ᐅ New floor construction in the ground floor of an existing building

Hello everyone!
I’m new here and just bought a house (built in 1953) yesterday that will be renovated.
I already have ideas and plans for most areas, except for the one mentioned in the topic.
The structure is in very good condition and everything is dry.

Here are some details about the house:
Masonry with 25cm (10 inches) standard bricks
Partially basemented (this is the area I’m asking about)
Currently gas heating
No external thermal insulation composite system (ETICS) / no external wall insulation
Double glazing installed around 2000

The part of the house without a basement has a strip foundation, and the floor is built on wooden joists resting on slag.
I would like to insulate the basement ceiling as well as the floor of the non-basement part.

What floor construction would you recommend for the non-basement part of the house, without increasing the floor height?

Thanks and best regards!
Rene

Hello and welcome to the forum,
congratulations on your new old house.
It sounds like it is completely uninsulated with floor joists and floorboards (possibly already worn through)?
And underneath, there is a view of the cinder fill and into the partial basement?

Nida35a schrieb:

Hello and welcome to the forum,
congratulations on your new old house.
It sounds like it’s completely undereaved with floor joists and floorboards (possibly already worn through)?
And underneath there’s a view of slag and a partial basement?

Yes and no, the basemented part of the house has a floor structure without joists.
The floor there was laid more or less directly on the concrete.
The basement extends about 70cm (28 inches) above ground level. That’s why the non-basemented part of the house is built up with slag fill, and joists lie within it.

I want to avoid raising the beams, so it would be ideal for me to keep the floor construction as low as possible.

I plan to level the concrete ceiling of the basement, insulate it, but what to do with the non-basemented part of the house is still unclear to me.

Maybe remove the joists, lay a vapor barrier, XPS insulation, and concrete?
Or remove the joists, lay a vapor barrier, use bound fill, and screed?
Would that put pressure on the walls?
Is that feasible?

Thanks!

You will greatly assist both your planning process and our qualified advice by providing detailed information about the structure, including floor plans and cross-sections (if available from the building records). Both the 1950s and 1960s each represent distinct construction eras spanning roughly three decades. In 1953, construction practices were still quite improvised, even in the West, clearly reflecting post-war building standards. I would consider "solid condition" in that context to mean only "not decayed." However, the shortage of high-quality materials at the time was compensated for by generally better workmanship than we see today. Nonetheless, this construction period is known for buildings that are often inexpensively priced for good reasons.

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11ant schrieb:

You will do us all a great favor for the planning and competent advice by clarifying the structure with floor plans and sectional drawings (possibly from the building file). Both the 1950s and 1960s were each roughly three decades of distinct construction techniques. In 1953, construction was still highly improvised, even in the West these were clearly post-war years from a technical perspective. I believe "good condition" only means "not rotten" in this context. At least they compensated for the lack of high-quality materials with less poor workmanship than today. However, it is a year of construction with understandably inexpensive properties.

Of course, I am happy to provide the original plans later; the house was built by the master builder and executed to a quality that is still good by today’s standards.

11ant schrieb:

For all planning and to provide us with qualified advice, you will do a great service by clarifying the structure with floor plans and cross-sections (possibly from the building records). Both the 1950s and the 1960s represent roughly three decades each in terms of construction techniques. In 1953, construction was still very improvisational; even in the West, these were clearly post-war years in terms of building technology. I would only consider the condition "good" in the sense of "not rotted." At least back then, the shortage of fine materials was compensated for with much less shoddy workmanship than today. Still, it is a construction year associated with understandably inexpensive properties.

Attached is the plan (although it does not correspond closely to reality).
As you can see, the house is only partially basemented. I have now inspected the non-basemented part in more detail and found the following:
The plank floor rests on wooden beams, which sit on a simply flame-treated concrete slab, with clinker slag in between.

Thanks again for the help!