Loads of builder's waste under subfloor - is this really common?

[info_45]

In the next few weeks I'm due to be getting the the subfloor of a Victorian living/dining room cleared of builder's waste. Its to improve ventilation, then level the floor (as much as possible) and insulate. The limited woodwork that can be seen from listing a few boards seems ok, but I'm expecting some rotten joist end which will be repaired. Hopefully nothing too extensive. I also think this is helping damp bridge the old DPC, so this should assist here as well.

The presence of the builder's waste has made me uneasy for ages. Although not all the floorboards have been lifted, a spread of them have and every time the void is full to just below the joists. Its been very deliberately chucked in there I would say. A wall must have been taken down in the past so I assume that's its in there. The ceilings are all plasterboard now, and I reckon I can see some old bits of lathe. I know that damp proof work has been done in the past so thats 1m of hacked off plaster for the whole room. Some bits of old ceramic tile etc etc.

Basically I'm here to ask - is this standard? Do other people/builders just not think about it (other than the ones who put in there in the first place!) and dig it out? Have other people had to deal with this as well and ended up with multiple skip-loads of waste?

I am prone to being anxious about this kind of thing. The thought of the dust this is going to generate is really getting to me. I've had an asbestos survey which tested various areas in the house (all negative) and did a visual check of the waste that could be seen - they said that there was nothing they were concerned about. My instructions to the builders is to wear PPE, suppress the dust as much as possible and stop if they find anything suspicious.

It might make me feel better if this is actually a really common thing. For the health of the house (and for me!) this needs to be gone, but I'm really not looking forward to it. Thoughts would be welcome!

 

[stuart45]

It is quite common.

 

[Cubist]

It is quite common.

Floorboards - the builders equivalent of a loose carpet to sweep stuff under.

 

[a twig]

Same way as roofers often just lob their rubbish into the eaves before tiling over. Found 4 energy drinks cans and a selection of Sainsbury’s meal deal wrappers after the last roof job

 

[larry]

I only have my own house experience but ours had a few bits,but nothing as bad as yours. I'd say it is worth removing it though for all the reasons you say but also because of its effect in blocking ventilation. I fairly diligently removed the timber in particular reasoning it was one less food source for any dry rot.

 

[larry]

Hopefully the boards you are lifting are the same ones the builders lifted and so you're looking in the worst areas!

 

[a twig]

At my parents house all the excess concrete from when the patio was concreted in the 80s was dumped under the suspended floor - so randomly about 1/3 of their living room has concrete and the rest is bare earth

 

[LadyArowana]

.

Basically I'm here to ask - is this standard? Do other people/builders just not think about it (other than the ones who put in there in the first place!) and dig it out? Have other people had to deal with this as well and ended up with multiple skip-loads of waste?

I am prone to being anxious about this kind of thing. The thought of the dust this is going to generate is really getting to me. I've had an asbestos survey which tested various areas in the house (all negative) and did a visual check of the waste that could be seen - they said that there was nothing they were concerned about. My instructions to the builders is to wear PPE, suppress the dust as much as possible and stop if they find anything suspicious.

It might make me feel better if this is actually a really common thing. For the health of the house (and for me!) this needs to be gone, but I'm really not looking forward to it. Thoughts would be welcome!

I’m guessing this is your first ride on the merry go round of old house serious works. My first time I was shell shocked, had to be led away gently from what once had been my home whilst quietly muttering “OMG what have I done”. My architect friend said “oh you get used to it” I thought that would never happen, but by the time I needed to do it again I wasn’t bothered by the lack of floor and all the associated goings on. So yes, this is standard, if you’re lucky you find an interesting old newspaper or maybe an ivoice, but mainly it’s stuff that should have gone in the skip or the rubbish bin, but obviously under the floor is cheaper and less effort.

The good thing is once it’s gone you won’t have to worry about it any more. Focus on the prize of having a lovely place once it’s finished, which it will be.

 

[lizziecupcakes]

I honestly am disliking tradespeople more and more as time goes by. It’s a largely unregulated industry and some of the worst people work in. I know there’s some good ones and whoever gets then are really lucky!! And one thing I have noticed is that what they try to charge is more than what an NHS surgeon makes in most cases.

 

[stuart45]

There's still quite a few good tradesmen around, but unfortunately for people who don't work in the trade they don't know who they are.
Another problem is that the ones who aren't any good are working for themselves because a decent firm wouldn't employ them. They make up for their lack of practical skills and knowledge by being good at advertising themselves.
A lot of really good tradesmen are happy to just work for a firm on a steady wage, do a good job, and not have the worry of finding work.

 

[info_45]

Thanks for the input all. Any builder or tradesperson I had out to quote and mentioned the waste just sort of shrugged. I'm sure they don't enjoy clearing it out, but perhaps its just part of the territory. Fingers crossed the person who will be doing the work was recommended by an architect friend and seems very legit. Perhaps not the cheapest, but very reassuring to speak to and seems to know their stuff. I know that the house was sold a couple of times in quick succession in the late 90's, and my suspicion is that they gutted the place and this is the outcome.

I’m guessing this is your first ride on the merry go round of old house serious works.....

.....The good thing is once it’s gone you won’t have to worry about it any more. Focus on the prize of having a lovely place once it’s finished, which it will be.

These comments are quite on the money! I've had little bits and bobs done, and anything slightly larger scale was external work. That ended up going quite wrong (they uncovered some horrors under the bay window render) which has made me nervous of doing anything else.

I mentioned that this is making me quite anxious, and that really is true. It will sound odd but I actually don't like being in the room at the moment because of the thought that I'm basically sitting above a pile of waste. I need to reclaim the space so I'm really hoping that you're right and once its done I can have my living room back again. The stress will ramp up for the next few weeks, but it would be so lovely to have a house that I can enjoy again.

 

[larry]

I mentioned that this is making me quite anxious, and that really is true. It will sound odd but I actually don't like being in the room at the moment because of the thought that I'm basically sitting above a pile of waste. I need to reclaim the space so I'm really hoping that you're right and once its done I can have my living room back again. The stress will ramp up for the next few weeks, but it would be so lovely to have a house that I can enjoy again.

What I've found with gross jobs is that actually just rolling my sleeves up and getting stuck in I get used to it and much less grossed out by it by the end. If the material there is concrete, broken bricks, timber and crisp packets from builders gone by, there's nothing in there that's radiating grossness that will do you any immediate harm. Anxiety is useful for calling our attention to threat but in this case is almost certainly disproportionate to any level of potential harm or risk. That doesn't mean that it's not worth trying to get rid of the stuff for all the reasons above (and I know you're looking for somebody to do this for you, but the other way of looking at this is that there's a lot of potential free exercise there, and there's absolutely no skill involved in chucking stuff into sacks and emptying it into a skip!).

 

[info_45]

In this instance I think clearing this stuff out would be a step beyond what I could cope with doing myself. I'm waking up each morning feeling a bit sick at the prospect of the mess it will generate. It very much looks like just dusty builders waste, and in my head I know that a Victorian house was unlikely to have been filled with toxic stuff like pipe lagging you might have had on an industrial site or anything like that. Lead paint I suppose, and general horrid dust, but not awful stuff. But I don't think I could bring myself to do it.

That said, I think I understand your sentiment about actually getting stuck in. I've only done (very) minor DIY stuff, but it certainly brought about a sense of pride and ownership. Getting this waste cleared has felt like a big barrier to anything else, because its in my head so much. Maybe once its gone I can try and tackle some smaller things myself too (with PPE!).

 

[Flyfisher]

It is quite common.

Indeed, and not even a new phenomenon encouraged by high prices for skips and commercial waste disposal.

This thread describes a packet of Woodbines I've found during renovation works, among other things, probably from the 1960s

F

Thread 'Period Woodbines'

Oct 16, 2013

While doing some electrical work recently we had to drill about 4 feet through a wall to get a new cable into the consumer unit. The consumer unit itself had been installed a few years ago and a similar hole had been drilled for the incoming supply cable (the work allowed us to remove an unsightly overhead supply and two poles), so we knew the wall was actually two walls with a large gap between them, though not accessible from anywhere inside the house.

Anyway, this hole was drilled a few inches to the side of the previous one and when we peered into the void we discovered this...

• Flyfisher
• Replies: 8
• Forum: Period Property Discussion Forum

Still, it could be worse . . . . https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y4dxlgkp4o

 

[info_45]

I saw that in the news the other day - awful. Can't quite fathom how they managed to do it without anyone realising what was going on. Perhaps people did realise but the pieces weren't put together quickly enough to stop it. An example from my floor below.

 

[LadyArowana]

Still, it could be worse . . . . https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y4dxlgkp4o

It’s such a huge volume it must have been many truck fulls. I hope they can find something in there that gives a trail back to the culprits. Plus it’s been somewhat shredded, how does that happen, surely an industrial site somewhere. Whole thing is disgusting.