Bouncy floor in hallway

longwalks1

Our 1930's semi has a vinyl type floor in the hallway, kind of like Lino. The last few weeks a couple of small dips have been felt when you walk on it, only heel sized. The whole floor seems to have an element of 'bounce' to it in fact.

Question, do we pull up the Lino ourselves, see what's going on and if it's bad news can we claim on house insurance? (We've never claimed in 15 years)
Or speak to insurance first to ask them about it?
Thanks all in advance

FreeBear

The insurance Co. won't want anything to do with a bouncy floor unless it is caused by subsidence or a water leak - And only if you have the specific cover.

My first guess is that you have a rotting timber (which will not be covered by the insurance), so lifting the lino is the first step. Then some of the floorboards will need to be lifted to see what is wrong with the joists. Word of warning - You'll probably have tongue & groove boards. These need to be carefully cut along the tongues to minimise damage to the boards. An OMT is ideal for this kind of job.