Thre ways to fix a sagging or sloping floor.
Sagging floor on second story.
Sagging floors are often the symptoms of structural damage to the floor joists below the surface.
How can we evaluate whether the floors need reinforcement and if so what is the best way to do this.
If a load bearing wall is removed on the first floor then the second story floor joist or trusses may drop down in the area where the load bearing wall was removed.
Use screws shims or shank nails to penetrate through the subfloor and hold the squeaking plank in place.
Fixing squeaky floors can cost anywhere from 200 to 1 000 or more.
Sloping to one direction.
There are several problems that can cause a sagging or sloping floor which is one of the reasons why fixing a sloping floor is difficult.
Foundation issues deteriorating wood supports especially sills which rest on the foundation footer improperly installed joists or sub floors and other issues can all cause a floor to slope or sag.
The average person can sense if a floor slopes 1 inch in 10 feet and sloping floors or sagging floors are often one of the warning signs that structural engineers look for when analyzing a house.
Termites can rot or damage the joists typically made of wood rendering the pieces unable to hold up the floor.
This could be a sign of serious structural damage due to foundation settlement.
Although most floors slope it is important to know how much and why.
Not all floor problems are the same.
On average nationwide repairing a sagging floor costs between 1 000 and 10 000.
Common reasons for sloping or sagging second story floors.
To prevent the collapse of your second story or injury from falling through a rotten floor you must repair the joists as soon as possible.
Load bearing wall removed or altered on first floor.
Again this could be a sign of dry rotted second floor joists.
Depending upon the conditions it is possible to strengthen or repair existing framing members such as floor joists or roof rafters by adding reinforcing material sandwiching the member on either side with plywood is sometimes worthwhile but the plywood must be installed correctly for greatest strength.
The first and second floors in our house seem overly bouncy and sag toward the middle.
With unfinished basements it s easy to fix the problem from underneath but second story floors aren t easy to access.
Water damaged or structurally damaged first floor joists causing the joists to deflect or sag.
It all depends on accessibility.
One category describes floors that have a general overall slant.
If the floor is sagging visibly in the middle or is very bouncy you may want to reinforce the floor to eliminate the sag and reduce the bounciness.
How much you pay will depend on what s causing the floor to sag type of flooring concrete hardwood etc and how many square feet of floor is involved.
