Holyrood Park Lodge - Wood-fibre insulation - 100 mm

The ground floor of the lodge has suspended timber floors throughout. In the north room the floor was very uneven and it was clear that remedial work was required. The floor was lifted and the floorboards were set aside for re-use. A new level was established using the hearth stones in each room. The existing joists were in good condition and only required minor repairs. Braces or ‘dwangs’ were fastened at right angles to the joists where additional lateral stiffness was necessary. To improve the airflow in the solum, it had to be cleared of about 40 rubble bags of debris. Following the repair and upgrade of the timber joists on the ground floor, wood-fibre insulation was fitted between the joists. The wood-fibre insulation is a semi-rigid batt, 100mm thick. Following the insulation work, the floors were re-laid in the exhibition room with the original floor timbers, and elsewhere with a new timber tongue and grove flooring of traditional pattern.

Timber was chosen before concrete, because the latest is not suitable for traditional buildings, as the moisture in the ground would progressively concentrate in the covered solum and rise up the masonry of the walls and partitions, causing the very damp the intervention seeks to exclude.