Following on from my post 'the beetles ate my kitchen floor', I was hoping they had not eated the joists, I'm an optimist.
The beetles and rot had eaten the joists, all I have now in the kitchen of the house we bought in December is a mud floor.
See pics,
I was optimistic in replaing the joists and floor until I stuck a screw driver into the wall plates. The are soft and easily break up. The joists poke into the wall and are supported on a 1'' by 4'' wall plate above some bitumin. The wall plates have been eated and the ones under where the sink was are rotten and like sponge.
The challenge is that the inner skin of brick work also sits on this spongy wall plate.
I figure I can remove it a section at a time but my question is, does anyone know if I need to put wood back under the bricks or just fill the gap with mortar and slate?
Also should I replace the wall plates under each joist? they stick in the 2 '' slots so that would be just a 2'' bit of wall plate and that seems daft.
Infact the whole idea of sitting the wall on a 1'' thick wood strip in the first place seems daft, but they did it so must have had a reason. Any ideas would be much appreciated,
Thanks
Keith
The beetles and rot had eaten the joists, all I have now in the kitchen of the house we bought in December is a mud floor.
See pics,
I was optimistic in replaing the joists and floor until I stuck a screw driver into the wall plates. The are soft and easily break up. The joists poke into the wall and are supported on a 1'' by 4'' wall plate above some bitumin. The wall plates have been eated and the ones under where the sink was are rotten and like sponge.
The challenge is that the inner skin of brick work also sits on this spongy wall plate.
I figure I can remove it a section at a time but my question is, does anyone know if I need to put wood back under the bricks or just fill the gap with mortar and slate?
Also should I replace the wall plates under each joist? they stick in the 2 '' slots so that would be just a 2'' bit of wall plate and that seems daft.
Infact the whole idea of sitting the wall on a 1'' thick wood strip in the first place seems daft, but they did it so must have had a reason. Any ideas would be much appreciated,
Thanks
Keith
