Whickham · Tyne and Wear
Floor joist repairs in Whickham
If a plumber or electrician has recently had the boards up at your Whickham home, the joists they worked around are worth a look. Deep notches and holes in the wrong place weaken joists quickly, and sistering them is usually a short, tidy job.
Guide price from£230per joist inc VAT
- Postcodes
- NE11, NE16, NE21
- Population
- about 17,000
- Area
- Tyne and Wear
- Pricing region
- North East
Why does the ground in Tyne and Wear matter for floor joist repairs?
Postcode districts NE11, NE16, NE21 cover Whickham, a Tyne and Wear town of about 17,000 people. If you are just outside Whickham, we also cover Blaydon-on-Tyne (2 miles), Newcastle upon Tyne (3 miles) and Stanley (5 miles).
Parts of Tyne and Wear have clay that can shrink near trees in dry spells. Historic coal workings are recorded beneath parts of Tyne and Wear, and a coal mining search is worth checking where movement is unexplained. Typical buildings in Tyne and Wear: Tyneside flats and terraces, Victorian villas, inter-war council estates and post-war semis.
Is it time for floor joist repairs? Common signs
- Floor bouncing, or ornaments rattling, when someone walks across
- Ceiling cracks below that follow the line of the joists
- Floor dipping towards an outside wall or in the middle of the room
What should you budget for floor joist repairs in Whickham?
Guide prices below are for homes in Whickham, on North East rates and including VAT. A survey or good photos let us turn them into a fixed written price.
| Item | Guide price | Per |
|---|---|---|
| Splicing or sistering a damaged joist | £230 – £370 | per joist |
| Whole room of joists and boards | £1,850 – £5,500 | per room |
| Sleeper wall rebuild and ventilationest. | £370 – £1,400 | per room |
Repair options we may recommend
Sleeper walls and ventilation
Settled or damp sleeper walls are rebuilt on a sound base with a damp-proof course under new timber plates. Blocked air bricks are cleared, extra ones added where the void has dead spots, and soil or paving heaped against the outside wall is lowered.
Best for: Damp ground floor voids or joists on poor supports
Splicing ends and fitting hangers
Where only the end has rotted, it is cut back to sound timber and a new piece is fixed alongside, bearing on the wall or on a new joist hanger. Missing or under-nailed hangers elsewhere are replaced at the same time. The damp in the wall must be fixed too.
Best for: Rotten joist ends in damp solid walls
What to expect when we carry out floor joist repairs
Lift boards and inspect
On site we lift a few boards where the floor is worst and check the joist ends, sleeper walls and void with a moisture meter. Outside, we look for high ground, blocked vents and leaks keeping the timber wet.
Written quote
You get a no-obligation written quote listing which joists are sistered, spliced or replaced and any sleeper wall or ventilation work. It becomes a fixed price in writing once the repair is specified.
Repair the structure
Boards are lifted and numbered if they are going back, and rotten timber is cut out. New treated timber is fixed and checked with a level before strutting, hangers and any restraint straps go in.
Rules for floor joist repairs in England
Like-for-like repairs such as crack stitching and repointing do not usually need building control approval in England, but anything that changes or strengthens the structure, such as underpinning or rebuilding a wall, does. If the work touches a party wall, the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 may apply.
Your floor joist repairs questions
What is the price of floor joist repairs in Whickham?
Guide prices for floor joist repairs in Whickham start from about £230 per joist, including VAT, on North East rates. Your fixed written price follows photos or a survey and depends on the extent of the work and access.
Do you carry out floor joist repairs in Whickham?
Yes. We take enquiries from across Whickham, including NE11, NE16, NE21, and from nearby places such as Blaydon-on-Tyne and Newcastle upon Tyne. Send photos for a free initial view and we will tell you what happens next.
Does the ground around Whickham cause cracking?
Tyne and Wear lies on the Durham and Northumberland coalfield, with old shallow workings recorded beneath parts of Newcastle, Gateshead and Sunderland, mostly under a cover of glacial clay. Only an investigation can say why a particular building has moved.
Can floor joists be repaired without taking up the whole floor?
Yes, in most cases only the boards over the affected joists need lifting, and three or four boards are often enough to sister a joist or splice a rotten end. Widespread rot is the exception, because the whole floor must come up to remove the decay.
Will my insurance pay for rotten floor joists?
Usually not, because rot, woodworm and gradual wear are standard exclusions. Damage from a sudden escape of water, or a floor that dropped through subsidence, may be treated differently. Check your policy, and tell your insurer before permanent repairs start if either applies.
More repairs we carry out in Whickham
- Structural surveys and crack monitoring
- Structural crack repairs
- Subsidence insurance claim repairs
- Subsidence repairs
- Chimney stack repairs
Floor joist repairs near Whickham
If a floor in Whickham has dropped after plumbing or heating work, send photos of any lifted boards and notches, and we will price the strengthening.