Hello all!
Hopefully someone can provide some guidance for me! Apologies for the length of the msg, but wanted to be thorough!
I recently moved into a new (purchased) flat. It’s in a 1920s/30s block and I’m on the ground floor. The couple in the flat above were away when I made my two visits before buying, so I didn’t hear the outrageous creaking of their old floorboards. Had I known, I probably wouldn’t have bought it. But I have, so I need to deal with it!
Literally every step they take is accompanied by a very loud groan. It’s worst above my bedroom, and while it probably doesn’t wake me up if I’m asleep, if I’m trying to get to sleep and they’re walking around, no chance. This is clearly a pretty big problem. They have carpet above, and there’s no specific requirement in the lease re keeping anything in a state of good repair. So for now the managing agent (who seems competent and helpful) has suggested I deal with the owners directly, and come back to him if I don’t make any headway.
The owners are elderly, but seem nice enough, so I’m going to have a friendly chat with them to explain the situation. But I’d like to be armed with as much info as possible before doing so. I’m guessing that the creaking is caused by the nails in the floorboards coming loose over time, and to fix this they’d need to be screwed down to the joists again. Obviously the carpet and underlay will need to be taken back, so it’s going to be a significant and disruptive process either way, but I’m trying to get a sense of how big the actual repair work is. I.e. assuming the space is clear for work and the floorboards are ready to be tackled, how long might it take an experienced builder to re-screw the floorboards down well? Are we talking a day or a week’s work? Is it even likely that a good job can be done when the floors are that creaky? The flat is around 130 sq metres (~1400 sqft).
Assuming for now that is all done, the soundproofing between the flats is also pretty bad. Let’s put it this way – I can tell that the elderly gentleman pees like a racehorse, so kudos to him. I can hear their TV pretty easily, and I’m sure they can hear mine. Privacy isn’t great. Given the work above would require taking up their carpets, would it help if the carpet underlay were replaced with a good quality acoustic underlay? I believe the airborne noise is coming directly through the floors as all the walls separating the various rooms are solid.
Hopefully someone can provide some guidance for me! Apologies for the length of the msg, but wanted to be thorough!
I recently moved into a new (purchased) flat. It’s in a 1920s/30s block and I’m on the ground floor. The couple in the flat above were away when I made my two visits before buying, so I didn’t hear the outrageous creaking of their old floorboards. Had I known, I probably wouldn’t have bought it. But I have, so I need to deal with it!
Literally every step they take is accompanied by a very loud groan. It’s worst above my bedroom, and while it probably doesn’t wake me up if I’m asleep, if I’m trying to get to sleep and they’re walking around, no chance. This is clearly a pretty big problem. They have carpet above, and there’s no specific requirement in the lease re keeping anything in a state of good repair. So for now the managing agent (who seems competent and helpful) has suggested I deal with the owners directly, and come back to him if I don’t make any headway.
The owners are elderly, but seem nice enough, so I’m going to have a friendly chat with them to explain the situation. But I’d like to be armed with as much info as possible before doing so. I’m guessing that the creaking is caused by the nails in the floorboards coming loose over time, and to fix this they’d need to be screwed down to the joists again. Obviously the carpet and underlay will need to be taken back, so it’s going to be a significant and disruptive process either way, but I’m trying to get a sense of how big the actual repair work is. I.e. assuming the space is clear for work and the floorboards are ready to be tackled, how long might it take an experienced builder to re-screw the floorboards down well? Are we talking a day or a week’s work? Is it even likely that a good job can be done when the floors are that creaky? The flat is around 130 sq metres (~1400 sqft).
Assuming for now that is all done, the soundproofing between the flats is also pretty bad. Let’s put it this way – I can tell that the elderly gentleman pees like a racehorse, so kudos to him. I can hear their TV pretty easily, and I’m sure they can hear mine. Privacy isn’t great. Given the work above would require taking up their carpets, would it help if the carpet underlay were replaced with a good quality acoustic underlay? I believe the airborne noise is coming directly through the floors as all the walls separating the various rooms are solid.
