Goldwinger
Member
Hello,
I would really appreciate any thoughts on the scope of a proposed foundation repair solution on my house.
My living room floor has a very noticeable bounce and sag that has gotten progressively worse over the last 23 years (house was built in 1999). I called out an engineer who determined the floor joists and a support beam were under-supported and suggested sistering joists. It has been impossible to find someone that is willing to do this work of sistering joists. So I called a foundation company who offered an alternative solution of using additional pier supports with steel beams to reinforce the existing structure. As a side note, our city planning department said a permit would not be required in either approach since no demolition of the existing structure would be happening.
The person from the foundation company found a .9 inch deflection in the area of the sagging (shown as item #1 in picture below) and another area of deflection in the area of a kitchen island (item #2 in picture). We expanded the length of the island almost two years ago and had a large, heavy granite countertop installed. I was suspicious that something might be happening in this area but the flooring in this area is 3/4” hardwood flooring so it wasn’t as obvious.
The foundation company is reputable and while the representative that came to our house was knowledgable and helpful, he also had a salespersons approach. We question the need for the additional pier supports in the other areas of the foundation. His proposal would add eight more piers (in addition to the four we know we definitely need) and more than double the cost of the work. Is a .5” drop over a 15 foot distance a significant settlement amount and enough to warrant pier and steel beam reinforcement? Taking the two areas of concern we know we need to address out of the equation, do the other deflection numbers suggest the settling is not uniform and therefore more of a concern?
The picture that follows is a sketch of our foundation. The joists run north to south intersecting two very large support beams that run down the center of the house east to west. The numbers that are -0.5 are points along those large support beams.
Thanks in advance for any feedback on what the right thing is to do here.
I would really appreciate any thoughts on the scope of a proposed foundation repair solution on my house.
My living room floor has a very noticeable bounce and sag that has gotten progressively worse over the last 23 years (house was built in 1999). I called out an engineer who determined the floor joists and a support beam were under-supported and suggested sistering joists. It has been impossible to find someone that is willing to do this work of sistering joists. So I called a foundation company who offered an alternative solution of using additional pier supports with steel beams to reinforce the existing structure. As a side note, our city planning department said a permit would not be required in either approach since no demolition of the existing structure would be happening.
The person from the foundation company found a .9 inch deflection in the area of the sagging (shown as item #1 in picture below) and another area of deflection in the area of a kitchen island (item #2 in picture). We expanded the length of the island almost two years ago and had a large, heavy granite countertop installed. I was suspicious that something might be happening in this area but the flooring in this area is 3/4” hardwood flooring so it wasn’t as obvious.
The foundation company is reputable and while the representative that came to our house was knowledgable and helpful, he also had a salespersons approach. We question the need for the additional pier supports in the other areas of the foundation. His proposal would add eight more piers (in addition to the four we know we definitely need) and more than double the cost of the work. Is a .5” drop over a 15 foot distance a significant settlement amount and enough to warrant pier and steel beam reinforcement? Taking the two areas of concern we know we need to address out of the equation, do the other deflection numbers suggest the settling is not uniform and therefore more of a concern?
The picture that follows is a sketch of our foundation. The joists run north to south intersecting two very large support beams that run down the center of the house east to west. The numbers that are -0.5 are points along those large support beams.
Thanks in advance for any feedback on what the right thing is to do here.