Strengthen a Wood Floor

Bouncy floors can transmit a fair amount of noise, both due to poor acoustic insulation and due to noise created by the floor structure flexing in use.

Sometimes one finds a floor structure that is simply not upto the task in strength terms. These may be badly converted lofts where lightweight woodwork has not been upgraded for habitable use. Or they may simply be old properties with low spec original floor structures.

Fortunately strengthening a wooden floor structure is not too hard.

Structure

A typical suspended timber floor structure consists of 3 layers:

The top layer is the floor, which is either sheet wood (usually chipboard), or plank wood laid at 90 degrees to the joists. These are laid on the joists and nailed or screwed in place.
The central load bearing layer is a series of rectangular wood beams or joists, usually wood, which are fixed to walls at each end. Most timber joists are 2" wide, though 1.5", 3" and 4" are also used at times. Common joist depths are anything from 3" to 11", though again other sizes are sometimes found.
A plaster ceiling is fixed to the underside of the joists. This is usually plasterboard sheets screwed in place, with either the joints filled or the whole layer skimmed with plaster. In old houses, L&P ceilings are often found.

_________________
_________________  wood floor layer, typ 19-25mm

                   wood joists, several inches deep
_________________
-----------------  ceiling layer, typ 12mm

Variations

Some variations are also found:

Lath & plaster ceiling instead of plasterboard. Common in old houses.
No ceiling, with the beams all visible.
Joists can sometimes be made of steel, or be engineered composite material joists
Flitch joists are occasionally found, these are steel reinforced wood joists.

Reinforced concrete is sometimes used for suspended floors, especially in purpose built blocks of flats. Other less usual constructions are also found now and then.

Bounce, Strength & Risk

Rigidity and strength are 2 different characteristics.

Sometimes people have become alarmed at the amount of movement in a wood floor. However wood is to some extent a springy material, and a great deal of bending is possible before breakage occurs. For instance a 20' joist can normally bend by a more than foot without breakage.

Rotten wood is different. If rot is the cause of flex, the wood will break rather than flex significantly.

Heavy notching can also cause breakage before significant deflection. If half the depth of the wood has been cut away its strength has been reduced to ---.

Joist Height, Width, Spacing & Span

All these factors affect a floor's strength and rigidity.

Doubling a joist's width doubles its strength and rigidity.
Doubling a joist's height doubles its strength and quadruples its rigidity.

Rot first

If a floor structure has been weakened by rot, the rot damage and cause of rot (damp) need to be rectified first.

Liability

It is impossible to write an article that will cover every possible situation. When you undertake work, you decide what to do and you accept liability for the result. You may wish to seek qualified advice on your specific floor if necessary. This article is intended to explain the problem in general terms and its various possible solutions.

Strengthening Strategies

Stressed box construction

Sheet ply or OSB flooring is used, and is screwed to the joists every 6".

This couples neighbouring joists, sharing loads, and makes the floor layer structural. The box structure adds rigidity.

Increase Joist Height

A joist can have its depth increased by gluing and screwing more wood along the top. The new wood runs along the old joists, not at 90 degrees to it.

This is often a good solution, especially for loft floors. It does however raise the floor level to a small extent.

The new wood is glued in place & screwed every 6".

It is not essential to use full length timber. Using cut timber butted firmly end to end & glued will still give most of the additional rigidity of continuous full length timber, if not all. Use a mallet to prevent gaps between ends.

Noggins

Noggins rigidly couple neighbouring beams, spreading loads across several supports, thus greatly reducing point load deflection.

Straight

Straight noggins are pieces of wood at 90 degrees to the joists, joining neighouring joists. They are apx the same size as the joist, and are inserted between the joists, lying level & flush with them.

Straight noggins need to be cut accurately so they fit without gaps.

Herringbone

Herringbone noggins are a method using less material. Instead of one solid noggin they are two much smaller pieces of wood fitted in an X shape, thus linking the top of each joist to its neighbour's bottom, and vice versa.

 _          _
| |'.    .'| |
| |  '..'  | |
| |  .''.  | |
|_|.'    '.|_|

Herringbone noggins between 2 joists.

Flitch beams

Steel reinforced timber beams

Cross beam

A wood or steel supporting beam run across under the joists greatly increases their strength by reducing their span. However it is visually intrusive and not usually the best option.

Thicker or stronger floor

Floor rigidity usually makes a small contribution to total structure rigidity. Extra thick self-supporting flooring is occasionally used without joists. A floor structure may be as little as 3" deep this way.

It is also possible to use this approach to reinforce an existing floor structure, by fitting jointed flooring 2" or more deep.

This is not a common means to strengthen and stiffen floors, but it can be an option where headoom is critical, and/or where the ceiling can not be disturbed, perhaps due to special decorative features.

Support Column

These are only occasionally added, as they are usually inconvenient. They greatly improve strength & rigidity by reducing joist span.

Wood grades

C16
C24
TR26
Ungraded

Screw vs Nail

Hammering nails in can crack or break a plaster ceiling. This is more likely with small size joists and L&P ceilings.

Screwing causes much less damage. However driving 4" screws can require a relatively high torque screwdriver.