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Pinroom, raising the floor advice. - flooring type too?

David_Vi

David_Vi

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Sudbury
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DaveTheTrain
Getting closer to having to think about what to do with my pinroom.

It's on the footprint of a single garage but longer than most and a little wider. It's already a room but due to it being built as a garage in the past the floor is lower than the rest of the house.

In January this year we got a door put in from the hall into the extension, just to help getting pins in. It has a temporary wooden step which goes into the room as it goes over the gas mains which was attached to the skirting.

The drop is awful when putting pins in the room, with my p handle truck it's very hard to drop a pin down the step without one wheel going just before the other, meaning the pin tilts and if you're not careful it can hit the door frame.

The door from the utility at the back of the extension is a solid door (building regs from when it was a garage I guess), this has the same step down but is broken into two small steps.

I did like the room being lower as it feels bigger (room for toppers too) but the drop is annoying and our robot vacuum cleaner won't dare enter the room😂

So I figure to get it done properly and make the room feel a part of the house the floor could be raised.

What are my options for this?
Would a new base made from wood work and be a good foundation for the pins?
Any ideas of rough prices?

There's a front door on the extension which is useless with the new internal door and is too narrow for pins so I'd like to get it bricked it up.

Looking to get builders over for quotes soon with intention of getting it done early next year.

Will get some pictures soon👍
 
We got floor joists with boards for our garage conversion to make the floor level with the house. The room is roughly 6mx3m, its larger than single garages we’ve had in the past, I think 5x2.5ish is more normal?

Most of the builders wanted to put the joists front to back, saying it would be easier to level. While technically with the room area it should have been fine, it meant all the pins and the multi-gym would have been on the same 2 joists. So we got a builder who was happy to put the joists width ways. He went over board without us asking and put them closer together than building regs suggest too. I don’t think it’s necessary to have them width ways but it just gave me added peace of mind, knowing how much weight was going to be in the room.

We’ve got 5 pins, a multigym, exercise bike and a small storage unit, with all that and people in the room the floor is solid.

Not sure on price as it was part of the whole conversion.
 

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Here's some pics from when the door was put in.
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AlanJ said:
by how much do you need to raise it?
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I've lost my tape measure but I'll try find it when I'm home. The pics hopefully give a rough idea.
Think it's too much for that liquid stuff.
 
My drop was much bigger so did concrete to raise the whole room and level, then put in a floating floor of insulation (kingspan) then boarded over the top. Was tricky as needed to get just enough height in to make my flooring hit flush with the doorway.
 
I would go the way of insulated floating floor.

A Guide to Constructing a Floating Floor

A floating floor is a construction where chipboard, gypsum or cement fibre board floor panels are 'floated' across the top of the rigid insulation layer. Read more to find out what insulation thickness is required and how to insulate and install a floating floor.
www.kingspan.com www.kingspan.com
 
Asiapinball said:
I would go the way of insulated floating floor.

A Guide to Constructing a Floating Floor

A floating floor is a construction where chipboard, gypsum or cement fibre board floor panels are 'floated' across the top of the rigid insulation layer. Read more to find out what insulation thickness is required and how to insulate and install a floating floor.
www.kingspan.com www.kingspan.com
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Interested in this as will have to do/have another room done when we move.
Is a floating floor strong enough for Pins though? It says for heavy items, like baths, to use a battened floor.
 
In document it says to use battens under point load areas and near doors so a run of battens around where the legs would sit should be fine. Effectively the point loads would go through the wood floor the wood battens and straight onto concrete below so no load on the kingspan
 
Stags6969 said:
Interested in this as will have to do/have another room done when we move.
Is a floating floor strong enough for Pins though? It says for heavy items, like baths, to use a battened floor.
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My whole pin room is on kingspan no joists or battens at all. seriously heavy pool table too
 

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No joists in mine, nowhere near as big as everyone elses. My garage split in two so the has a floating floor in each room. Fridge freezer, tumble, washing machine in one, then 4 pins, a desk and a small fridge in the other. Solid as rock, no issues.
 
Hi, if you want to do the simple leave it as is for the height aspect etc put a basic ramp in.
My cousins eldest is in a heavy electric wheel chair and they use a basic wooden ramp for her to access the main house through the garage. I'm sure they used ply and made 3 or 4 braces underneath the slope like half trusses if that makes sense. It has been used for 15 years without being replaced and had new kitchen appliances and various furniture brought in via it without any issue.
 


I purchased one of these (well one like it) - can comfortably go up two steps. A shorter one and longer one is available.
Folds up nice and takes up less space than an ironing board - in fact half the area.
Also useful for when a friend visits (his girlfriend is in a wheel chair).
If you have sons age 8 and over - lock it up - they will be making wheelie ramps.
 
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The ramps may sound like the answer but there's no room at the bottom of the ramp when the room has pins in it. So you'd be tipping the pin into another pin or it would still be on the ramp.

Plus I'd love to address this ugly step which is supposed to be temporary just to get the door functionable for our event earlier in the year

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AlanJ said:
My whole pin room is on kingspan no joists or battens at all. seriously heavy pool table too
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That looks great Alan.
Is it an Amitico LVT type flooring? Do you not get any marking from the levellers?
 
It’s a heavy duty laminate, all my pins are on furniture cups with felt bottoms
 

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I'm torn in carpet tiles, a low pile carpet or a hard floor.
I think carpet is better for noise
 
I was going to say as others have, not done it myself but seen other people converting a garage to games room and if its a solid concrete floor they have just put thick insulation boards down and laid floorboards/chipboard on top of that. Then you can have whatever flooring you want on it including your carpet tiles.

I assumed at the time that it was a product designed to do that sort of thing, and having tongued and groved floorboards on top should do a good job of spreading the load on it.
 
AlanJ said:
Agree to both above - kingspan
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Also agree - insulation board will be ideal, and comes in various thicknesses and types depending on your needs - e.g. all is suitable for laying a boards/carpet or wooden floor onto, but you can also buy stuff which is affixed to the subfloor, which you can then tile directly onto - my kitchen floor tiles are fitted in this way.
 
My garage conversion floor was down with an anti-damp membrane, beams and insulation. Then ply and finished with flooring insulation and wooden flooring (laminate).

From what I can see you issue you might have is the drop is not actually that big, so putting beams down etc., will probably not be an option, as for what I can see there is not enough height.

If it was me, I would try and make a temporary ramp that you could remove easily.

The other option is get a builder to lay a pouring of screed to raise it up. The drawback is the time it will take to dry, but that will work.
 
Floating floor seems the way to go. Any ideas on rough costs?

Will to rip up the old carpet and I think there's laminate or similar hard flooring under the carpet too. Plus new skirting and the walls plastered.
 
David_Vi said:
Floating floor seems the way to go. Any ideas on rough costs?

Will to rip up the old carpet and I think there's laminate or similar hard flooring under the carpet too. Plus new skirting and the walls plastered.
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I did mine in 2018. Remember the kingspan was the most expensive bit. You'll need to find somewhere that sells it and get a square meter price. 2018, £600 springs to mind, that may have included the damp proof membrane and boards too
 
Ashbo said:
I did mine in 2018. Remember the kingspan was the most expensive bit. You'll need to find somewhere that sells it and get a square meter price. 2018, £600 springs to mind, that may have included the damp proof membrane and boards too
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Trying to look it up and can't seem to find somewhere that sells it that I understand 😂
Is it something a builder would sort out?
What makes kingspan different from a builder making a floating floor themselves?
 
David_Vi said:
Trying to look it up and can't seem to find somewhere that sells it that I understand 😂
Is it something a builder would sort out?
What makes kingspan different from a builder making a floating floor themselves?
Click to expand...
Oh, a builder would use the same stuff, but do it for you
 
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