How do I locate the beams that cross under my living room floor? I Need to tighten some floor boards for squeeks and was wondering 80-100 years ago would they use subfloors or not?
Also if an old oak floor has been previously stained a different color than another part of the room where there used to be a built in what would be the best way to make the floor onw uniform color again? Sand to death or some other means?
Thanks so much.
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Replies
Greetings housemom,
How wide are the flooring boards?
and is your livingroom floor over a crawlspace or a basement cellar?
"When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone." --John Ruskin
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Edited 10/6/2006 1:32 pm ET by rez
Edited 10/6/2006 4:37 pm ET by rez
maybe she is like Mizshredder about bugs and snakes
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Catchen some Bee pollen?live, work, build, ...better with wood
Catchen some Bee pollen?
?
"When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone." --John RuskinAndrew Clifford of Clifford Renovations, who serves as a steward of our history for future generationsWe can imagine something that only exists in our heads, in a form that has no measurable, tangible reality, and make it actually occur in the real world. Where there was nothing, now there is something.Forrest - makin' magic every day
The boards in my floor are 2 1/2". I am currently remodeling a second Floor so soory guys I dont have a crawl space with ugly bugs. But I did clean out shed once and had a great time squishing those spiders and such. That would be the least of my problems.
I bought a stud finder that couldnt find a piece of wood if it tripped over it so thats out of the question. There is finished plaster ceilings below and moulding all around.
What is the norm for the spacing of the beams?
Thanks again guys
What are the odds it has a subfloor?
"When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone." --John Ruskin Laminate is just a picture of hardwood printed on countertop for your floor.We can imagine something that only exists in our heads, in a form that has no measurable, tangible reality, and make it actually occur in the real world. Where there was nothing, now there is something.Forrest - makin' magic every day
Once again.Bee pollen.live, work, build, ...better with wood
What would you recommend she do here to quiet her floorboards?
Is there a way to find her joists?
"When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone." --John Ruskin Laminate is just a picture of hardwood printed on countertop for your floor.We can imagine something that only exists in our heads, in a form that has no measurable, tangible reality, and make it actually occur in the real world. Where there was nothing, now there is something.Forrest - makin' magic every day
Edited 10/7/2006 10:02 pm ET by rez
If there is an overhead light fixture, Housemom could remove the device and carefully remove a knockout and try to take a look at the floor system. Or you can remove part of a closet ceiling to find out what is up there.Our 1920's bungalow has 1 x 8 diagonal pine under heart pine floors. The joist spacing is random, 12" to 18"Fixing the squeks woul be hard to do with out total access from below. Her ceilings are probably wood lathe. As far as finding the joists some one recomended finding the nails with a compass. Might work, but the flooring nails would show up also.Chuck Slive, work, build, ...better with wood
I have a metal detecter, like for finding coins in the dirt not nails in lumber, it can be set to various depths / sensitivity. About 100 bucks at Wally world. Works like a charm, yes you will find BOTH nails of Fin Floor and Sub Floor, when it really howls, is when you are over a FIN FLR nail AND a SUB Flr nail stacked.
It rocks.
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last "80 to 100" year old house I worked on had 3/4 doug fir with no subfloor....Wonder if one of the big buck stud finders would play???
Bud
probably wood, but a plain old compass might also, moving slowly across the floor. The magnetized pointer is likely to perform differently over a mass of nails,Like IMERC said, the spacing is a crap shoot for a house that old. I've seen 16", 19", and completely random
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odds are you have a sub floor..
is there any visible nailing... look to the perimeter at the walls..
spacing is pure guess work...
any way to pull up a floor board or two from against the wall..
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So you have compass, metal detector, better grade of stud finder, board removal and possible light fixture investigation. Isn't old house ownership fun?
Sounds like a good first step would be knowing if you do indeed have a subfloor. Perhaps the squeak might just be from the flooring and not the subfloor if there is one.
As mentioned before the best way to address squeaks is from beneath and seeing it looks as if the squeaks aren't so bothersome for removal of the plaster lath, perhaps well placed long thin finish nails might be angled between the flooring seams thru the bottom sides of the top flooring and on into the subfloor.
You would want to drill small pilot holes thru the old oak stopping short of the subfloor first.
That's one way.
If you find there is no subfloor then you'll have to locate the joists and decide if the loose floorboards are worth the hassle:o)
Best to you.
"When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone." --John Ruskin Laminate is just a picture of hardwood printed on countertop for your floor.We can imagine something that only exists in our heads, in a form that has no measurable, tangible reality, and make it actually occur in the real world. Where there was nothing, now there is something.Forrest - makin' magic every day
My old house has plank subflooring (diagonal 1x8) with tongue and groove flooring over. In some places the subfloor has a squeak or two, in some the flooring itself does. The fix is different in either case. I assume you cannot see the floor from below?
Its hard to say whether or not you have a sub floor. I've seen plenty of older homes-some with, some without.
As Rez suggests, you can tell if you have access with a basement or crawlspace. A sub-floor will usually be wider boards than the finish floor, and will run at a different angle. Also, the subfloor will probably be yellow pine, or fir, or some other softwood specie.
The only way I know to make your whole floor one uniform color is to sand it down to bare wood, and restain it. This isn't a job for an amatuer. You can really screw up your floor with one of those big floor sanders.