Condition ratings
The hall floor is springy and no board was lifted. What has the floor rating actually settled?
Only the spring underfoot has been settled. The hall floor felt springy and no board was lifted, so the rating speaks to that feel and to whatever edges were already exposed. It has not opened the joists, the sleeper walls or the ends built into the masonry. A number on a springy hall is not a certificate that the timber underneath is sound.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
Spring underfoot is what the surveyor felt walking the hall. It can be ordinary give in an old boarded floor, or it can be a joist, a sleeper wall, or a soft end that nobody exposed. Because no board was lifted, the rating cannot be a judgement of those concealed timbers. No survey level guarantees that concealed parts are sound. If the feel was enough to say a repair is needed but is not serious or urgent, that is rating 2, and it is a rating of the floor as it behaved. If they could not judge it at all, NI is more honest than rating 1. Rating 1 would mean no repair is currently needed, which sits badly beside a spring they have already flagged unless they explain the spring as harmless.
Fitted carpets, where they were present, are not lifted either, so a carpeted hall is an even thinner view than bare boards. The what to do now note advises you. It does not invoice the seller to open the floor, and it does not turn a spring into rating 3 unless the surveyor has called it serious or urgent. Rating 3 is the cue for written quotations before legal commitment. Until you own the house, do not lift boards yourself. If the decision depends on the joists, ask for access and a further look. Read the rating as the hall's behaviour, not as a clean bill for the void.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- What did the spring tell you, and what rating did that earn?
- Were any boards already exposed, or was the whole hall covered?
- Are the joists under this floor outside the rating?
What are the typical next steps?
- Read the floor rating as the feel underfoot, not the joists.
- Do not lift boards before you own the house.
- Ask for a further look only if the decision needs the void opened.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
If the spring is only at one doorway, does the whole hall share it?
Only if the report says so. A local bounce can be noted without regrading every board.
Does rating 2 here mean the joists have failed?
No. Rating 2 is a repair that is not serious or urgent. It does not prove what is under the boards.