Foundation work

We recently purchased a house in VA, the floor is noticeably un even I bought 3 20 ton jacks to jack up the house, and a 360 lazer level any advise would be much appreciated 👍🏻

Welcome to the site, congrats on buying a house.
Basement or crawlspace, concrete floor?
Floor joists, 2x10 or 2x8 or ??
Out of level by how much?
Sagging on the outside or a center bearing wall?
Sags at the end of the joists or along side them.
Post photos to help explain problems.

I depends entirely on what the problem is.
Under designed?
Under built?
failing foundation?
Rotting supports/beams?
Termites?

Welcome BFSTJ. I would guess from your username that you plan on flipping this. Is this your first?

Forgot to mention this probably requires a permit.

This is our third flip, and yes I flip houses, under the house there is termite damage, no active termites, and I will have to re do some of the sub flooring due to a plumbing leak, but it seems to be the main support beams are the worst, the other floor joices are okay just not level in some places will I have to jack up the house and replace the main supports?? What are my options, first time doing foundation work.

As long as it’s just the main support beams that’s good. They are only the ones that hold the house up.

Unless you are a Professional builder and certified at doing this type of work I would recommend you get a pro in for this one.

Most flippers are basic handy men and go in and clean up a distressed house and improve the surface look of the place and turn a quick profit. Correcting a major structural defect is not something for someone to go buy a few jacks at harbor freight and a level and undertake.

If you can post photos there are people here who could offer opinions on the process a pro may recommend or even some DIY tips on stabilizing the house some but removing damaged main supports beams yourself with minimal equipment is not a good idea IMO.

And welcome to the forum.

If the main supports need to be replaced then you need to add temp supports on either side to remove the old ones.

BuyFixSellTeamJacobsen said:

This is our third flip, and yes I flip houses, under the house there is termite damage, no active termites, and I will have to re do some of the sub flooring due to a plumbing leak, but it seems to be the main support beams are the worst, the other floor joices are okay just not level in some places will I have to jack up the house and replace the main supports?? What are my options, first time doing foundation work.

Click to expand...

What the beams constructed of and how long are they, have got room to work down there?. Is the dirt level and compact? Are the support posts in good shape?
Is the foundation in good shape, what is it made out of?.
First step is mapping the area and finding the height you want to finish with.
Once you have found the highest section, mark ares that are low with something like -1/2".
With your laser level you go down there and mark all the corners with a random height and with two people and a chalk line put a level line around the inside of the foundation and center support posts.
Measure from the line to the floor joists everywhere.
Now you will know how bad it is and you can decide just how perfect you want it.
If you are jacking up the floor, replacing the beam, you will know ahead of time the exact height you want the top of the beam to be.

You have to spread the weight on the dirt when you jack up the house.
Sometimes jacks are more trouble than they are worth.

If the old beam is in good enough shape, you could use jacks if you can spread the load enough on the dirt and with more jacks you place one beside the center post on each side and by the foundation and lift them all till you have the floor about 1/4 to high, then build a temp mud wall on each side to hold the floor while you change the beam.
A mud wall has a 2x10 or 2x12 fo a bottom plate to spread the weight .

It takes time to re-shape a house so plan on lifting 1/8 to 1/4 inch per day.

We are not engineers here so the weight of the house and how safe you are down there will be up to you.

Also don’t be surprised when doors no longer shut or windows break. Kitchen cabinets don’t shut and plaster cracks. This should be one of the very first projects done in the flip.
All this movement in the house has happened slowly over many years and during all this time things have been added and refit some of the wood structure has moved and some of it has reshaped with time.

Be careful.