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Oilcan · 10-10-2007, 10:53 AM

Yes, that's gonna be a hard one. I suppose if your lifting it, you might as well lift it high enough to get under the house. Then you could get at those joists a little better.

It's just my personal taste but I don't like to sister with bigger lumber than the original. I would sister both sides (I have) with the same size material but then again, Im um let's say..meticulous that way.

snarcher · 10-10-2007, 02:21 PM

I am looking at buying a house that will need floor leveling as well. its a 2 unit 2 floor house. there was an addition built on the the back of it that contains a kitchen upstairs and downstairs and is sagging pretty bad. its like a fun house.

the strange part is that the UPSTAIRS is sagginway worse than the downstiars kitchen...

what are your thoughts about fxing it? would i have to put a pole in the middle of the downstairs kitchen?? underneath is only a crawl space with little timble supports...

should i just avoid the house all together or is it a 25$ fix?

glennjanie · 10-10-2007, 04:06 PM

Welcome Snarcher:
The sagging indicates poor construction practices to say the least. Repairing it could be a simple 'quick fix' or it could collapse during repairs. My advice is to Run. Run as fast as you can.
But then, on the other hand, if someone with credentials or experience could give you on site guidance you may get a real deal in a house. Make sure you take the repairs out of the purchase price and figure on the worse case scenario.
Glenn

rp14 · 10-11-2007, 11:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glennjanie

Welcome Ron:
The floor joists sizing depends on the span. A 2 X 6 will span up to 8', a 2 X 8 will span up to 12', 2 X 10 up to 15'. Then, you may want to consider the floor trusses which the supplier will span for you.
A house that low on the ground is likely to have some termite or rot damage to the joists and sills. You can check them with an ice pick or awl.
I don't envy your job at all.
Glenn

The span is around 16' and the 2x6's are actually 2"x6" not todays dimentions. I am going to expect dry rot and not sure about termites since it gets cold up there, again I know nothing about bugs other than breeding superworms for my turtles. I am going to repace the joists anyways to restrengthen the floor, etc. Main thing is learning how to jack up the house and figure out how to place a thicker 2x8 or 2x10 alongside the 2x6 joist.
Ron

rp14 · 10-11-2007, 11:58 PM

Anyone have photos of house jacking? I want to get ideas to where to place the wood beams for jacking. Looks like it'll be a 6 month process if I am going to raise it 24" and I would need to live in it as well.
Ron

glennjanie · 10-12-2007, 10:50 AM

Hello Ron:
I would try to get jacks under the sills (or sleepers), the big beams that the floor joists are attached to. That lifts the walls an all, the floors go along for the ride. I used 32 hydraulic jacks on each house. One house I raised was so cut up that we made 4 rows of 4 X 6 under the house and raised it in waves of 1/4" per row at a time. A 1/4" raise won't crack anything.
For your 2 X 6 joists, if they are not deteriated, you could leave a blocked up 4 X 6 in the center of the span and not worry about all the floor joists you would have to buy.
Glenn

rp14 · 11-01-2007, 08:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glennjanie

Hello Ron:
I would try to get jacks under the sills (or sleepers), the big beams that the floor joists are attached to. That lifts the walls an all, the floors go along for the ride. I used 32 hydraulic jacks on each house. One house I raised was so cut up that we made 4 rows of 4 X 6 under the house and raised it in waves of 1/4" per row at a time. A 1/4" raise won't crack anything.
For your 2 X 6 joists, if they are not deteriated, you could leave a blocked up 4 X 6 in the center of the span and not worry about all the floor joists you would have to buy.
Glenn

I don't mind sistering joists but I do like the idea of adding another 4x6. I finally moved into the house and will be doing some foundation work during the winter. Question I have is the base for the jack? What do I use? I thought about digging down a bit and pour concrete for the jack base to lift, it will have to be just inside the perimeter of the house so I will have room to pour a footing all around, what size footing should I pour for the jack base? The dirt has a lot of rocks so digging will be fun,
I am not sure about using 2x4 or 4x4's stacked for the jacks? When I do jack 1/4" a day or so it'll be shimmed for safety.
Another question, when the walls are tilted, how do I find where the tilt is coming from? I am not lookingb to make anything perfectly straight from leveling the house and will expect some warped walls, I plan on adding 2x6's or 2x2's to thicken the walls to raise the insulation vaule.
Any tips will be great,
Ron

DCuevas · 03-08-2008, 02:47 PM

I,too, just bought a house in a town built on the side of a hill. We're on 3rd and the back portion of the house in outover thin air. We have noticed that that back corner on one side seems to be sinking a bit. We can see the windows in the back and the door frame are off as well as the flooring on the porches (2 levels). We understand jacking is normal around here, but know nothing about it. Do we only need to do the sagging corner? is there a special kind of jack and what do we put under the jack once we lift the corner. The house was built around the turn of the century, but the backportion is fairly new. WE could use advice on do-it-yourself or contractor? Thanks in advance.

glennjanie · 03-08-2008, 05:37 PM

Hello Ron:
I would use 2 X 6 or 2 X 8 blocks 12 to 16" long to jack from. Dig it down to undisturbed earth and start from there. Even if the block sinks some it will get compaction and start to raise the house. Shimming what you get is most desireable.
DeCuevas:
It sounds like your house may be 6' or more off the ground on that corner. For that, I would use a couple of basement jacks to raise the corner and block or shim it off the wall. Its too late to raise the footer, just allow it to get its own compaction but keep the water draining away from it so it doesn't wash out.
Glenn

**inspectorD** · 03-09-2008, 06:36 PM

Call in a company to give you some answers to the issues. DIY of this style I don't recommend. You end up with issues that show up later if it was not identified correctly in the first place. Like why is there settling? Soil type, or water issues?
Get someone to look and give you a price. Then decide if you want to own some 20 ton jacks,all the material and holes to dig, get really dirty, and have a house over your head when it cracks loudly. I have raised many a house , never has one been easy.

See what is involved first.