How to fix hump in floor
#1
How to fix hump in floor
I hope I can explain this!
40 year old larger Cape. About 4' cement floor crawlspace. Living room a tad more than front 2/3, kitchen a tad less than back 2/3 and share an interior wall. Two bedrooms & bath front and back 1/3. Still with me?
Starting from the shared wall between the kitchen/living room going about four feet into the living room there is a hump. Not too big but enough to notice.
It does start at the wall (kitchen floor is level, tiled over a year ago and not cracking, whew!) goes up a bit and then levels out. It seems to peak dead center of the house, less noticeable as you go sideways towards the bedrooms/bath end as well as the garage end on the other side of the house.
The original oak hardwood floors in this area get cracks wide enough to get a penny into during winter, less noticeable in summer. I guess the front and back of the house have settled more than the center.
The floors need to be sanded & refinished, but I'm not sure about how to deal with said hump with the sander. I'd really like to lose the hump mainly because I'm tired of hearing about how nuts it makes DH who thinks the only way to fix it is to have the back of the house jacked up (DH has even less of a grasp of engineering than I have and except for the anticipated sanding problem it doesn't bother me too much, it's an old house, after all it's not like the walls are plumb or anything... but I digress!). This isnt our forever home, figure about two or three more years but would like to get this fixed/floors redone for eventual resale without spending big bucks. I'm thinking maybe just rip out the hardwood in the living room and small bed/bath hallway (Wah!), plane down the joists under the hump, patch the subfloor and lay a new floor, either more hardwood or some kind of engineered floating floor rather than trying to fix it from underneath which would involve I guess jacks/bracing and $tructural engineer$.
What do you guys think? Thanks and I hope I've made sense!
40 year old larger Cape. About 4' cement floor crawlspace. Living room a tad more than front 2/3, kitchen a tad less than back 2/3 and share an interior wall. Two bedrooms & bath front and back 1/3. Still with me?
Starting from the shared wall between the kitchen/living room going about four feet into the living room there is a hump. Not too big but enough to notice.
It does start at the wall (kitchen floor is level, tiled over a year ago and not cracking, whew!) goes up a bit and then levels out. It seems to peak dead center of the house, less noticeable as you go sideways towards the bedrooms/bath end as well as the garage end on the other side of the house.
The original oak hardwood floors in this area get cracks wide enough to get a penny into during winter, less noticeable in summer. I guess the front and back of the house have settled more than the center.
The floors need to be sanded & refinished, but I'm not sure about how to deal with said hump with the sander. I'd really like to lose the hump mainly because I'm tired of hearing about how nuts it makes DH who thinks the only way to fix it is to have the back of the house jacked up (DH has even less of a grasp of engineering than I have and except for the anticipated sanding problem it doesn't bother me too much, it's an old house, after all it's not like the walls are plumb or anything... but I digress!). This isnt our forever home, figure about two or three more years but would like to get this fixed/floors redone for eventual resale without spending big bucks. I'm thinking maybe just rip out the hardwood in the living room and small bed/bath hallway (Wah!), plane down the joists under the hump, patch the subfloor and lay a new floor, either more hardwood or some kind of engineered floating floor rather than trying to fix it from underneath which would involve I guess jacks/bracing and $tructural engineer$.
What do you guys think? Thanks and I hope I've made sense!
#2
Your DH, isn't so D!
Sure rip the good hard to find anymore wood out, fix the joists as you said, and install a cheap floor. Sounds like an expensive band-aid to me.
You could probably sell the old wood for 3x's the cost of the new wood, to recoup some of the costs.
Sure rip the good hard to find anymore wood out, fix the joists as you said, and install a cheap floor. Sounds like an expensive band-aid to me.
You could probably sell the old wood for 3x's the cost of the new wood, to recoup some of the costs.
#4
Level the house, as your SH is so worried about.
It is all part of maintaining an older pier & beam home. They sink and settle into the ground, because of the weight, rains and dry periods and never at the same rate all around the structure.
My Grand pa in Kansas, use to be under the house with a couple of 20 ton jacks, what seemed like every 2 years. When he died, the house fell to pieces, as my Granny had no clue what to do, or who to hire.
It is all part of maintaining an older pier & beam home. They sink and settle into the ground, because of the weight, rains and dry periods and never at the same rate all around the structure.
My Grand pa in Kansas, use to be under the house with a couple of 20 ton jacks, what seemed like every 2 years. When he died, the house fell to pieces, as my Granny had no clue what to do, or who to hire.
#5
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If you are planning to sell the house in a few years then you might not want to be jacking up the house. It is a costly fix...but it is the only way to properly repair the floor.
Removing the hardwood and then planing the joists could affect structural integrity since you would be reducing the size of the joists which happen to hold up your house. If this is the route you choose, then you certainly would have to consult a structural engineer. I don't think an engineer would ever approve this route and you would most certainly have problems selling your home if a buyer has it inspected.
Removing the hardwood and then planing the joists could affect structural integrity since you would be reducing the size of the joists which happen to hold up your house. If this is the route you choose, then you certainly would have to consult a structural engineer. I don't think an engineer would ever approve this route and you would most certainly have problems selling your home if a buyer has it inspected.
#6
Thank you em69 for the helpful advise!
We've already done a new roof, new gutters & facia, HVAC, replaced all the windows and totaly gutted and remodeled the kitchen and one of the baths so the budget IS limited! The area where we live is not exactly booming right now so we have to be careful not to "overimprove", but I love my house and want to get it back into shape!
I really don't want to replace the floors, they will be beautiful when refinished.
Could I get the hump down a little by sanding?, how much is there to work with since the floors had never been sanded before?
If this is not feasible and the hump stays I guess I would use a handheld sander to get the hump done. Sound right? I'm dealing with a steep learning curve here but willing to take on most projects slowly and with as much help from you guys as I can get!
Again, Thank You very much!
We've already done a new roof, new gutters & facia, HVAC, replaced all the windows and totaly gutted and remodeled the kitchen and one of the baths so the budget IS limited! The area where we live is not exactly booming right now so we have to be careful not to "overimprove", but I love my house and want to get it back into shape!
I really don't want to replace the floors, they will be beautiful when refinished.
Could I get the hump down a little by sanding?, how much is there to work with since the floors had never been sanded before?
If this is not feasible and the hump stays I guess I would use a handheld sander to get the hump done. Sound right? I'm dealing with a steep learning curve here but willing to take on most projects slowly and with as much help from you guys as I can get!
Again, Thank You very much!
#7
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You can't sand the hump out. It won't work. If you aren't going to level the house then you could just carpet over the wood and hide the hump. Since it sounds like you like wood you'll just have to live with it and remember the house is old and that's how it is.
Good Luck
Bryan
Good Luck
Bryan