Sagging House Floors

Sagging floors result from failing floor joists in the crawl space underneath your house.

Sagging house floors. Though a sloped floor might indeed bring some character to a house some of the issues that can cause them can lead to other problems down the road. One of the most common complaints of old house owners is sagging floors. Over time the dirt your house sits atop can compact causing the foundation to sink. Many older homes have problems with sloping and sagging floors.

Well after doing the navy seal crawl up under the house we found that the joists that were supporting that floor were not actually attached to the sill plate any longer as seen in the photograph below. Even historic houses have saggy sloping floors. Floors out of level windows and doors sticking or not closing properly bouncy floors or floors that sag in spots in a room. That house has a structural problem.

If you have a crawl space foundation which is common in the south a sagging floor often means you have a structural problem with your floor joists or beams. Some homeowners when confronted with staggering bills for floor repairs come to terms with their floors. And not all structural problems are that big a deal. Old houses often have floors that are less than perfect.

There are lots of clues that indicate structural problems in a house. In a lot of cases the owners of these homes simply ignore the problem or pass it off as a normal part of having a classic house. These problems can result from open crawl space vents or doors excessive moisture and humidity and wet rotting wood. Foundation repairs are the most expensive reason for sagging floors in old houses.

Although generally only an annoyance sagging floors can be an indication of worsening problems. Check sag locate the area on the floor where it sags by measuring the height in the room from the floor to. The sagging floor was the symptom and somewhere under the house there had to be a cause. Some are serious structural issues that require the attention of a contractor while others are more routine cosmetic problems that you can solve yourself if you re a fairly advanced do it yourselfer.

Minor workarounds are possible such as leveling individual elements within the floor tables armoires cabinets etc. Here s a quick review of the most common problems and a few of the typical remedies. Although most floors slope it is important to know how much and why. I can tell that without even seeing it from the description.

Fixing a sagging floor requires patience and construction experience but it can be done.