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When I had bought the house I found a dip in the loungeroom floor, over time it had became even more noticable and within the last 6 months it had become a point of "better do something" about the issue.
This project was done by Moana my carpenter mate and myself. I trully did not expect it to succede but Moana said "Yep" it will 
Mostly tho it shows why there are noggins between beams and associated spans 
Fixing noggins to beams will strenthen them, allow them to support together.
Materials
5 of 190 x 45mm Outdoor Framing H3 Treated Pine 6.0m
2 boxes Titan 14g x 75mm Zinc Gold Timber Bugle Batten Screw - 100 Pack
Tools
Rubber Mallet
Countersink drill bit
Hammer
Circular saw
Makita 260MM (10-1/4“) Slide Compound Mitre Saw LS1110F
Chisel
2 of Ag-props
Steps
Step 1
Walking past the "dip" everyday I kept thinking "is it getting worse?" Yeah it was, so decided to do something about it.
A bit of background history to the issue -
- There was a lounge sitting right in the deepest part of the dip so I did not feel it when I walked across the room. Afterwards when I had the floors sanded there was a really rough spot right at the dip and I suspect that there was an old pot belly stove and associated brickwork that had a waterleak from the tiles above at some point.
Once I removed the furniture the dip showed up much more so. I could place a snooker ball and it actually ran like the blue line at speed.
Looking at the rear beam from under the floor inthe garage you can definently see a bannana bend.
I had to remove the bookcases so we could work in the area. I had pictures of a forest of ag props pushing up on the beams in mind...
You can see the water stains from whatever leak they had. I think it must have been a long term/intense break in the roof tiles.
Step 2
From what I thought would be a forest of ag props needed to this.... Shaking my head at myself as it makes perfect sense. I learned 9 new things the first day, 7 the second and 1 new thing the last day This wa snumber 1. If I was doing it myself I would have placed ithe beam flat and run into all sorts of probelms. (Flat so I could screw 4 of the ag props holes in. Shaking my head at myself)
Setting up the ag props and beam to push the floor up and back to true. Much wiser then a multitude of props aroundthe floor.
2 screws at each coner and wind it up.
First noggin going in. You cant see the "cupping" of the beam but you will.... Also the beams are 180mm by 45mm hardwood, most likely spotted gum. Going by age of house 57 years old and the area I live in. Moana suggested we rip 20mm off the 190mm width of the beam so the noggins would stay above the beams. Tick number 8 or 9 I wouldnt have thought of doing.
These are the only noggings for a 4.5m span and theyare more to stop twisting? Well they did while the timber stayed dry but the ones on either end have severe cupping from water I think.
Notching the noggin, something I would not try This wa sto accomodate the power and aerial cables that were on the beams I was the cutter of the noggins and other bits.
Moana and nailgun "kerchunk" and then the words... This is not oregon (I had thought it was 🐵 as the nail only made it part way in.... So pre drill and countersink every hole instead.
My workstation, lots of "blade widths" or 5mm trimmed off due to cupping of the beams. Think of a very large C and thats how some of them look.
Fitting the noggins, the ones in the middle of the room were much easier then where the dip was. The mallet was used heavily throught this job. Tapping in a noggin that had a notch cut out to miss the cabling was hard work. Doing so without spintering the timber was skilled work.
End of first day, floor was resonably flat (Cheering) but would want to drop a little when we removed the ag props. Continue tomorrow, but the centerline of old style noggins will have to go. 😕 Yeah I liked them but I like a flat floor more so.
Leavel The floor above has a dip still tho only small. The reason why is there was a rough area when they sanded it a decade ago and had to remove a little more. they told me beforehand that it will be a little deeper. 2mm-5mm ish so I expected that even with the floor level underneath.
Step 3
Next day, we had to move the ag props over so the centerline of the noggins could go in. My Legs were sore from walking up and down the steps yesterday to make sure the floor was level as we adjusted it. Lost count of how many times we adjusted the ag prop, then upstairs to check the roll of the snooker ball. and back down to adjust a little more. It was a LOT
Shifted over just a bit.
Removing the old cross style noggins
I really, really, liked that style. lol It was one of the reason I never put a ceiling up Lucky for me I hadnt!
Mmmm The centerline is the same line I used to install my lights...
Before it went...
After..
Calculating how much timber we had left. Half day of effort tomorrow or get some more now. We decided to use what we had and then see.. Drilling hardwood and up and down steps, who needs the gym!
Extremley glad I had Moana along. I would have taken a month and got things wrong or more likely taken a longer road to the same ish outcome. For instance this one with the cross bracing. How do you get the piece of timber to fit into the spot? You cant just slide it up as you have the prop support there, the maths in my head said it wont fit, you cant roll it over and then stand it up as the diagonal cross section of the board is higher then the space between the floorboards and the ag beam... Belt belt, belt with the mallet and bingo! All I get is the knowledgable nod from Moana... Definently worth it for learning so many things!
Moana still wasnt satisfied with the center noggins so crossbeams supports were put in on the first three beams.
Looking a lot nicer and stronger. Also Moana had automatically chossen the right "step" of the batterns to misss the lights... Well thats what he said.... So I believe him...
Shows the Noggins (short bits between beams) and the crossbeams (long bits between the noggins against the floor beams) Take note the beams look a little odd...
Oddness explained...
The beams have cupped as there were no noggins in the span of 4.5m The old school X bracing really didnt do much. The pine noggins are cut square, the hardwood beams have curved in that C shape over the years from weight, no support and water damage.
Note, when we measured the height of the beam top to bottom it was 190mm... But when we measured a beam that had no cupping it was 180mm. The cupping increased the height by 10mm. You could see it as you measured along the beams.
Step 4
All in, the floor feels solid, "Will last another 100 years" acording to Moana and it really feels like it will.
Very happy with how it looks, happy with the knowledge that it wont get worse and also with the work we did. Helping out is so worthwhile.
Crossbeam bracing. That was about the 6th or 7th new thing I learned
The cupping really shows up here.
If I had done nothing, eventually the floor would have dropped and I dont mean a few mm...
The floor as is now. There is about a 5mm dip in the general area that started off with a 25mm - 30mm dip. Moana explained we could keep on adjusting the floor via removing the screws for the crossbracing and then pushing up the crossbracing to take the floorboards higher. It would require hitting the floorboards up out of their nails and could cause issues for the edge of the room. Both fixable. I decideded I was happy with that small dip. Especially knowing the floor wont be going anywhere soon.
