Sagging floors!

SG27

Any old cottage is going to be at least bit wonky. Its part of the fun!

Although sagging in the middle is not something ive seen in an old cottage. Often at wierd and wonderful angles though.

pinklady21

Check which way the joists are running - should be the opposite direction to the floorboards, if they are visible. It could be that the sagging floor is caused by the ends of the joists having rotted where they join into the wall. If the floor bows across the joists, it could be a sign that the joist ends will have to be exposed and repaired. Your builder might be able to advise. Best of luck.

Rileybobs

Thank you for all your advice everyone, we're taking our builder around today. From memory the skirting boards are higher than the floor, and it's not so much sagged in the middle but a very slight slope to the edge, only in the master bedroom, hardly noticeable in the others. The seller says it's been that way since he bought in late 90s and never posed a problem. We love the house, and I wouldn't mind at all but head rules heart in my house!

Rileybobs

Very well may be Jiminy! All the cottages/houses in this area seem to have their quirks, no two are the same. I can't recall it being bombed from history lessons, I must investigate! Love a bit of a good backstory to a house, beats living in a new build.:j

PhilE

aneary wrote: »

Totally agree, my father has had to clean up the mess of surveyors and civil engineers over the years, he's a carpenter but has 40 years of experience instead of a degree.

And if you have a good builder that can do that, great.

westernpromise

I've got an 1840s flat which has what the surveyor called "pronounced dishing of the floors" which has not got any worse in the 19 years I've had it.

Rileybobs

And they probably never will Western! Our builder has looked and discovered that it's the window lintel. At some point they've decided to add a huge window on the first floor and replaced that lintel with a concrete one, without supporting the floor above, so it's dropped a little. I never would have thought to look at that!

deFoix

For an old property 1 inch doesn’t should like much and is to be expected for an average sized room. It’s not the deflection that really counts rather than the structural stability. Assuming no supporting walls have been removed you should do a ‘bounce test’ i.e. jump up and down on the floor to see if there’s any give in the floor.

Niv

I recently purchased a 400 year old house with a sagging floor in one room (much more of a sag that the one you describe!), I had a full survey undertaken and it is of no concern.


My previous house was a victorian terrace, it also had a sagged floor, upon investigation it was caused by a stud wall being installed to split one of the bedrooms into two. Could this be the case in this instance? Again, it was not an issue and didnt even come up when I came to sell.