Saggy Floor
#1
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Saggy Floor
Hi All,
I bought a 20 yr old house. In a few places it has some sagging floors. Its on a crawl space. I have been under and have looked at everything. No water damage, wood looks nearly new. Block foundations look fine with no cracks. Outside walls are level and roof shows no sign of sagging.
It would appear that it just needed/needs some mid span support in places.
I live in Ohio. Ive determined that the frost line is 32". Our local building code confirms it.
Question(s)
1. It is only for shoring up the floor and normal "Live" weight. Do I need to dig out and set a footer? or can I just build up solid concrete blocks and use a jack screw
2. If I do need a footer, to prevent heaving, do I have to dig down below the frost line?
It may sound by the tone of my question that I dont want to do the work. I actually dont mind. I want it done right. But the crawl is only 30 in high and a 38-40 in deep hole is gonna be a serious workout/pain.
What are your thoughts?
Tim
I bought a 20 yr old house. In a few places it has some sagging floors. Its on a crawl space. I have been under and have looked at everything. No water damage, wood looks nearly new. Block foundations look fine with no cracks. Outside walls are level and roof shows no sign of sagging.
It would appear that it just needed/needs some mid span support in places.
I live in Ohio. Ive determined that the frost line is 32". Our local building code confirms it.
Question(s)
1. It is only for shoring up the floor and normal "Live" weight. Do I need to dig out and set a footer? or can I just build up solid concrete blocks and use a jack screw
2. If I do need a footer, to prevent heaving, do I have to dig down below the frost line?
It may sound by the tone of my question that I dont want to do the work. I actually dont mind. I want it done right. But the crawl is only 30 in high and a 38-40 in deep hole is gonna be a serious workout/pain.
What are your thoughts?
Tim
#2
Tim, welcome to the forums!! Yeah, you will need footings. Being under the house you most likely don't need to go to the frost line, but you do need to go down to undisturbed earth. Not sure how deep you will have to go, but we usually only have to build 12x12x12 pads, stack 12" block on it and oak shims after lifting the sag out slowly. If it affects many joists, a beam may be in order. In that case use a 4x6x? and set it on 2 footings , thereby lifting a group of joists at the same time.
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That sounds alot better then trying to dig out 40'' holes.
As for frost and freezing, is that a threat in this crawl space?
I also had planned on using jack screws Vs, Oak shims.
Thoughts?
As for frost and freezing, is that a threat in this crawl space?
I also had planned on using jack screws Vs, Oak shims.
Thoughts?
#4
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"As for frost and freezing, is that a threat in this crawl space?"
The crawlspace ground won't get as cold as the ground outside but it can still get cold. I had the same issue with an addition that was on my house when I bought it [they ran the floor joists the long direction ] I dug down about 6" poured a 4"-5" footer. I then mortared in block on each pad to hold up a beam that stabilized the floor joists. The beam was held up by a short 2x4 'wall' erected over each block.
We don't have extended below freezing temps so I'm confident my footers are low enough - you might want to check with some locals to determine how far you need to dig down.
The crawlspace ground won't get as cold as the ground outside but it can still get cold. I had the same issue with an addition that was on my house when I bought it [they ran the floor joists the long direction ] I dug down about 6" poured a 4"-5" footer. I then mortared in block on each pad to hold up a beam that stabilized the floor joists. The beam was held up by a short 2x4 'wall' erected over each block.
We don't have extended below freezing temps so I'm confident my footers are low enough - you might want to check with some locals to determine how far you need to dig down.