Worried that upstairs floor will collapse

Ashley23

Recently bought a house that was built in 1995 ( 2 bed terraced ) and I really dislike the floorboards upstairs on top floor. They creak quite alot ( although the laminated flooring probably isnt helping ) and in some places feel bit bouncy. 

I come from living in a flat with solid concrete flooring so the wooden flooring in this house feels quite unsteady by comparison. ( No I didnt get a surveyor to check house before buying , I didnt even notice floorboards when viewing also )
In addition im worried about bathroom, can a wooden floor really support weight of a fully loaded bath with water and person inside?
Would be great if a structural engineer could chime in, I measured the difference in height from ceiling from downstairs and top of floor upstairs and its only just over 10cm I think, which leads me to think the joists supporting the upper floor are only 2x4 inches. Is this normal in house construction in UK?  how much weight can this floor take?

Im extremely paranoid about putting anything upstairs now including me in a bed , wardrobe full of clothes etc.

grumbler

Size of the joists depends on the span. Even in my small house the floor is about 20 cm thick that includes the floorboards and the plasterboard. Measure yours more accurately.

FreeBear

1995 build - More likely to be chipboard rather than proper floorboards. A bit of talc dusted along the joints plus a few screws should quieten it down a bit.

Homer_home

Your floors will not collapse from the weight of you sitting in a bath, upstairs wooden flooring is incredibly common in the majority of houses

How do you think people who have been living there for the last 25 years have coped , do you think they have slept downstairs and never had a bath?

Basically you are worrying about nothing, however if you continue to be worried that the equivalent weight of 2 to 3 people will bring down your upstairs floors then i suggest you move out immediately and only move back in when the floors have been structurally tested and made safe.

What time of flooring do you have floor boards or chipboard flooring , the approach to stopping them squeaking is slightly different

Rosa_Damascena

Homer_home said:

Your floors will not collapse from the weight of you sitting in a bath, upstairs wooden flooring is incredibly common in the majority of houses

How do you think people who have been living there for the last 25 years have coped , do you think they have slept downstairs and never had a bath?

Basically you are worrying about nothing, however if you continue to be worried that the equivalent weight of 2 to 3 people will bring down your upstairs floors then i suggest you move out immediately and only move back in when the floors have been structurally tested and made safe.

What time of flooring do you have floor boards or chipboard flooring , the approach to stopping them squeaking is slightly different

Cut the OP some slack please, they are a first-time homeowner and we all need to start somewhere. As a twenty-something looking to buy my first home squeaky floorboards put me off a recently-built home because it made me wonder if it was shoddy construction. In middle age it screams "character"

OP - concrete is only used on the ground floor of new homes because upper floors need to settle, so something with an element of "give" is better suited here. Don't worry about it holding weight, it has been made to a specification so will be fit for purpose although at 25 years you can expect to do some maintenance on the property. If the sound is bothering you then get nail the floorboards down to the joists - it might be a good idea to lift them up first and take a pic so you have an accessible record of the pipes and wires below.

Did the vendor hand over their original purchase pack at the point of completion? That's what I did, its nice to share the history of the house and the years will fly by!

grumbler

Rosa_Damascena said:

If the sound is bothering you then get nail the floorboards down to the joists - it might be a good idea to lift them up first and take a pic so you have an accessible record of the pipes and wires below.

Really good.

That was exactly how I hammered two(!) nails through the gas pipe going from the kitchen (downstairs) to the gas fire (downstairs) through the ceiling space.

To make things worse, the leak was very weak and I noticed it only few days later.

And I prefer screws to nails - this makes it much easier to remove the boards later if needed.

ComicGeek

Rosa_Damascena said:

Homer_home said:

Your floors will not collapse from the weight of you sitting in a bath, upstairs wooden flooring is incredibly common in the majority of houses

How do you think people who have been living there for the last 25 years have coped , do you think they have slept downstairs and never had a bath?

Basically you are worrying about nothing, however if you continue to be worried that the equivalent weight of 2 to 3 people will bring down your upstairs floors then i suggest you move out immediately and only move back in when the floors have been structurally tested and made safe.

What time of flooring do you have floor boards or chipboard flooring , the approach to stopping them squeaking is slightly different

If the sound is bothering you then get nail the floorboards down to the joists - it might be a good idea to lift them up first and take a pic so you have an accessible record of the pipes and wires below.

Not really easy to lift specific areas with tongue and groove chipboard flooring. Probably find that the flooring runs under partitions etc as well.

tacpot12

I think it is a good idea to lift most of the floorboards. One problem that can happen is that if tradespeople have not respected the rules about where joists can be notched, they can be weakened. If you lift most of the boards you will know where all the services run (make an accurate map), you will also have confidence in the floor. If the joists have been correctly specified and not damaged by notching, you can be confident that they will take a lot weight, e.g. person and a full bath of water and begs, wardrobes full of clothes, beds, etc. The one thing they probably won't take is a waterbed as this will put a lot more weight than a bath into the centre of the room. 

grumbler

ComicGeek said:

Not really easy to lift specific areas with tongue and groove chipboard flooring. Probably find that the flooring runs under partitions etc as well.

In the last very expensive new-build I've seen the boards were even glued together.

ComicGeek

grumbler said:

ComicGeek said:

Not really easy to lift specific areas with tongue and groove chipboard flooring. Probably find that the flooring runs under partitions etc as well.

In the last very expensive new-build I've seen the boards were even glued together.

Yes, and screwed down and glued to joists as well for new builds now, but unfortunately my 30 yr old house just has the chipboard nailed down. I will be replacing the ground floor plasterboard ceiling in half the house soon, so will glue down the boards and insulate the ceilings while I've got the chance. 

travis-powers

All modern floors are glue down now it’s the spec, a house built in 1995 the joists are fine so please don’t worry don’t spend any money having them checked!
I’m guessing your chipboard floor is nailed with 3” ring shacks which move a little over time, I’ve just lifted a chipboard floor of this date and it came up in pieces total nightmare!
 You can replace the nails with screws and run some glue in the joints ( a lot of the squeak is the joints)