1960's flat - wooden battens in concrete floor

Lulu58

Hi, we've recently moved into a flat built in the late 1960's. We've had the old carpets taken up in preparation for new flooring and found that wooden battens run along the length of the walls. They are approx 4" away from the walls.

Out of interest, does any know what the battens are for?

Many thanks.

JimmyChanga

Usually you have carpet grippers placed along the walls but they have sharp ends poking out and are about 1cm from the wall. Are they proud of the concrete or bedded in?

Lulu58

Sorry, should have said that they are embedded in the concrete. One of the fitters tried to lift one out as they were concerned the flooring could move with them in. They are buried very deeply into the concrete.

naf123

is it the frame used to lay the concrete?

Browntoa

Expansion joints probably

Owain_Moneysaver

Possibly expansion/insulation joints if the flat was built with electric underfloor heating.

Lulu58

Don't think so. They are approx 4" from the walls and door thresholds with concrete all round them.

Lulu58

I don't think it's ever had underfloor heating. It had a 1980's floor mounted boiler when we moved in which we've changed for a combi.

There was a patch of quarry tiles on the floor in the kitchen which we've been told the original boiler used to be located there.

Lulu58

If they were expansion joints would they have been all round the floor?

There is a gap of approx 2-3" in between each length.

Mistral001

Back in the day joiners did not have electric drills and could not fix door frames or thresholds to bare brickwork or concrete and thus battens and small pieces of wood were built into the brickwork and concrete floors to receive screws and nails. These pieces of wood are called "grounds". They were common up until about the 1990's.

These battens could be grounds: pieces of wood so that something could be nailed to them. Fitted carpets only came into vogue in the 70's. Before that carpets were laid loose usually with an uncarpeted margin of about 12 inches around the perimeter. This margin was usually just painted or covered with lino. A suggestion is that this case the margin could have been covered with a thin of wood nailed to the batten in the floor

Lulu58

How fascinating, Mistral001. Thank you!