeable enough to do the work replacing a suspended wooden floor downstairs with concrete isn't that difficult, its a lot of wheeling in of stones,blinding and concrete, vibrate it down and add some damproof membrane before concrete, the floor could then be screeded by a plasterer or flooring specialist. Some suspended ground floors can have a very shallow gap between sub floor and joists where as others could have metric tons of stones fired into them and still not be half full.

What the state of the plumbing and electrics if they are all below the floor would be the more expensive element and this is where you would need advice.

Kiran

Yes it can be done, Only doing certain floors depending on where they are may cause you an issue with under floor ventilation of any remaining suspended floors.


Does the house have a dpc?

CouponWoman

The house is a wreck, it needs rewiring, new windows, new dpc, new central heating, new roof, basically everything.

But the costs are escalating and we are only at the talking stage really. The estate agent when we bought it said it needs £40K spending on it which I doubted tbh. The surveryor said £70k. We thought £100k should see it done and then we would rougthly break even on the ceiling price for houses around here with what we paid for it.

But. The builder originaly said around £70 to do it all, plus the garage so we thought our estimate of £100k was correct roughly.

But suddenly when we asked for a detailed final quote we were quoted over £200K, well after we picked ourselves off the floor we said no way. He then came down to £128k without the garage extension. Well even at £128k its over our budget.

We said he has to come down to 100k and there has to be some savings we can make. The builder then suggested instead of replacing all the floors with concrete he just replaces the damaged beams/floors so we keep the wood floors. So its not my son doing the work its the builder.

My son can just do more labouring work tbh but he is willing to save us money where he can so will do the pointing if necessary, that should save us £5k maybe.

CouponWoman

So does anyone know how much it is to install all new concrete floors. I rang one company and he said around £5k but another said £10k so big difference.

thanks everyone

CouponWoman

When I told the builder and architect that I cannot afford £128k there answer was to take out another loan.

When I pointed out to them if I spent that kind of money the house would exceed the ceiling value on houses around here and the builder said it will catch up in 10 or 20 years. I reminded him that I will be dead by then as I am a pensioner.

Kiran

This is dependent on a lot of things, eg how much of a gap there is between the underside of the floor joist and the ground level below. What the m2 of the flooring is etc. It is probably 6 of one half a dozen of another depending on the skill level of the person doing the work. Although the prices may not be correct for your area, take a look at the link below


https://www.homebuilding.co.uk/comparing-floor-structure-costs/

Carmk2008

I wouldn't put concrete floors in if it isn't suspended on the brickwork as settlement could cause problems in the future, much better to replace the beams and have a wooden floor imo.

Wookey

CouponWoman wrote: »

So does anyone know how much it is to install all new concrete floors. I rang one company and he said around £5k but another said £10k so big difference.

thanks everyone

This is easily worked out but you need a few measurements, you need the cubic m3 size of each floor to be filled in with stones up to around 400mm from current floor level, then you need the same same measurements for length and breadth and cube it with .100 (mm) for blinding and the same again but at .150mm for concrete. That will give you the approx amount of materials per room. Some variance in depth would be to allow for whatever depth of insulation you would want added.

Simply ring a few quarries and get quotes for the amount of stones, blinding and concrete that you need.

The last measurement will be the same as the final measurement LxBx.100 mm, this measurement you give to flooring/plastering companies to quote you for the floor screed where you supply the screed to finish it of, you can add them all together to get a price for the house or a price per room, the only other materials you would need would be rolls of plastic for damp proof and insulation.

If not all the wooden floors are infested then some of them may be saveable, well worth checking out and get any that are clear sprayed to prevent damage.

Furts

You need professional advise, and you need accurate costings. You also have to consider your duty under the Buildings Regulations and under the CDM Regulations. Repair and maintenance is excluded from the Buildings Regs, but you are in effect doing an almost complete rebuild - hence a problem. A floor is a structural element and it is far more complex than implied in the above post.

As a guide, or pointer...if you go for concrete (which clearly you should) then the decision is a wet concrete poured floor, which would be a taxing option, or a pre cast block and beam floor.

The former requires excavation to a suitable depth, compaction, blinding, membranes, insulation, finishes - basically a lot of work and the excavation and compaction could cause your walls to collapse.

The latter is specialist design and manufacture, and substantial work with support walls/sleeper walls. It too requires insulation, membranes, a topping and finishing.

My intuition is you desperately need sound technical advice and you may well have gone into all the works without accurate costings, and without knowing what you are doing. Stop immediately, take stock of matters and calmly, and professionally, get a proper costed plan to get yourself out of this.

MX5huggy

Get more quotes, 3 minimum.