This was a little surprise. After lifting the floor coverings it became evident that the crack in the hallway ceiling wasn't due to structural movement in the loft/roof timbers but due to the hall floor having been cut about and poorly repaired in the past. This had caused the floor to drop and the dividing wall between the living room and hall had slumped slightly (you could fit your fingers between the base of the wall and the hall floor)! So we cut out the previous bad repair, jacked the joists back up to where they should be. We then fitted a new double trimmer plate and extended the joists towards the front door ensuring everything was fixed using structural joist hangers, bolts, washers, star discs, 'L' straps etc. We also fitted base plates on the oversight and cut 4" posts down to wedge under the newly aligned floor to stop any future sagging - you could park a car on it now!
There is another little section of floor in one of the bedrooms that will require the same treatment although to a much lesser degree (just needs wedging back up).
The spark (Brother Tom) has been down this week too and we are now running on a new ring main. The old was shocking (literally)! It was a combo of the original 1957 wiring with no earths and what looked like two separate additions at various points after that. The old lighting circuit has been fully removed and the new one first fixed. Cooker point is first fixed and the supply is over to the kitchen ready for the new ring main in there (need to finalise kitchen design before I can set this out). The garage is first & second fixed for power & lighting, just needs the armoured cable running down to it. Hopefully next weekend (Easter) will see the spark return and we can run in the rest of the wiring where it's needed ready the first fix inspection (either by the council or an alternate approved contractor).
