Do you have a suspended or solid floor?
Floors are generally either solid or suspended (timber or concrete).
A suspended floor means you have a crawl space underneath your ground floor. Suspended timber floors are usually found in older houses, and are normally made from timber floorboards, which are attached to the joists just above the foundations of a house.
The easiest way to find out if you have a suspended floor is to go outside your house, and search for air vents or ventilation bricks at the bottom of your outside walls. If you see some, it is likely that you have a suspended floor.
Otherwise, you can do a quick test called the heel drop. A simple jump or stamp on your ground floor. If you can hear any give to the floor or reverberation of the furniture, then you probably have a suspended floor. If it’s hard and that movement jars your body, then it is likely to be a solid floor.
Underfloor air vents or air bricks look like the following:
Do not block air vents
It is important not to block up any air bricks as they allow ventilation and air movement in the underfloor space and prevent damp forming in the timber. If you’re feeling cold draughts coming from the floor, it is best to get it insulated. The insulation will stop the draughts and make your home more comfortable whilst maintaining ventilation in the underfloor space.
Insulating partially suspended floors
Some floors can be part suspended and part solid. For example, house extension or the kitchen will usually be built on a solid floor whilst the rest of the ground floor may be built on suspended structure. Q-Bot can only insulate the areas with suspended floor.