Help needed: Lifting floorboards for insulation

Hi, I have contacted several companies from google but don’t seem to be getting responses.

We need someone - ideally local - either to (a) advise and help us to lift floorboards in 2 bedrooms, 4x3m and 3.6m sqd, and fit insulation between joists or (b) just a handyman confident to help lift boards and we’ll do the rest (board insulation & filling boards after)

Simple straight boards, not tongue & groove, with straight in nails, however there is a cement block where the chimney used to be that we’d like removed or tidied up.

Any recs?

Try checkatrade or taskrabbit

The concrete plinth may be structural linked to the breast below so breaking it out could be problematic and could damage ceiling below.
You can buy breaker bar or board lifter from Toolstation cost plus a little effort would save a lot.
You would only have to lift a few boards to get gaps to feed insulation in?

Thanks; We’re going to buy that tool and try spare room first!

What’s the insulation for? If it’s sound make sure you get something with decent density. I recently bought some rockwool sound slab (it is soft), which they sell in wickes and selco. Haven’t put it down yet but I’m hopeful - it’s 45kg/M3.

Hi. I typed my last response on the fly. A bit more info.

Checkatrade is a great way to connect to local tradesmen, all which will have some verification as well as rated by previous customers. The previous owner of our house was a tradesman and he got a lot of business from it, and it turn found a lot of other tradesmen too.

On the other hand TaskRabbit is great for finding handymen for smaller tasks and in short time. These guys are also rated by users and we’ve used them a few times to great success.

I much prefer recommendations from members on this site, but for those times when there isn’t a suitable recommendation, or the recommendation isn’t available these two sites are our go to. Much better than Google.

It’s for warmth. I know opinions are mixed on the return but just now it’s 2 foot of cold air then earth so any insulation has to help! We were going to get board insulation then foam filler for gaps

Oh Jees, I did this at home. What are your plans for holding the board in place?

Racks along the joists to form a sort of shelf

Would you recommend that or something different? We saw a netting & soft insulation option but looked fiddly

Sorry - tacks - autocorrect!

I used batons along the side of reach joist, screwed in. I actually went under the boards myself. It was very unnpleasant and time consuming. I wouldn’t recommend it or do it again because

• I still get some drafts between boards (I think this is mainly from air coming in at vents behind skirting and travelling between the floorboards and insulation.

• You can see silver between my floorboards.

• Wood is quite a good insulator and there are better methods to reduce the drafts.

I would suggest focussing only on the draught consider using foam (see draughtex) or plastic strips between the boards (if you want an easy/ cheap solution) or wood strips sanded down and oiled along with the rest of the floor (much more cost / trouble and what I am planning to do). If you want to see my place let me know.

Before you seal it all up, make sure you’ve got open air-bricks or some other form of ventilation that gives you uninterrupted airflow though the void under the floor - otherwise any moisture coming up from the bear earth will have nowhere to go, which is generally not good for the joists

Hi, we looked into this for our dining room using wool. Didn’t go through with it in the end, but came across a lot of useful information. Good luck if you do it, let us know if it helps. Seems to be lots of debate about vapour barriers, u-values etc. and stopping draughts may be more helpful than the insulation itself. As Armadillo says, underfloor ventilation very important to prevent damp joists.

I saw a photo on another site where a carpenter had built a lovely looking storage unit in a side return built up against the main house wall. I am almost certain there would be an airbrick there, now covered over by the storage unit. I didn’t have the heart to say anything.

This is brilliant, thanks!