Bowed Floor joists

by **gardenhappy** » Sat May 23, 2009 6:09 am

Hi,
My house is a wooden framed house, just under two years old and all the joists (at least in two upstairs bedrooms) are bowed from top to bottom, so to look at one end on it looks like a ‘)’. I don’t know whether they were fitted like this, or they have bowed over time. Does my house now still conform to building regulations and is it safe? All the floors in the house creak when anyone walks over them.

Regards

Hartley

by **bd3cc** » Sat May 23, 2009 9:07 pm

If it is only 2 years old the NHBRC guarantee should still apply.
Get them in to look at it.

by **gardenhappy** » Sun May 24, 2009 12:46 pm

Thanks for the reply,
We actually had some attempted repairs paid for by the house builder and suposedly on advice from NHBC as other buildings have creaky floors and I suspect it's because their joists are bowed too.
They put wedges and glue into the ends of the short cross members that go between each joist to try and pack out the bow. These cross members are only one between each two joists going across the middle of the bedroom.
My concern is, that as the joists are bowed, are they structurally sound and wouldn't this mean the overall height of the joists has changed, so the upstairs floor is now closer to the ceiling below?
I have contacted NHBC by email, but as yet have had no reply.
Could the joists be also bowed length wise as well?

Regards.

by **bd3cc** » Sun May 24, 2009 10:07 pm

Keep on at them.
They can ignore email, but get a telephone number and hassle them.
Not sure which way your joists are bowed from your decription, but sounds like NHBC should put it right, at no expense nor inconvenience to you.
HTH