I have the floor up in the soon to be utility. The washing machine had been temporarily plumbed in and made an absolutely awful racket which made me think the floor was solid enough
Boards up, the joists are not rotten but are not secured at the end where the washing machine will be, the wall has been removed as part of the renovations, so the joists just sit on the dwarf wall, you can move them slightly now the boards have gone
So, I'm planning on strengthing it all up. Debating how best to do it. None of it is square so it'll be a bit of a faff.
Would just banging some noggins sort it, or should I be doing something a bit more involved? Maybe supports going down to the concrete?
If you've done similar, what did you do and did it sort a noisy WM on a suspended floor?
Cut c.50mm off the ends off the joists, fix a length of timber to the inside face of the external wall behind them, use joist hangers to fix the joists to the timber. And make sure your washer's level & not wobbly by adjusting the feet, that usually cures most noise issues.
When you say "sit on the dwarf wall" - does that mean that the bricks + mortar between the joists has also been removed (just trying to visualise it I guess..) ?
Either way; you absolutely should have noggins in there; so I'd be adding some if there aren't any (they stop the joists from twisting) - but really; if a washing machine is that loud; it probably just needs levelling properly.
the dwarf wall is still there for the ends of the joists, but they are just resting on it, so joists can be twisted slightly from side to side.
washing machine was definitely levelled, as that was my first thought. used glazing wedges to get it perfect. Still noisy. Half wondering if all the moving about over the last 6 months might not have done any favours.
To many wires and pipes in the way to cut the ends of the joists and refix, which would have been ideal. I should be able to squeeze in noggins pretty close. May even do some vertical supports as well whilst I have access
I'm assuming this is an old house? Some older propertys with dirt underfloor foundations like my old one had joist sat onto dwarf walls with slate to pack out and try and stop damp.
If so use metal joist braces to stop the twist then relevel it all using slate packing off the dwarf wall. You could bolt a new timber to the old ones with star washers and m10 bolts. Treat everything lots.
1920s. Dwarf walls have some from of felt or tar and then a wood beam with joists on top. Most of the joists are a funky green colour so have been treated in the past.
Noggins it is. Hopefully that and replacing the boards with a ply subfloor will tighten everything up
Noggins or noggin straps to stop them twisting. Straps to tie down to dwarf wall.
Pop some noiseproofing tape in there. https://advancedacoustics-uk.com/products/green-glue-noiseproofing-joist-tape
Or soundproof layer: https://www.soundstop.co.uk/ZTECSO50.php
And, pop in underfloor rockwool or similar insulation for heat and noise.
Is it a new washer? Have you taken ALL the transit bolts out?
Dont ask how I know, it was very loud even in an outhouse:-)
In true internet "not answer the question" fashion:
buy a direct drive washing machine.
I thought our old unit was gonna go through the floor when it had towels in it, things were coming off shelves in the vicinity (they really were)
The new one, you can barely tell its running. If you had your back to it you wouldnt know other than on spin. its incredibly quiet and stable.
First time i turned it on i thought there had been a glitch in the matrix or something. I could see it turning by there was no noise.
I submit my entry for the "most boring video of the year" award (not mine, i looked it up)
skip to 47 minutes for the spin cycle. Phwoar.
I did this with a mate ~20 years ago.
Old joists, not rotten or damp, just made out of a "softer" wood. So all the nails holding the boards down had come slightly loose. All but had a nightingale floor in the back room. One end of the joists slotted into the wall, other end resting on some very solid bits of foundation (probably a dwarf wall of sorts). Only one line of noggins or a 5m span.
Took all the noggins out, levelled, screwed and glued some 2x6 ish joists to the sides of the existing massive joists (sort of 4-5" wide and probably 10" deep, could still see where they'd been cut out of the log!).
So we had a level, solid surface to attach the new noggins to at one end, and screwed through at the other end.
Also a nice flat surface to put the original (oak) boards back on to then sand smooth.
It's got a kitchen on it now, still rock solid and creak free.
Our washing machine has DIY rubber packers either side so it's clamped rigid in it's slot - makes a big difference to how noisy it is on spin.
