And It Was Going So Well.....

As you will have seen from the last posting, I felt that we were nearly at the point of fixing down the flooring in the bedroom. Silly! My supervisor was obviously following developments with interest and wanted to know how springy and quiet the flooring would be. So, I got the nearest thing to a herd of elephants we have, and got Sue to walk on the first 3 boards that I'd put down. Walking on them didn't feel like walking on a mattress, but ....... below in the bathroom, every step was accompanied with creaking and squeaks. After much discussion ( about hearing intimate activities above one's head) we decided that the problem must be the metal hangers, fixed to the beams, which in turn support the plasterboard ceiling of the ground floor rooms. When walking on the first-floor flooring, these beams 'give' and we think that the squeaking comes from the metal rails rubbing against the metal hangers.

Fortunately I hadn't got too far with fixing floor boards down, as I'm now taking up the insulation and coating every metal to metal joint with expanded mousse. I did my first batch yesterday and this morning the results seem satisfactory.

We're hoping that the results of this work will be OK but perhaps we'll just have to ask our guests to wear soft, fluffy slippers (and put any younger guests on the ground floor!)