Timber floor replacement: rotten joists renewed

Has a floor started to feel soft underfoot, bounce as you cross the room, or dip near the hearth or an external wall? In older North East housing that usually means the joists below have taken on moisture over a long period and decay has set in. Once the timber softens, no amount of new carpet or laminate on top will fix it.

On this project the ground floor timbers had gone past repair. We lifted the floor, removed the rotten joists and replaced them with new pressure treated tanalised timber, then installed new Wey Roc sheet flooring to create a solid, level base ready for the client's chosen finish. The result is a floor that is stronger, safer and built to last, rather than patched around the worst area and left to fail again.

The cause matters as much as the repair. Decayed joists are almost always a symptom of moisture reaching timber that should be dry: a failed damp proof course, blocked or missing air bricks under a suspended floor, a leak, or ground levels raised above the damp proof course line outside. Replacing timber without dealing with that leaves the new joists in the same conditions that destroyed the old ones. Where the underlying issue is rising damp, we deal with it as part of the same job through our damp proofing work.

We also check surrounding timbers while the floor is open, because that is the only time they are properly visible. Skirtings, joist ends built into walls, and any accessible bearers are probed for decay and for signs of beetle activity, which is handled under woodworm treatment. Anything found is reported and priced openly before we carry on, not added quietly to the final invoice.

Once the structure is sound, the finishing follows. Any plaster disturbed at skirting level is made good by our own team as part of our plastering and dry lining work, and where a floor replacement forms part of a wider renovation it sits alongside our property refurbishment service so the whole room is handed back finished rather than half done.

Signs worth acting on are easy to spot: springy or sloping floorboards, gaps opening at the skirting, a musty smell in the room, or boards that feel damp near an external wall. Buyers' surveyors flag these regularly, and a floor that has been properly renewed with treated timber is far easier to evidence during a sale than one that has been covered over.

We carry out timber floor replacement across North Shields, North Tyneside, Newcastle and Northumberland. If you are local, our North Shields page has more on the housing types we work on, and the full coverage list is on our areas we cover page. More completed jobs are on our latest work page.