Fixing Sagging, Bouncy, and Sloping Floors
Fixing Sagging, Bouncy, and Sloping Floors
Have you noticed that the floors in your home are starting to dip, slope, or are getting a little bouncy? The problem is likely in your crawl space. The entire substructure of your home is made of wood. Girders, joists, and the sill plate are all wood. The girders are supported by piers or columns, most often made of brick or cinderblock, but in some cases are made of wood.
Under your home is typically vented and unsealed from the earth. This exposes the wood substructure to moisture and humidity. Wood exposed to moisture and humidity can become moldy, weak, and even rot. This weakens the joists and the girders, resulting in sinking, sagging, spongy floors.
What causes it?
- Too much space between columns
- Weakened joists and girders
- Settling columns
Girders span underneath your home and are supported by columns (also known as piers). The spacing between these columns is crucial in supporting your home’s weight. If the space is too far apart, the girder will begin to sag underneath the weight of the structure.
The moisture and humidity under your home play an integral role in the health of your home. As the wood in your crawl space absorbs moisture, it will grow mold, soften, and begin to rot. The moisture in the wood is referred to as wood moisture content and should be below 19%, the point at which wood rot begins. This compromises the integrity of your girders and joists, weakening them and making them unable to support the structure.
Settling columns create gaps between the girder and the piers that support them. This is a result of shifting and settling soils underneath your home. This shifting and settling of the soil can be a result of the amount of water the soil holds, shrink and swell due to seasonal temperatures, or poorly compacted fill soils during construction.
What Solutions Are There?
- Concrete Columns
- Additional Shimming
- Light-duty Jack Post
- Smart Jacks
Concrete columns are similar to the piers already supporting the structure. They rest on the soil and will eventually be impacted by shifting and settling soils. You’ll have to do the repair again after some time, and the cycle will continue.
Additional Shimming is adding material between the column and the girder to fill the space that is being made from the sinking column. Shims can be made of metal, wood, or plastic. Often, we see wood shims used in this application. Wood is subject to the same conditions that your substructure is being impacted by; eventually, it will retain moisture, grow mold, and rot. Shims also don’t stop the sinking of the column. Eventually, you’ll have to address the problem again.
Light-duty jack posts can be purchased at hardware stores. These posts hold little weight, and anything light-duty probably shouldn’t be supporting your home. These jacks sit on a block and are tightened against the girder. They do not address the concern of shifting soils below your foundation, and you’ll be making repairs again.
Smart Jacks are made of steel and sit on a specially engineered metal plate. The jack is connected to the girder and tightened into place. This stabilizes the girder and floor joists and provides an opportunity to lift the floors and walls back to level. Smart Jacks are a permanent solution that addresses the concerns of shifting soils below and provides the best opportunity to return the floors to level, supporting loads of more than 60,000lbs, and if adjustments are ever needed, the Smart Jack is easily adjustable to maintain the stability of your home.
There are several options when it comes to stabilizing your home to address the problem, but only one is permanent: Smart Jacks.
If you need your foundation evaluated, contact The Drying Company at 1-757-566-8622.
