Fitting noggins for chipboard flooring

[ruaricoles]

I'm repairing a load of damaged chipboard flooring upstairs in our house, and would like to fit some noggins to give the new boards some additional support. The original floor is T&G boards, but the ends of the boards don't sit over the joists - seems ridiculous, and not too surprisingly (1985 house) there are now a few places where the boards are breaking.

I'm cutting the old floor so the replacement boards will always rest on a joist at each end, but would like some additional support along their lengths, especially in areas of heavier use.

Two questions please:

1) To span the gap between two joists, am I better off screwing through the joist then into the end of the noggin, or diagonally through the noggin then into the joist?

2) Am I better off drilling pilot holes, or am I OK to put the screws straight in if I find my drill has enough grunt to do it?

Just want to minimise the risk of creaky floors in the future!

Ta

Ruari

[Mr GrimNasty]

"diagonally through the noggin then into the joist" - yes skew nail/screw from both sides, or use mini-joist hangers if it's easier.

"Am I better off drilling pilot holes" not essential, but if it's easier, in the noggin yes, always kinder on the wood(!) and easier to get the angle of the screw/nail right. If you temporarily fix a block where the noggin is to go, it stops it sliding out of position as you bang the nails in from one side, remove the block and bang in from the other.

If you have 18mm board, 22mm would be a good upgrade, t&g'd all around of coarse.

[m4ckg]

you might find that the centres of the joints won't work with the lengths of the boards, as already said 22mm would be a good option and don't worry if they don't fall on a joist. Always glue and screw the boards and there is an adhesive to run long the joist as well

[Ricky_M]

Can you not just screw batten on to the joist, so you are effectively widening the joist so the boards sit on it?

[ruaricoles]

Thanks for the tips guys.

I'm only replacing a few areas so can't change to 22mm boards. I've also used a router to cut out the broken sections with cuts along the joist tops so the ends of the new sections will at least be properly supported.

Also as I'm having to drop some of the new boards in vertically, I can't always have a T&G joint along the length. In these areas perhaps I'll screw some strips to the underside of one board to provide a shelf for the adjacent board to rest on? (And a nearby noggin perhaps to support it properly between joists).

Ta

Ruari

[ruaricoles]

Ricky_M said:

Can you not just screw batten on to the joist, so you are effectively widening the joist so the boards sit on it?

Yes (I've found a few like this already), but I wasn't sure where all the pipes were under the boards so wanted to use the router to cut them. This meant it was easy enough to cut along the joist tops. Perhaps I'll use some battens where there's not a lot of joist width to play with.

Unlike cars, it's as well we don't need to worry about weight with houses; with battens, noggins, screws and things going in everywhere "just in case it helps" it'd be the first 18 tonne sportscar at this rate

Ruari