December 17, 2024 • 29 mins
Unlock the secrets to preserving the heart of your community as we uncover the art of floor maintenance in village halls with renowned experts Tim Derbyshire from Total Floor Care and Graham Hickman from Junckers. You'll learn why choosing hardwoods like oak and beech over softwoods can make all the difference in durability and sustainability. We dissect the vital construction principles for creating robust new floors, whether on concrete or joists, and share essential techniques to assess the refurbishing potential of existing surfaces—all crucial insights for those responsible for maintaining these important spaces.
Moving beyond the basics, this episode shines a light on the importance of specialist advice for maintaining and insuring the thousands of sprung wooden floors across the country. By consulting trusted professionals like Junckers-approved contractors, listeners will discover how these partnerships can prevent premature replacements and save valuable resources. With real-life examples, we illustrate the impact of informed decision-making and the role it plays in preserving both the structural integrity and budget of village halls.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Marc Smith (00:01):
Hello, my name is Marc Smith and welcome to the
Village Halls podcast sponsoredby Allied Westminster, the UK's
largest specialist provider ofvillage hall insurance and the
home of Village Guard.
Welcome to another episode ofthe Village Halls podcast.
Today we're going to bediscussing floors.
The more research I've done onthis, the more interesting it
(00:23):
becomes.
Village Hall floors have a hardlife.
If you were to treat the floorin your house the same as you
did the village hall, you'dreplace it every year.
So how does a floor stand up toparent and toddler groups,
dances, markets or fairs, sportsperformances or any other
events?
To help us answer these age-oldlife questions are Tim
(00:44):
Darbyshire from Total Floor Care, graham Hickman from Junckers
and our regular guest GavinMitchell, the MD of Allied
Westminster.
Thank you all for joining us.
Thank you.
So now to start with.
The reason we're doing thispodcast was because there was an
instance where a village hallwas quoted for a brand new floor
(01:05):
where instead, all they neededwas a refurbishment, which we'll
chat about later on, but first,briefly, I'd like to cover
brand new floors.
So graham and tim J buildfloors for all types of
buildings, so domestic andpublic.
If you were to start, sorry,but this is a pun.
If you were to start from theground up, what is the best type
(01:25):
of flooring to put down?
Because on the forums I've beenreading, some suggestions of
carpet were mentioned, but Icannot think of anything worse
in a public space.
So what would you do in theworld of village halls and the
type of traffic they get?
Graham Hickman (01:40):
So I'm a wood floor manufacturer on the wood
care side, but I would alwaysput down a wooden floor
realistically, for thedurability, for the longevity,
for the sustainability.
It's a floor that gives you theability to refurbishment, or to
(02:01):
refurbish rather numerous times.
It won't stain.
Um, yeah, I mean it's it.
To me it's the hands-downwinner.
Marc Smith (02:10):
Is it a specific type of wood that we'd use, like
I think you can't use?
Uh well, I suppose maybe youwould.
I might be wrong.
It's like softwoods orhardwoods.
Is there anything in particularyou would recommend?
For I suppose up here we alwayshave caleys and there's always
a lot of dancing and you knowthey could be high heels, so all
this could be damaging thefloor.
(02:31):
So what type of wood is reallythe recommended for the village
hall?
I would.
Tim Derbyshire (02:36):
I'd say probably .
I mean historically.
What has been used has beenpine for many, many years ago.
Most people will tend to godown the beach or the oak route
because it's so much harderwearing.
Marc Smith (02:52):
Simple as that yes, I, I was going to.
Actually I I assumed it was ahard way, but I didn't realize
you could use pine as well.
I take it it's it's all alldown to cost, is that?
Tim Derbyshire (03:01):
I suppose that would be the overall reasoning
behind using a certain type ofwood and aesthetics well that's
yes, that's true, yeah, yeah, Ithink I think maybe it's been
understood that pine washistorically being used for many
years.
It's now been changed to besomething that's a little bit
better than basically going tobe oak and uh and beach, little
(03:26):
bit better than basically goingto be oak and uh, and beach,
which is, which is the harderprofile.
Ah, right, right.
The problem is that pine's verysoft and will.
If you've got steady hills onthere, you'll, you'll, you'll
get a mark in there.
And it's the same with uh, evenuh chairs.
You know, when people uh drivechairs and there's basically no
(03:47):
fell feet underneath the chairs,that will cause a big
impression on it excellent.
Marc Smith (03:53):
So, tim, you actually um build the floors up.
So what's the pros if you were,if you were starting from
scratch, what is the way, like?
What's kind of sub floor to putdown?
What is the the process of,actually before you even put the
floor on top?
If there's someone building avillage hall from scratch,
what's the to make the perfectfloor?
What would you be doing?
Tim Derbyshire (04:14):
Well, you either go for basically a concrete or
laid onto joists.
So if it was a concrete floor,obviously you need to make sure
that it's dry.
If it's not dry, you probablysee an underlayment there and
then build it up from there foronwards, so you can put,
obviously, a foam connectiondown there and then you can lay
(04:39):
the boards on top of that.
Marc Smith (04:41):
Or if it's onto joists, you can lay direct on
there so I suppose obviouslymost village halls that we're
listing will have a flooralready, so we'll have to cover
that.
So if a customer was to callyou up about the state of their
floor, what's, how would youassess?
Have you turned up on site?
What's?
How would you assess the floor?
Tim Derbyshire (05:02):
well, I think, basically, when you actually go
to site, you you're literallyjust going around the perimeter
of the rooms to see if there'sany movement there.
If there's any, um, a lot ofreplacement of boards, that's a
bit of a?
Uh, almost like a warningfigure.
Um, you're then looking atbasically measuring the
(05:24):
thickness of the boards betweenthe the joists.
Um, you know, if he's onlytalking about two mil thick, um,
you know it's on its last legs.
If you've, if you've got aboard that's probably about sort
of six to eight mil, it'sperfectly good to sand if you
were to put a brand new floordown?
Marc Smith (05:45):
what is the the thickness of a board if you're
starting like that?
Tim Derbyshire (05:50):
it's about 22 mil?
Marc Smith (05:51):
oh really, is it that thick?
All right, right, yeah, well,so, yeah, right, okay then.
So how?
So I take it most floors can besaved if you're putting down 22
mil boards, I take it mostfloors can be saved and made you
again, time and time againexactly.
Tim Derbyshire (06:06):
Yeah, I mean I think you can, probably.
You can get away with probablyabout eight, eight sands,
depending upon you know thecontractor that's being used.
Um and it's all.
It's all depending upon howwell the floor has been looked
after yeah, yeah so so much isdown to the maintenance of that
floor.
Graham Hickman (06:27):
Both myself and tim will have seen lots and lots
of floors where, in fairness,the village hall thought the
floor was ruined such was thecondition of the floor.
But but a sand and seal willbring that floor back to life.
That surface will retain thatprotection it had originally and
it will be a wonderful lookingfloor again.
Marc Smith (06:45):
All right.
So I suppose, if the villagehall does everything yourself
and Tim recommends, so how long?
This is obviously an openquestion.
But how long should a flooractually last if it's an average
size and average use villagehall if they do everything that
is recommended?
Graham Hickman (07:05):
If you do everything that's recommended.
We would love to see a scruband seal done every sort of two
years to really keep up thatprotection.
But life expectancy you'reprobably looking at quite
comfortably if you keep up withthat sort of 60 years.
It really will quite oftenoutlast the building, but you
(07:27):
need to look after that floor toattain that sort of level.
You can't.
And again, we've been to manyfloor inspections where where
nobody will do anything for thefloor for 20 years and then
wonder why it doesn't look asgood and and and tim may be
struggling to bring it back tothe sort of life it should have.
Marc Smith (07:44):
Yeah, so J also helps to maintain floors.
So do the Yunkers manufacturetheir own products?
Is that correct?
Graham Hickman (07:53):
No, absolutely so.
J started off in the 1930smanufacturing wooden floors and
we branched out in the 1950s andstarted developing our wood
care side with that in the 1950sand started developing our wood
care side with that.
So yes, we manufacture thewooden floors but we also
manufacture the lacquer, oilsand cleaners to make sure that
floor stays as good as it can dofor as long as it can do.
Marc Smith (08:15):
Right.
So, Gavin, you had a case wherethere was fire damage in a
village hall and the lossadjuster recommended a brand new
floor for £70,000.
When an expert came in thefloor was refurbished at the
cost of £6,000.
Obviously that's incredible foran insurance company, but my
(08:36):
question would be why is theresuch a huge discrepancy?
Surely anyone in that businesswould be able to assess and come
to the same conclusion.
Gavin Mitchell (08:44):
Well, fortunately we nipped that one
in the bud.
I think the problem is that youknow you have a generalist
approach to many things Now,particularly sprung wooden
floors.
You know the common features invillage halls, schools, church
halls and similar communityspaces and these floors are both
beautiful and functional butthey require specialist care.
As we're hearing, andunfortunately we often in the
(09:05):
insurance market see a kind of ageneralist approach to repair
or restoration after an incident, whether it's flooding or fire.
And yes, that was one example Iknow we've spoken about before,
mark, where the loss adjusterwas sent in by the insurance
company and they recommended acompletely new floor, a complete
(09:26):
replacement, which, as theother guests were rightly saying
, is not unusual in terms of anapproach to solving the problem.
But the estimated cost was70,000.
Now we deal with village hallsthe length and breadth of the
country and we kind of looked atthat and thought, no, that
cannot be right.
Have they had a specialist inthere?
So we intervened and aspecialist went in and, yeah,
(09:48):
the actual cost was, was, was,about, was, about 10% of the of
the full replacement cost.
And yeah, if I may for a second, this story comes with a
crucial lesson aboutunder-insurance because this
particular village hall wasunder-insured by 30%, which
basically meant that you know ifyou're under-insured it's a
(10:11):
pretty common it should beinsured for £100,000,
potentially you could have aninsurance claim halved.
The insurance company mayreserve that right.
So this village hall wasunderinsured.
(10:31):
Which basically meant, as faras this floor replacement is
concerned, there would have beenabout a £21,000 shortfall.
But fortunately I'm not surewhat the opposite of a sting in
the tail is, but fortunately itwasn't a replacement, it was a
refurbishment which was done forabout £6,000.
So there was a very smallshortfall and they managed to
(10:52):
make up that shortfall withtheir own funds, but I think the
lesson there's two key lessonshere.
The first thing is specialistproblems require specialist
solutions, especially withflooring.
Now you know there's there'stwo key lessons here.
The first thing is specialistproblems require specialist
solutions, especially withflooring.
Now, you know there's over10,000 village halls across the
country and a very large numberof these we know because we
insure them have sprung woodenfloors and it's crucial to look
(11:17):
after these floors.
It's absolutely crucial, notjust for sustainability, but for
also health and safety reasons.
It's important to look afterthese halls, these floors.
It's absolutely crucial, notjust for sustainability, but for
also health and safety reasons.
It's important to look afterthese halls, these floors.
And the second thing is, ofcourse, ensure that your village
hall, generally the insurancecover is accurate, because
that's what you're paying for.
You know value for money isabout getting a claim aid fully
(11:38):
to your satisfaction.
Marc Smith (11:41):
Excellent.
So I assume forgive myignorance.
In the insurance world, a lotof just do they have.
Are they specialists at all?
Or do they just turn up like meand I'm like, oh yeah, you need
this, or do they?
Actually know what they'retalking about.
Gavin Mitchell (11:55):
I'll have to be careful I'll end up with hate
mail.
It's like the medical worldwhere you have a consultant
physician or a specialist ratherthan a general practitioner.
You know a lot of lossadjusters will go, especially to
village halls, and I think youknow they'll go and think, ok,
we'll go and have a look at thefloor and so on and so forth.
We happen to be very, very muchin this niche.
(12:16):
So quite often in ourexperience loss adjusters who
have gone out, either beingcalled by the underwriters we've
used in the past or with otherinsurance companies, they'll go
out and take a generalistapproach to what I say is a
specialist matter, as indeedGraham and Tim are talking about
.
It is a very specialistbusiness and it's very easy to
(12:39):
say well, you know it's uh, itneeds replaced and it may well
look as if it needs replaced andeveryone will believe it's been
.
It needs replaced, includinglocal specialists in the village
or ex-ex-carpenters and so onand so forth.
You know they'll tend to think,yes, it needs replaced.
But you know, if you bring insomebody who totally understands
(12:59):
, especially sprung woodenfloors, there's a very good
chance they can be brought backto life when everyone else
assumes that they're past it.
Yeah, absolutely.
Tim Derbyshire (13:09):
I couldn't agree more.
We had one locally to us.
Everyone thought let's have anew floor, a new floor.
And two manufacturers went inthere saying, yes, you can, can
you know?
New floor, etc.
I went in there armed withsamples for a new floor and I
(13:29):
said why, why do you want tohave this done?
I want a new floor.
I said you don't need to have anew floor and they'll look to
me really odd.
And I actually showed them ontheir hands and knees to
actually measure between thetongue and the top of the wood.
You probably got six hands leftin there and I said that will
(13:53):
last you a lifetime.
So, and I also think it's justit's people's lack of knowledge
and there's a degree of trust inthere as well, and I think that
it has to have that big effect,trust wise.
Gavin Mitchell (14:07):
So sorry I was going to say.
Tim, as you well know, you dealwith a lot of village hosts.
Every penny counts for avillage host.
They literally live on a very,very, very, very tight budget
with considerable help fromlocal volunteers and so on and
so forth.
And replacing a floor is anincredibly expensive business.
Graham Hickman (14:29):
Oh for sure.
Gavin Mitchell (14:30):
So never take it at face value If somebody says
you need a new floor, and wedon't take it at face value.
If a loss adjuster tells us anew floor is required, we will
bring in a specialist.
Tim Derbyshire (14:41):
Yeah, absolutely , and you know the amount of
quotes that we've done.
You know, two years later youthen get yep, let's go for it,
because they've had sufficienttime to save that money up.
So yeah, 100%, you're right.
Marc Smith (14:57):
So in the future, I suppose, if there is an
insurance claim on a floor, sothis could be for Tim Graham or
Gavin.
So what questions shouldcommittee members be asking to
get a clearer picture of thework and its necessity?
Gavin Mitchell (15:11):
Well, I think they should in fact be looking
for somebody who totallyunderstands the floor and I know
this sounds like an infomercial, this whole podcast but I mean,
we have considerable experienceworking with total floor care
and we we know that theyunderstand the market.
Of course, they are not theonly flooring company, but the
point is you need to reallybring in somebody who
(15:33):
understands what the problem is.
Do not assume you know what theproblem is with the floor.
If it's been damaged or needsreplaced or been flooded or fire
damage or worn or whatever, getsomebody to look at it.
It's a bit like a car tire.
Remember they used to retreadcar tires.
Marc Smith (15:51):
Not sure they do that anymore, did they?
Graham Hickman (15:54):
Did they do that Really?
Yeah, they did.
Gavin Mitchell (15:56):
I think you can safely do it with wooden floors
in the village hall.
I'm not sure it's my car yeahfrom a manufacturer's point of
view.
Graham Hickman (16:08):
Yonkers have a number of approved yonkers
contractors.
We review the floors.
We review the work that theyrecommend.
Obviously, with all of thistype of scenarios, we would
recommend three people toinspect it, but we will come up
with the Yonkers names approvedcontractors which Tim at Total
Floor Clear is absolutely one,to make sure you're getting an
(16:29):
expert to look at your floor andnot someone who just believes
they're an expert.
Marc Smith (16:33):
I suppose that's a good introduction actually to
Yonkers themselves.
If you've never heard I'venever heard them before this
podcast and I'd imagine a lot ofVillage Hall committees
wouldn't have.
So yeah, they're a humongouscompany, aren't they really?
And really well established fornearly 100 years, Is that right
?
Graham Hickman (16:50):
Absolutely.
We are just over 100 years overin Denmark as well.
We're a very strong companywith a lot of great values, and
we really do push on the factthat it's wood and it's
sustainable, and we are here tohelp you guys.
We want the right floor beingpurchased.
We want the right maintenancebehind that floor to ensure you
(17:14):
get longevity of the floor.
So it does outlast us all andit's something that we don't
take lightly.
We do go out and we inspect alot of floors ourselves for you
guys and and that's the wholepoint of us we want you having
the best looking floor you canfor as long a period as you can,
and I think that's that's veryimportant for village hall
(17:35):
committees and trustees, andthere's five things they need to
do when they've got a woodenfloor.
Gavin Mitchell (17:39):
The first thing is is create a maintenance
schedule, you know, document thecleaning, the inspections, the
repairs.
Be proactive in terms of riskmanagement.
The second thing is engageprofessionals.
Understand the flooring interms of installation, repairs
and specialist maintenance.
Records is crucial.
That's the third thing.
Maintain very, very carefulrecords of everything, purely
(18:02):
from a risk assessment and duediligence standpoint.
Finally, consult your insurer,whether it's with Allied
Westminster or whoever you'reactually insuring through.
Consult your insurer becauselet them know you're proactive
about your wooden flooring.
Make sure that they understandthat you take this very, very
seriously and conduct regularrisk assessments, not just,
(18:26):
obviously, on the flooring butall aspects of the village hall.
But the flooring is a veryimportant aspect because purely
maintained halls can result ininjuries and if a claim is made,
then you want to make sure thatyou can prove to the insurance
company that you've you'veapplied due diligence in terms
of looking after the flooring isthat, if you've experienced a
(18:46):
slip or fall, those type ofadverts, is that what they?
yeah, well, that's it I meanit's, it's slips, trips, fall
hazards, all that sort of goodstuff.
I mean this is all juststraightforward workplace, uh,
health and safety, um that,village, village halls are
subjected to the same aseveryone else.
But I think it's common senseis the key keywords involved
here.
And you know, I think, as Timand Graham were actually saying
(19:13):
and we visit a lot of villagehalls have a look at the floor.
Have a look at the floor andsee if it really just needs a
bit of TLC, because that cansignificantly lengthen the
lifespan of the floor, apartfrom improving health and safety
.
Marc Smith (19:28):
Absolutely yeah, and it need not cost a fortune.
Gavin Mitchell (19:31):
We've seen that it doesn't involve spending
necessarily a lot of money.
Tim Derbyshire (19:34):
We had one example the other day and we
actually sanded and sealed thefloor.
It was actually pine and wehave a habit of basically going
back every two years just tohave a look and see.
And they thought that we wouldsay look, you know, do it again.
I said actually no, because itdoesn't need to be done.
(19:55):
Just having that degree ofconfidence to say you know it's
the right thing.
Just spend the money somewhereelse, which is unusual.
Most people say take the moneyand run, but it was a case of
saying no, that's fine, leave itfor another year and we'll come
back and treat the floor thefollowing year.
(20:17):
And it's just having thatdegree of confidence that you
can, you know, utilize the rightproducts and the right thing
well care over replacement timyeah, big time, always, always
yeah yeah.
Marc Smith (20:32):
So yeah, I suppose the maintenance is a as a key
factor there.
So, graham, what do yourecommend?
So say, someone just had theirfloor all done, all sanded, and
it's back to brand new.
What is the proper way tomaintain your floor if you're,
if you're saying, once it's down, if you can make it last 60
years, how do you make it last60 years throughout that time?
Graham Hickman (20:53):
so.
So, as with all wood products,water can be a bit of a problem
with a wood floor.
So it's important to make surethat adequate matting is in
place to protect the floor fromas much water as possible and
then grit as well, so thatmatting acts as a dual purpose
to take the water away and totake the grit away.
(21:15):
But on top of that, floors needto be swept regularly to remove
that grit.
We've, um, we've all seen andheard that grinding noise as
someone drags a wheel of a tableacross some wood and you can
practically hear it chippingaway at that lacquer.
Lacquers nowadays are veryflexible but, um, they can still
(21:36):
be damaged if too much weightis dragged across the floor.
So, generally, sweeping isfantastic Water, I've just said,
to protect the floor againstwater but it also needs to be
used in a small amount with ourcleaning products that need to
be used on the floor on aregular occurrence, and it
really does depend on how busyyour floor is.
(21:59):
If your floor is not heavilyused, then using our our
cleaning products fairlyinfrequently is adequate, and we
do.
A product floor cleaner that youmix with water can be used with
a mop and a light amount ofwater or indeed with a, with a,
with a cleaning machine.
We would then probablyrecommend every six months to a
(22:24):
year that you use theneutraliser just to get rid of
everything if the floor's a bittoo sticky, if it's got a
build-up of dirt on the floorI'm going to say skin and oils
from people, because this iswhat you get on quite a lot of
the floors and that neutralisercleans that back and removes it.
So that's really good as aproduct and, as I said, we'd
(22:44):
probably say every two years,two and a bit years, to have it
inspected and a scrub and sealwill be done.
But one of the biggestprotections is you mentioned
before about damage that can bestopped from happening.
We've got lots of chairs andtables out there without feet on
and they get dragged overfloors and they cause the
(23:05):
premature ageing of floor or thedamage of the lacquer.
So it's really important tokeep on top of that.
Marc Smith (23:12):
So that would be a worthwhile purchase for
something to protect the bottom.
Well, to protect the floor fromtables and chairs, I suppose
just like a basic spend on.
I take the little round, youknow the little felt things.
You as something to protect thebottom was.
Protect the floor from tablesand chairs, I suppose just like
a basic spend on.
Yeah, I take the little round.
Graham Hickman (23:22):
You know the felt things you can stick to
absolutely yeah absolutely um,and in village halls I see a lot
of goal posts where peoplemight only protect one side but
not the rear metal work of thegoal post it.
It's just simple things thataren't being protected that will
cause the damage.
Yeah.
Marc Smith (23:43):
Right right.
Tim Derbyshire (23:45):
It's not a lot of money.
It's 13p a single foot.
Marc Smith (23:51):
Really Alright.
Tim Derbyshire (23:52):
Nothing at all.
Marc Smith (23:56):
Yeah, I thought everything was above a pound.
These days, that's pretty gooddays, that's pretty good.
Tim Derbyshire (24:02):
That's pretty good.
Marc Smith (24:04):
Any hints or tips to make me better at badminton?
To stop slipping on the floor.
Graham Hickman (24:09):
Well, I'd make sure the floor Is properly clean
always, because otherwise youwill be slipping on the floor
and don't wear Nailed boots.
Gavin Mitchell (24:16):
Excellent.
Well, I suppose we're coming tothe end of our podcast.
Marc Smith (24:18):
Don't wear hobnailed boots.
Oh yeah, excellent, excellent,right.
Well, I suppose we're coming tothe end of our podcast now.
So I've got one more question,and this is for.
I suppose you can all answer,or just, or anyone who wishes to
.
So obviously, budgets arealways at the front of the minds
of committee members, so arethere any hints or tips that
you've learned over the years toensure that there isn't any
unnecessary spend on the floor?
I suppose learned over theyears to ensure that there isn't
(24:45):
any unnecessary spend on thefloor, I suppose like the little
tip there about putting thingson the bottom of chairs and
tables.
Is there anything else you canthink of that whole whole?
Users and committees can do to.
Can they help?
Gavin Mitchell (24:50):
just help their floor along.
Well, I would say, from aninsurance standpoint, prevention
is always better than cure.
So think it through, look atthe floor, use common sense and
listen to a lot of things thathave been discussed here today,
but just think about the thingsthat will obviously damage your
floor or cause issues in termsof the longevity of your floor's
(25:10):
life.
Graham Hickman (25:12):
Yeah, perfect, yeah, perfect, and use, use your
expertise.
That's around.
As we've discussed, we can calluh tim or myself in to come and
inspect your floor.
Um, we won't.
We might tell you off a littlebit if you're not maintaining
that floor correctly, but we'llmore tell you how to do it.
We want your floor to last aslong as it can and look as great
(25:34):
as it can, because a tired andtatty looking floor is often not
respected by those who use it,which means it will just get
worse quicker.
So let us come and tell youwhat you're doing wrong and
let's make sure we do it rightyeah, excellent, excellent, can
I?
Gavin Mitchell (25:47):
ask can I ask um tim and gary my question here
we, we, uh, we sort theinsurance out for village halls
from literally the length andbreadth of the country, from
Shetland right down to the verysouth.
I mean, obviously, if somebodysays, can you come and have a
look at my village hall inShetland, you may not be that
inclined to jump on a plane soquickly.
(26:10):
Is there anything you can do oradvise village halls in very,
very rural locations, maybegiving you a video or sending
some information to you andmaybe you recommending somebody
else?
If you can do it?
Tim Derbyshire (26:24):
Yeah, very much so because basically we've got
probably 10 contractors in thewhole of the UK.
If you want sort of the A'swith me, we can just basically,
yeah, have a look at it, andthen you should be able to get a
(26:44):
good idea of where they'recoming from and what the floor
is like.
It might be a case of actuallygoing down the cleaner
maintenance route go down thatroom, which is the cheapest way
of doing it.
If the floor is looking a bitworse for wear, we can basically
send someone in, for instanceone guy I've been in Farrelkirk.
He will do that for me.
Graham Hickman (27:07):
So easy done.
So yes, absolutely, we'renationwide and we have a list of
Yonkers approved contractors.
That would go through Tim, andit's very good.
We can look at videos andpictures and try and assess.
If that assessment is that itneeds further studying, then
we'll do further studying.
But we live in the UnitedKingdom so we have to go
(27:31):
everywhere we have to go to makesure that the wooden floors
will work well, yes, okay, good,thank you, excellent.
Marc Smith (27:35):
Well, that's a fantastic podcast.
Thank you, uh, gavin, grahamand tim, for your time.
Today is really appreciated,and I'm sure the listeners will
appreciate as well, becausethat's a lot, of a lot of
information.
I'm sure people will belistening to this twice.
Do you really absorb it all?
So hopefully, by the time thispodcast has gone out, we'll have
a shiny new website up andrunning.
(27:55):
So please do subscribe and hitthe bell icon so you can be
notified when a podcast comesout, and please feel free to
share and comment via the newwebsite.
So thank you everyone once againfor listening and we'll chat
again soon.
Thank you, gavin, tim andGraham Pleasure.
Thank you, thank you, bye.
Many thanks to our headlinesponsor and specialist village
(28:16):
hall insurance provider, alliedWestminster, the home of Village
Guard, for making this podcastpossible, and to online booking
system provider, hallmaster, whoalso sponsor our podcast and
can be found at hallmastercouk.
You've been listening to theVillage Halls podcast, a unique
listening community forBritain's village community and
(28:37):
church halls and anyoneinterested in the vital
community services they provide.
We'll be back again soon withanother episode.
For more information, pleasevisit thevillagehallspodcastcom,
where you'll also find links toour social media pages.
Thanks again for listening inand until the next time.
Goodbye for now.
Hello, my name is Marc Smith and welcome to the
Village Halls podcast sponsoredby Allied Westminster, the UK's
largest specialist provider ofvillage hall insurance and the
home of Village Guard.
Welcome to another episode ofthe Village Halls podcast.
Today we're going to bediscussing floors.
The more research I've done onthis, the more interesting it
(00:23):
becomes.
Village Hall floors have a hardlife.
If you were to treat the floorin your house the same as you
did the village hall, you'dreplace it every year.
So how does a floor stand up toparent and toddler groups,
dances, markets or fairs, sportsperformances or any other
events?
To help us answer these age-oldlife questions are Tim
(00:44):
Darbyshire from Total Floor Care, graham Hickman from Junckers
and our regular guest GavinMitchell, the MD of Allied
Westminster.
Thank you all for joining us.
Thank you.
So now to start with.
The reason we're doing thispodcast was because there was an
instance where a village hallwas quoted for a brand new floor
(01:05):
where instead, all they neededwas a refurbishment, which we'll
chat about later on, but first,briefly, I'd like to cover
brand new floors.
So graham and tim J buildfloors for all types of
buildings, so domestic andpublic.
If you were to start, sorry,but this is a pun.
If you were to start from theground up, what is the best type
(01:25):
of flooring to put down?
Because on the forums I've beenreading, some suggestions of
carpet were mentioned, but Icannot think of anything worse
in a public space.
So what would you do in theworld of village halls and the
type of traffic they get?
Graham Hickman (01:40):
So I'm a wood floor manufacturer on the wood
care side, but I would alwaysput down a wooden floor
realistically, for thedurability, for the longevity,
for the sustainability.
It's a floor that gives you theability to refurbishment, or to
(02:01):
refurbish rather numerous times.
It won't stain.
Um, yeah, I mean it's it.
To me it's the hands-downwinner.
Marc Smith (02:10):
Is it a specific type of wood that we'd use, like
I think you can't use?
Uh well, I suppose maybe youwould.
I might be wrong.
It's like softwoods orhardwoods.
Is there anything in particularyou would recommend?
For I suppose up here we alwayshave caleys and there's always
a lot of dancing and you knowthey could be high heels, so all
this could be damaging thefloor.
(02:31):
So what type of wood is reallythe recommended for the village
hall?
I would.
Tim Derbyshire (02:36):
I'd say probably .
I mean historically.
What has been used has beenpine for many, many years ago.
Most people will tend to godown the beach or the oak route
because it's so much harderwearing.
Marc Smith (02:52):
Simple as that yes, I, I was going to.
Actually I I assumed it was ahard way, but I didn't realize
you could use pine as well.
I take it it's it's all alldown to cost, is that?
Tim Derbyshire (03:01):
I suppose that would be the overall reasoning
behind using a certain type ofwood and aesthetics well that's
yes, that's true, yeah, yeah, Ithink I think maybe it's been
understood that pine washistorically being used for many
years.
It's now been changed to besomething that's a little bit
better than basically going tobe oak and uh and beach, little
(03:26):
bit better than basically goingto be oak and uh, and beach,
which is, which is the harderprofile.
Ah, right, right.
The problem is that pine's verysoft and will.
If you've got steady hills onthere, you'll, you'll, you'll
get a mark in there.
And it's the same with uh, evenuh chairs.
You know, when people uh drivechairs and there's basically no
(03:47):
fell feet underneath the chairs,that will cause a big
impression on it excellent.
Marc Smith (03:53):
So, tim, you actually um build the floors up.
So what's the pros if you were,if you were starting from
scratch, what is the way, like?
What's kind of sub floor to putdown?
What is the the process of,actually before you even put the
floor on top?
If there's someone building avillage hall from scratch,
what's the to make the perfectfloor?
What would you be doing?
Tim Derbyshire (04:14):
Well, you either go for basically a concrete or
laid onto joists.
So if it was a concrete floor,obviously you need to make sure
that it's dry.
If it's not dry, you probablysee an underlayment there and
then build it up from there foronwards, so you can put,
obviously, a foam connectiondown there and then you can lay
(04:39):
the boards on top of that.
Marc Smith (04:41):
Or if it's onto joists, you can lay direct on
there so I suppose obviouslymost village halls that we're
listing will have a flooralready, so we'll have to cover
that.
So if a customer was to callyou up about the state of their
floor, what's, how would youassess?
Have you turned up on site?
What's?
How would you assess the floor?
Tim Derbyshire (05:02):
well, I think, basically, when you actually go
to site, you you're literallyjust going around the perimeter
of the rooms to see if there'sany movement there.
If there's any, um, a lot ofreplacement of boards, that's a
bit of a?
Uh, almost like a warningfigure.
Um, you're then looking atbasically measuring the
(05:24):
thickness of the boards betweenthe the joists.
Um, you know, if he's onlytalking about two mil thick, um,
you know it's on its last legs.
If you've, if you've got aboard that's probably about sort
of six to eight mil, it'sperfectly good to sand if you
were to put a brand new floordown?
Marc Smith (05:45):
what is the the thickness of a board if you're
starting like that?
Tim Derbyshire (05:50):
it's about 22 mil?
Marc Smith (05:51):
oh really, is it that thick?
All right, right, yeah, well,so, yeah, right, okay then.
So how?
So I take it most floors can besaved if you're putting down 22
mil boards, I take it mostfloors can be saved and made you
again, time and time againexactly.
Tim Derbyshire (06:06):
Yeah, I mean I think you can, probably.
You can get away with probablyabout eight, eight sands,
depending upon you know thecontractor that's being used.
Um and it's all.
It's all depending upon howwell the floor has been looked
after yeah, yeah so so much isdown to the maintenance of that
floor.
Graham Hickman (06:27):
Both myself and tim will have seen lots and lots
of floors where, in fairness,the village hall thought the
floor was ruined such was thecondition of the floor.
But but a sand and seal willbring that floor back to life.
That surface will retain thatprotection it had originally and
it will be a wonderful lookingfloor again.
Marc Smith (06:45):
All right.
So I suppose, if the villagehall does everything yourself
and Tim recommends, so how long?
This is obviously an openquestion.
But how long should a flooractually last if it's an average
size and average use villagehall if they do everything that
is recommended?
Graham Hickman (07:05):
If you do everything that's recommended.
We would love to see a scruband seal done every sort of two
years to really keep up thatprotection.
But life expectancy you'reprobably looking at quite
comfortably if you keep up withthat sort of 60 years.
It really will quite oftenoutlast the building, but you
(07:27):
need to look after that floor toattain that sort of level.
You can't.
And again, we've been to manyfloor inspections where where
nobody will do anything for thefloor for 20 years and then
wonder why it doesn't look asgood and and and tim may be
struggling to bring it back tothe sort of life it should have.
Marc Smith (07:44):
Yeah, so J also helps to maintain floors.
So do the Yunkers manufacturetheir own products?
Is that correct?
Graham Hickman (07:53):
No, absolutely so.
J started off in the 1930smanufacturing wooden floors and
we branched out in the 1950s andstarted developing our wood
care side with that in the 1950sand started developing our wood
care side with that.
So yes, we manufacture thewooden floors but we also
manufacture the lacquer, oilsand cleaners to make sure that
floor stays as good as it can dofor as long as it can do.
Marc Smith (08:15):
Right.
So, Gavin, you had a case wherethere was fire damage in a
village hall and the lossadjuster recommended a brand new
floor for £70,000.
When an expert came in thefloor was refurbished at the
cost of £6,000.
Obviously that's incredible foran insurance company, but my
(08:36):
question would be why is theresuch a huge discrepancy?
Surely anyone in that businesswould be able to assess and come
to the same conclusion.
Gavin Mitchell (08:44):
Well, fortunately we nipped that one
in the bud.
I think the problem is that youknow you have a generalist
approach to many things Now,particularly sprung wooden
floors.
You know the common features invillage halls, schools, church
halls and similar communityspaces and these floors are both
beautiful and functional butthey require specialist care.
As we're hearing, andunfortunately we often in the
(09:05):
insurance market see a kind of ageneralist approach to repair
or restoration after an incident, whether it's flooding or fire.
And yes, that was one example Iknow we've spoken about before,
mark, where the loss adjusterwas sent in by the insurance
company and they recommended acompletely new floor, a complete
(09:26):
replacement, which, as theother guests were rightly saying
, is not unusual in terms of anapproach to solving the problem.
But the estimated cost was70,000.
Now we deal with village hallsthe length and breadth of the
country and we kind of looked atthat and thought, no, that
cannot be right.
Have they had a specialist inthere?
So we intervened and aspecialist went in and, yeah,
(09:48):
the actual cost was, was, was,about, was, about 10% of the of
the full replacement cost.
And yeah, if I may for a second, this story comes with a
crucial lesson aboutunder-insurance because this
particular village hall wasunder-insured by 30%, which
basically meant that you know ifyou're under-insured it's a
(10:11):
pretty common it should beinsured for £100,000,
potentially you could have aninsurance claim halved.
The insurance company mayreserve that right.
So this village hall wasunderinsured.
(10:31):
Which basically meant, as faras this floor replacement is
concerned, there would have beenabout a £21,000 shortfall.
But fortunately I'm not surewhat the opposite of a sting in
the tail is, but fortunately itwasn't a replacement, it was a
refurbishment which was done forabout £6,000.
So there was a very smallshortfall and they managed to
(10:52):
make up that shortfall withtheir own funds, but I think the
lesson there's two key lessonshere.
The first thing is specialistproblems require specialist
solutions, especially withflooring.
Now you know there's there'stwo key lessons here.
The first thing is specialistproblems require specialist
solutions, especially withflooring.
Now, you know there's over10,000 village halls across the
country and a very large numberof these we know because we
insure them have sprung woodenfloors and it's crucial to look
(11:17):
after these floors.
It's absolutely crucial, notjust for sustainability, but for
also health and safety reasons.
It's important to look afterthese halls, these floors.
It's absolutely crucial, notjust for sustainability, but for
also health and safety reasons.
It's important to look afterthese halls, these floors.
And the second thing is, ofcourse, ensure that your village
hall, generally the insurancecover is accurate, because
that's what you're paying for.
You know value for money isabout getting a claim aid fully
(11:38):
to your satisfaction.
Marc Smith (11:41):
Excellent.
So I assume forgive myignorance.
In the insurance world, a lotof just do they have.
Are they specialists at all?
Or do they just turn up like meand I'm like, oh yeah, you need
this, or do they?
Actually know what they'retalking about.
Gavin Mitchell (11:55):
I'll have to be careful I'll end up with hate
mail.
It's like the medical worldwhere you have a consultant
physician or a specialist ratherthan a general practitioner.
You know a lot of lossadjusters will go, especially to
village halls, and I think youknow they'll go and think, ok,
we'll go and have a look at thefloor and so on and so forth.
We happen to be very, very muchin this niche.
(12:16):
So quite often in ourexperience loss adjusters who
have gone out, either beingcalled by the underwriters we've
used in the past or with otherinsurance companies, they'll go
out and take a generalistapproach to what I say is a
specialist matter, as indeedGraham and Tim are talking about
.
It is a very specialistbusiness and it's very easy to
(12:39):
say well, you know it's uh, itneeds replaced and it may well
look as if it needs replaced andeveryone will believe it's been
.
It needs replaced, includinglocal specialists in the village
or ex-ex-carpenters and so onand so forth.
You know they'll tend to think,yes, it needs replaced.
But you know, if you bring insomebody who totally understands
(12:59):
, especially sprung woodenfloors, there's a very good
chance they can be brought backto life when everyone else
assumes that they're past it.
Yeah, absolutely.
Tim Derbyshire (13:09):
I couldn't agree more.
We had one locally to us.
Everyone thought let's have anew floor, a new floor.
And two manufacturers went inthere saying, yes, you can, can
you know?
New floor, etc.
I went in there armed withsamples for a new floor and I
(13:29):
said why, why do you want tohave this done?
I want a new floor.
I said you don't need to have anew floor and they'll look to
me really odd.
And I actually showed them ontheir hands and knees to
actually measure between thetongue and the top of the wood.
You probably got six hands leftin there and I said that will
(13:53):
last you a lifetime.
So, and I also think it's justit's people's lack of knowledge
and there's a degree of trust inthere as well, and I think that
it has to have that big effect,trust wise.
Gavin Mitchell (14:07):
So sorry I was going to say.
Tim, as you well know, you dealwith a lot of village hosts.
Every penny counts for avillage host.
They literally live on a very,very, very, very tight budget
with considerable help fromlocal volunteers and so on and
so forth.
And replacing a floor is anincredibly expensive business.
Graham Hickman (14:29):
Oh for sure.
Gavin Mitchell (14:30):
So never take it at face value If somebody says
you need a new floor, and wedon't take it at face value.
If a loss adjuster tells us anew floor is required, we will
bring in a specialist.
Tim Derbyshire (14:41):
Yeah, absolutely , and you know the amount of
quotes that we've done.
You know, two years later youthen get yep, let's go for it,
because they've had sufficienttime to save that money up.
So yeah, 100%, you're right.
Marc Smith (14:57):
So in the future, I suppose, if there is an
insurance claim on a floor, sothis could be for Tim Graham or
Gavin.
So what questions shouldcommittee members be asking to
get a clearer picture of thework and its necessity?
Gavin Mitchell (15:11):
Well, I think they should in fact be looking
for somebody who totallyunderstands the floor and I know
this sounds like an infomercial, this whole podcast but I mean,
we have considerable experienceworking with total floor care
and we we know that theyunderstand the market.
Of course, they are not theonly flooring company, but the
point is you need to reallybring in somebody who
(15:33):
understands what the problem is.
Do not assume you know what theproblem is with the floor.
If it's been damaged or needsreplaced or been flooded or fire
damage or worn or whatever, getsomebody to look at it.
It's a bit like a car tire.
Remember they used to retreadcar tires.
Marc Smith (15:51):
Not sure they do that anymore, did they?
Graham Hickman (15:54):
Did they do that Really?
Yeah, they did.
Gavin Mitchell (15:56):
I think you can safely do it with wooden floors
in the village hall.
I'm not sure it's my car yeahfrom a manufacturer's point of
view.
Graham Hickman (16:08):
Yonkers have a number of approved yonkers
contractors.
We review the floors.
We review the work that theyrecommend.
Obviously, with all of thistype of scenarios, we would
recommend three people toinspect it, but we will come up
with the Yonkers names approvedcontractors which Tim at Total
Floor Clear is absolutely one,to make sure you're getting an
(16:29):
expert to look at your floor andnot someone who just believes
they're an expert.
Marc Smith (16:33):
I suppose that's a good introduction actually to
Yonkers themselves.
If you've never heard I'venever heard them before this
podcast and I'd imagine a lot ofVillage Hall committees
wouldn't have.
So yeah, they're a humongouscompany, aren't they really?
And really well established fornearly 100 years, Is that right
?
Graham Hickman (16:50):
Absolutely.
We are just over 100 years overin Denmark as well.
We're a very strong companywith a lot of great values, and
we really do push on the factthat it's wood and it's
sustainable, and we are here tohelp you guys.
We want the right floor beingpurchased.
We want the right maintenancebehind that floor to ensure you
(17:14):
get longevity of the floor.
So it does outlast us all andit's something that we don't
take lightly.
We do go out and we inspect alot of floors ourselves for you
guys and and that's the wholepoint of us we want you having
the best looking floor you canfor as long a period as you can,
and I think that's that's veryimportant for village hall
(17:35):
committees and trustees, andthere's five things they need to
do when they've got a woodenfloor.
Gavin Mitchell (17:39):
The first thing is is create a maintenance
schedule, you know, document thecleaning, the inspections, the
repairs.
Be proactive in terms of riskmanagement.
The second thing is engageprofessionals.
Understand the flooring interms of installation, repairs
and specialist maintenance.
Records is crucial.
That's the third thing.
Maintain very, very carefulrecords of everything, purely
(18:02):
from a risk assessment and duediligence standpoint.
Finally, consult your insurer,whether it's with Allied
Westminster or whoever you'reactually insuring through.
Consult your insurer becauselet them know you're proactive
about your wooden flooring.
Make sure that they understandthat you take this very, very
seriously and conduct regularrisk assessments, not just,
(18:26):
obviously, on the flooring butall aspects of the village hall.
But the flooring is a veryimportant aspect because purely
maintained halls can result ininjuries and if a claim is made,
then you want to make sure thatyou can prove to the insurance
company that you've you'veapplied due diligence in terms
of looking after the flooring isthat, if you've experienced a
(18:46):
slip or fall, those type ofadverts, is that what they?
yeah, well, that's it I meanit's, it's slips, trips, fall
hazards, all that sort of goodstuff.
I mean this is all juststraightforward workplace, uh,
health and safety, um that,village, village halls are
subjected to the same aseveryone else.
But I think it's common senseis the key keywords involved
here.
And you know, I think, as Timand Graham were actually saying
(19:13):
and we visit a lot of villagehalls have a look at the floor.
Have a look at the floor andsee if it really just needs a
bit of TLC, because that cansignificantly lengthen the
lifespan of the floor, apartfrom improving health and safety
.
Marc Smith (19:28):
Absolutely yeah, and it need not cost a fortune.
Gavin Mitchell (19:31):
We've seen that it doesn't involve spending
necessarily a lot of money.
Tim Derbyshire (19:34):
We had one example the other day and we
actually sanded and sealed thefloor.
It was actually pine and wehave a habit of basically going
back every two years just tohave a look and see.
And they thought that we wouldsay look, you know, do it again.
I said actually no, because itdoesn't need to be done.
(19:55):
Just having that degree ofconfidence to say you know it's
the right thing.
Just spend the money somewhereelse, which is unusual.
Most people say take the moneyand run, but it was a case of
saying no, that's fine, leave itfor another year and we'll come
back and treat the floor thefollowing year.
(20:17):
And it's just having thatdegree of confidence that you
can, you know, utilize the rightproducts and the right thing
well care over replacement timyeah, big time, always, always
yeah yeah.
Marc Smith (20:32):
So yeah, I suppose the maintenance is a as a key
factor there.
So, graham, what do yourecommend?
So say, someone just had theirfloor all done, all sanded, and
it's back to brand new.
What is the proper way tomaintain your floor if you're,
if you're saying, once it's down, if you can make it last 60
years, how do you make it last60 years throughout that time?
Graham Hickman (20:53):
so.
So, as with all wood products,water can be a bit of a problem
with a wood floor.
So it's important to make surethat adequate matting is in
place to protect the floor fromas much water as possible and
then grit as well, so thatmatting acts as a dual purpose
to take the water away and totake the grit away.
(21:15):
But on top of that, floors needto be swept regularly to remove
that grit.
We've, um, we've all seen andheard that grinding noise as
someone drags a wheel of a tableacross some wood and you can
practically hear it chippingaway at that lacquer.
Lacquers nowadays are veryflexible but, um, they can still
(21:36):
be damaged if too much weightis dragged across the floor.
So, generally, sweeping isfantastic Water, I've just said,
to protect the floor againstwater but it also needs to be
used in a small amount with ourcleaning products that need to
be used on the floor on aregular occurrence, and it
really does depend on how busyyour floor is.
(21:59):
If your floor is not heavilyused, then using our our
cleaning products fairlyinfrequently is adequate, and we
do.
A product floor cleaner that youmix with water can be used with
a mop and a light amount ofwater or indeed with a, with a,
with a cleaning machine.
We would then probablyrecommend every six months to a
(22:24):
year that you use theneutraliser just to get rid of
everything if the floor's a bittoo sticky, if it's got a
build-up of dirt on the floorI'm going to say skin and oils
from people, because this iswhat you get on quite a lot of
the floors and that neutralisercleans that back and removes it.
So that's really good as aproduct and, as I said, we'd
(22:44):
probably say every two years,two and a bit years, to have it
inspected and a scrub and sealwill be done.
But one of the biggestprotections is you mentioned
before about damage that can bestopped from happening.
We've got lots of chairs andtables out there without feet on
and they get dragged overfloors and they cause the
(23:05):
premature ageing of floor or thedamage of the lacquer.
So it's really important tokeep on top of that.
Marc Smith (23:12):
So that would be a worthwhile purchase for
something to protect the bottom.
Well, to protect the floor fromtables and chairs, I suppose
just like a basic spend on.
I take the little round, youknow the little felt things.
You as something to protect thebottom was.
Protect the floor from tablesand chairs, I suppose just like
a basic spend on.
Yeah, I take the little round.
Graham Hickman (23:22):
You know the felt things you can stick to
absolutely yeah absolutely um,and in village halls I see a lot
of goal posts where peoplemight only protect one side but
not the rear metal work of thegoal post it.
It's just simple things thataren't being protected that will
cause the damage.
Yeah.
Marc Smith (23:43):
Right right.
Tim Derbyshire (23:45):
It's not a lot of money.
It's 13p a single foot.
Marc Smith (23:51):
Really Alright.
Tim Derbyshire (23:52):
Nothing at all.
Marc Smith (23:56):
Yeah, I thought everything was above a pound.
These days, that's pretty gooddays, that's pretty good.
Tim Derbyshire (24:02):
That's pretty good.
Marc Smith (24:04):
Any hints or tips to make me better at badminton?
To stop slipping on the floor.
Graham Hickman (24:09):
Well, I'd make sure the floor Is properly clean
always, because otherwise youwill be slipping on the floor
and don't wear Nailed boots.
Gavin Mitchell (24:16):
Excellent.
Well, I suppose we're coming tothe end of our podcast.
Marc Smith (24:18):
Don't wear hobnailed boots.
Oh yeah, excellent, excellent,right.
Well, I suppose we're coming tothe end of our podcast now.
So I've got one more question,and this is for.
I suppose you can all answer,or just, or anyone who wishes to
.
So obviously, budgets arealways at the front of the minds
of committee members, so arethere any hints or tips that
you've learned over the years toensure that there isn't any
unnecessary spend on the floor?
I suppose learned over theyears to ensure that there isn't
(24:45):
any unnecessary spend on thefloor, I suppose like the little
tip there about putting thingson the bottom of chairs and
tables.
Is there anything else you canthink of that whole whole?
Users and committees can do to.
Can they help?
Gavin Mitchell (24:50):
just help their floor along.
Well, I would say, from aninsurance standpoint, prevention
is always better than cure.
So think it through, look atthe floor, use common sense and
listen to a lot of things thathave been discussed here today,
but just think about the thingsthat will obviously damage your
floor or cause issues in termsof the longevity of your floor's
(25:10):
life.
Graham Hickman (25:12):
Yeah, perfect, yeah, perfect, and use, use your
expertise.
That's around.
As we've discussed, we can calluh tim or myself in to come and
inspect your floor.
Um, we won't.
We might tell you off a littlebit if you're not maintaining
that floor correctly, but we'llmore tell you how to do it.
We want your floor to last aslong as it can and look as great
(25:34):
as it can, because a tired andtatty looking floor is often not
respected by those who use it,which means it will just get
worse quicker.
So let us come and tell youwhat you're doing wrong and
let's make sure we do it rightyeah, excellent, excellent, can
I?
Gavin Mitchell (25:47):
ask can I ask um tim and gary my question here
we, we, uh, we sort theinsurance out for village halls
from literally the length andbreadth of the country, from
Shetland right down to the verysouth.
I mean, obviously, if somebodysays, can you come and have a
look at my village hall inShetland, you may not be that
inclined to jump on a plane soquickly.
(26:10):
Is there anything you can do oradvise village halls in very,
very rural locations, maybegiving you a video or sending
some information to you andmaybe you recommending somebody
else?
If you can do it?
Tim Derbyshire (26:24):
Yeah, very much so because basically we've got
probably 10 contractors in thewhole of the UK.
If you want sort of the A'swith me, we can just basically,
yeah, have a look at it, andthen you should be able to get a
(26:44):
good idea of where they'recoming from and what the floor
is like.
It might be a case of actuallygoing down the cleaner
maintenance route go down thatroom, which is the cheapest way
of doing it.
If the floor is looking a bitworse for wear, we can basically
send someone in, for instanceone guy I've been in Farrelkirk.
He will do that for me.
Graham Hickman (27:07):
So easy done.
So yes, absolutely, we'renationwide and we have a list of
Yonkers approved contractors.
That would go through Tim, andit's very good.
We can look at videos andpictures and try and assess.
If that assessment is that itneeds further studying, then
we'll do further studying.
But we live in the UnitedKingdom so we have to go
(27:31):
everywhere we have to go to makesure that the wooden floors
will work well, yes, okay, good,thank you, excellent.
Marc Smith (27:35):
Well, that's a fantastic podcast.
Thank you, uh, gavin, grahamand tim, for your time.
Today is really appreciated,and I'm sure the listeners will
appreciate as well, becausethat's a lot, of a lot of
information.
I'm sure people will belistening to this twice.
Do you really absorb it all?
So hopefully, by the time thispodcast has gone out, we'll have
a shiny new website up andrunning.
(27:55):
So please do subscribe and hitthe bell icon so you can be
notified when a podcast comesout, and please feel free to
share and comment via the newwebsite.
So thank you everyone once againfor listening and we'll chat
again soon.
Thank you, gavin, tim andGraham Pleasure.
Thank you, thank you, bye.
Many thanks to our headlinesponsor and specialist village
(28:16):
hall insurance provider, alliedWestminster, the home of Village
Guard, for making this podcastpossible, and to online booking
system provider, hallmaster, whoalso sponsor our podcast and
can be found at hallmastercouk.
You've been listening to theVillage Halls podcast, a unique
listening community forBritain's village community and
(28:37):
church halls and anyoneinterested in the vital
community services they provide.
We'll be back again soon withanother episode.
For more information, pleasevisit thevillagehallspodcastcom,
where you'll also find links toour social media pages.
Thanks again for listening inand until the next time.
Goodbye for now.
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