I’m exhausted, but there’s still a few hours to go until the “Downton Abbey” finale; I had to do something to stay awake. So I decided to fix some floorboard problems.
At some point in the distant past, presumably for electric work, someone made a bunch of crap cuts in the second-floor hall floorboards. There were four that had no support at one end, because the horizontal cuts made to pull out short sections are well shy of (or well beyond, depending on your POV) the joist. I guess “16″ on center” was just too difficult to remember?
I’ve been stepping around those soft spots for almost 10 months now. But I also had to pull floorboards for electric, so before I nail the boards back in place, I fixed the squishy bits.
A trip to my (obscenely large) trash pile out back yielded an old 2×4 (with some really tight grain, as it turns out) off which I chopped some 1-1/2″-long chunks. After drilling clearance holes in the chunks for 3″ screws (yes, they’re Phillips head; sue me), I clamped each little piece flush at the top of the requisite joist, and screwed them in place.
Now, I have something to which I can nail the floorboards…just as soon as I order some proper cut nails for flooring.
In the meantime, with all the floorboards properly supported, I can quit hopscotching from my bedroom down the hall to the bathroom.
Wish I had those nails, though; there’s still two hours before “Downton Abbey.”
* Yes, I know I should have cut lengths off the 2×4 and screwed face grain to face grain. But then I’d have to rip it, too, because 4″ (and it really is 4″ wide) wouldn’t fit because of the wiring . So we’ll see if it holds. I suspect it will be months before I get around to nailing those floorboards down; plenty of time for a test.
Rude Mechanicals Press Blog 
Nailing into end grain like your picture shows might not be such a great idea. It looks to me that you screwed a piece as wide as the floor board to the side of a joist. Cutting some thing longer, say the width of three floorboards, and ripping it to fit the space gives a better connection. Fasten into the long grain. Nailing into end grain is never a good idea.
Yes…as I mentioned in closing. (I’m going to rip a piece at work, just in case; I don’t have my table saw set up at home yet, and my rip saw tips at the office/shop.)
If it doesn’t have to be super clean, then ripping might be unnecessary. You could rive with froe or chisel instead.
Yep, I do that all the time since I sold the tablesaw 18 months ago. Straight grain is a godsend when you don’t have a powered saw.
I’m quite enjoying your blog, and admire your ‘can do’ spirit.
What about using small headed finish screws, they are dark in color and have a square recess in the head. That would allow you to remove the boards again later if need be and probably not be any bigger than the heads of those specialty nails.
Yeah, that would work – and you’re probably right that it would be smart to allow for later access. But for anything that shows, I’m committed to doing it the way it would have been done in 1906 when the house was built. (Except for electric and plumbing, of course…those I want done to 21st-century standards 🙂 )
As I mentioned in an earlier post, my friends 1880’s terrace house had floor boards screwed down over the gas piping on the upper floors – these were original. The boards that didn’t go over the piping were nailed in place with the tongue and groove removed for fitting the removable boards too. It lasted until the 2010’s when some expert electricians used a sledge hammer to remove the boards as screws were too hard for them to figure out it seems, even after being shown the screws and told what they were for. The master bedroom also had a floor board hatch in the middle of the floor to give access to the back of the ceiling light fitting (gas converted to electricity way back) in the down stairs dining room – the electrician just took to that with a circular saw, cutting a # sign around the hatch. Just lucky they didn’t keep going and cut the floor joists too.
Oh sure – I know screws were in use then. But nails were used in mine, so I’ll stick with the original approach for this particular house.
And here I was looking forward to Popular Woodworking tackles authentic outhouses. Might even overtake the bird house books.
Well I am planning to redo both bathrooms…
I’m always amazed by the corners cut when someone would rather do a job quickly as opposed to right.
At least you’ll have some peace of mind when you’re finished. Keep up the good work!
Maybe they just didn’t know. Whereas I know I’m wrong and I’m going to have to fix (but it’ll hold for a little while, at least until I do it properly!)
Possibly. I have the good fortune to have been born during the era of Google and YouTube. I don’t have any excuses for doing things wrong.
You mean your floor joists ARE on 16″ centers !?
Yes – so you’d think, with a tape measure in hand, it would have been a simple matter to cut those floorboards at the middle of a joist.
To h_ll with how you fastened the support block. I noticed that you did not clean out the debris in the cavity nor sand and finish the inside surfaces. I suppose this type of shoddy craftsman just goes with how you youngsters do things these days.
Hey now! I’m going to vacuum before I nail the boards back in place…and wear a respirator during. That sh*t is scary.
Did you finish both sides of the floorboards? If you don’t finish both sides, they’re all going to warp . . .
Snort.
You are SO lucky you can run Romex.
Are you kidding? For a (n almost) whole house rewire? I wrote a check…a very large check.
So the kidney’s were already sold?
I write checks for drywall, plumbing and electrical. I can cover most everything else with sweat and colorful language.
No apologies for Phillip heads. I like the Torx better. My son who does remodeling now has 4 different screws on the truck. Phillips, Robertsons (square) and 2 different sizes of Torx. Drives him crazy.