Fixing timber battening

Discussion in 'Carpenters' Talk' started by NikkiJane, Jan 31, 2021.

  1. NikkiJane

    NikkiJane New Member

    Hi all,

    We are doing a 'back to stone' resto on an old granite house. We've stripped away all the old plasterboard, and I want to put timber battening in, secured top and bottom, to act as a base for the PIR insulation.
    The house has a concrete floor, a relatively recent one looking at other work done on the house, so I think it will have damp proofing within. There is certainly no problem with damp in the house.
    However, whoever laid this concrete floor only went up to the wall covering. I've got a gap of about 2 inches between the concrete floor and the wall, which looks to be just packed earth. And it's right where I want to put my battening.
    So how do I set my floor level battening without getting damp rising up the timber? Will a plastic membrane underneath be sufficient? If so, how do I fasten the battening down? Do I need to dig the earth out and put something else in it's place? Any other ideas?
    Thanks in advance.
     
  2. Jord86

    Jord86 Screwfix Select

    Can you put a photo or two up showing your scenario?
     
  3. NikkiJane

    NikkiJane New Member

    I'll take some next time we are over there.
     
  4. Jord86

    Jord86 Screwfix Select

    Ok, well using my powers of intuition, you don't fix the bottom horizontal batten tight to the floor, keep it up two inches and plug and screw it to the wall or use frame fixings. If the two inches of earth is an issue, scrape it out to a depth of a few inches, line it with DPM then stick insulation in there and tamp a sand and cement screed in there 4 sand 1 cement semi dry mix, though by the time you batten the walls and cover with boarding and skirting I would think the area would be covered anyway.
     
  5. NikkiJane

    NikkiJane New Member

    Thanks for that. I'm a bit nervous about drilling into granite (don't want to kill my drill!) but I will look into doing it that way.
     
  6. Jord86

    Jord86 Screwfix Select

    If you had the internal floorspace then you could build a separate stud wall an inch off the granite and insulate that.
     
  7. NikkiJane

    NikkiJane New Member

    Yes, that's a good point. We are installing about 150mm on insulation, so I could just bring the battening forward by 2", and instead of doing 50mm between the battens and 100mm over the top, do it the other way round. Thanks for that, I'll look at doing it that way.
     

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