Sagging floor repair estimate

[shan2themax]

So, the company came today to give me an estimate to fix the sag in the center of the house.

Part of it was where I thought it would be, part of it I was sort of surprised about....

So... overall, the main beam and joist are only 2x8s (single). There are several piers (cinderblocks with wood) that are getting close to shifting/ "rolling off" (for lack of better wording). There are places where 2 pieces meet and either the support is not directly under the "seam" or only under one side or the other within a few feet of the ends. There are a couple of joists on the back that have blocking under the end to hold them in place.

So..... the company I chose does the Smartjack system. I will just insert photos instead of try to retype all of that and mess it up.

These first 2 pics are option #1 $6536


These next 2 are option #2 @ an additional $6541

And then option 3 is removing all fiberglass insulation (not in good shaping and missing/hanging down/ gross in some places) and doing a 2 part kill and protect mold treatment under the entire house for an additional $2520



So..... pros/cons of what you would do given that you yourself couldn't physically do the work.

I am going to give it a think, but I did tell him that I would let him know tomorrow if I wanted to proceed.
I will say, there is a joist that he could put his screwdriver partially through under either the 1/2 bath or laundry room

Product list for main beam:

 

[Ron Van]

Shan, I had a similar problem except my main beam and center supports were ok but the floor joists that span 12 feet between the center beam and the edge foundation were made of 2x8’s and on 2’ centers. That’s just not adequate. They sagged and the floors were not very level. I decided to make some supplemental supports parallel to the center beam and half way between the center beam and the edge foundation out of two 2x6’s glued and bolted together with a 1/2” piece of plywood glued in between. I used numerous jacks to hold them up.

Here’s the making of the supplemental beams



Cutting the plywood



The cinder block is only there to hold it until I got the jacks in place.





I did 50’ of these on both sides for 100’ all together. I was able to raise the floor over 1” in some places. I had to re-hang two interior doors afterwards though.



I’d say, in your case, there’s not much choice. The quote is not outrageous to secure your floors and get rid of rot. If you can afford it, I don’t know what other choice you have. It’s a dirty nasty job!

 

[zannej]

Shan, I wish I'd studied architecture and engineering because I am clueless about this.
On the pricing, I know someone who paid $10k to have his house leveled & they didn't even do it right so he ended up having to pay someone else to do it properly. I hope that company is reliable.

The main load is probably important to take care of although if the bathroom is sagging, additional supports would be good. I guess they are only looking at either or and not doing both 1 & 2 (which would be to reinforce the main beam and add some more supports under the bathroom).

I'm no expert, but I think option 1 would be good. If you add too much under the bathroom it might conflict with drain pipes. If the main beam is solid then it will offer more support to the adjacent beams.

Wish I had something more helpful to contribute.

Ron, I may have to do something like that for my house. I have some spots where the ground eroded (the AC people have the condensate line dripping under the house). One of the blocks completely dropped down at least 2ft. I'm going to need to shore up with bricks to prevent further erosion & see if I can put something on top of the block that fell to fill it in.

Hopefully whatever option is chosen will work out well.

 

[Ron Van]

This is what I liked like after working all day in the crawlspace.

 

[shan2themax]

Luckily, I had plastic put down after a sewage leak cleanup a few years ago. Although, they will have to dig out 2x2x2 areas, so they may look like that also.

 

[zannej]

I looked about like that but I had a head rag over my face and some sealed goggles to keep dust out of my eyes.
Having plastic down might help-- but knowing my cats they would pee on it. LOL.
Shan, have you asked the contractors if they are licensed, insured, and bonded? And make sure that if they break something their insurance pays for it? Bc if they break pipes or mess something up, they should have to be responsible.

 

[shan2themax]

So.... I am probably being silly, but I am going to have a structural engineer come and look at things and give me a plan. I may regret this. He is going to come next week.
Why? Well, I went from Feb/March date for possible start, to a text message that said that a project may not happen and they were looking for a job to "slide" into that spot possibly next week.
To me.... red flag.... mainly because of the contractor that took me for 5k.... but I decided to try this route as well as another company to get another quote from. We shall see how it goes. Sometimes, my indecisiveness pays off, hopefully this is one of those times.

 

[ekrig]

@Ron - Why use the plywood between the 2x6s? The only reason I can come up is get the 3.5 inch width, but is there some other structural reason?

I ask out of ignorance. The floor between the basement and first floor of my house uses 16ft long 2x10s, but someone made two cuts on one of them that go about halfway and I've been meaning to reinforce it just in case. Hence, I wondered if the plywood played some structural role here.

 

[RedneckGrump]

I always thought 2X8s are not code here, not code here... It's 2X10's and on most job sites it is 3 of them glued and screwed together, or a metal I Beam...

 

[zannej]

Shan, I say go with your gut. If you feel uneasy about these contractors its best to get the engineer in.

 

[Ron Van]

So.... I am probably being silly, but I am going to have a structural engineer come and look at things and give me a plan. I may regret this. He is going to come next week.
Why? Well, I went from Feb/March date for possible start, to a text message that said that a project may not happen and they were looking for a job to "slide" into that spot possibly next week.
To me.... red flag.... mainly because of the contractor that took me for 5k.... but I decided to try this route as well as another company to get another quote from. We shall see how it goes. Sometimes, my indecisiveness pays off, hopefully this is one of those times.

When I was working, I was required to get three bids for any job. It's a pain but it often paid off, if nothing more than to educate yourself to different ideas and strategies.

I got three quotes for this job and it was the third contractor that got the job. I was glad I didn't stop after only two quotes.

The first guy wanted to remove the stairway to the pool deck so he could get large equipment in to remove the dirt. The second guy didn't think it was necessary to put any kind of drainage behind the wall. The third guy used kid labor . . . His son and some other dude.

 

[RedneckGrump]

When I was working, I was required to get three bids for any job. It's a pain but it often paid off, if nothing more than to educate yourself to different ideas and strategies.

I got three quotes for this job and it was the third contractor that got the job. I was glad I didn't stop after only two quotes.

The first guy wanted to remove the stairway to the pool deck so he could get large equipment in to remove the dirt. The second guy didn't think it was necessary to put any kind of drainage behind the wall. The third guy used kid labor . . . His son and some other dude.

View attachment 29153

Nice work... Going to look GREAT!

View attachment 29154

View attachment 29155

 

[Ron Van]

Nice work... Going to look GREAT!

Oh, sorry. I should have mentioned that this was done last year in Dec of 2021. I was mainly commenting on the importance of multiple quotes.

The original wall, you can see in this photo, was only 3 1/2 feet tall and too close to the house. So close that a normal human being couldn't get through at the corner of the house.



The area between the upper car port and the wall was really steep and I didn't trust the whole situation. I felt a much taller and more secure retaining wall was in order but I knew it would take me forever to build by myself.

This is the finished product. The dirt between the carport and the house is level now. And there is a walkway between the house and the wall with a dog gate. Ruby has planted Cana plants in this area now.



The stairs go up to here... So I didn't like it when one of the contractors said he wanted to remove the stairs to get big equipment in. Two Kids with shovels worked better.

 

[zannej]

Ooh, that is a nice pool!
Hope we'll hear from Shan soon on how things are going.

 

[Ron Van]

Ooh, that is a nice pool!
Hope we'll hear from Shan soon on how things are going.

I see you survived the storms!

 

[shan2themax]

So, here are the conclusions/recommendations from the structural engineers visit today.




Now, Monday I will call the one company back that I chose for another estimate and see what they say.... then I can start planning for that and carpet! As well as the other things

 

[Ron Van]

So, here are the conclusions/recommendations from the structural engineers visit today.
Now, Monday I will call the one company back that I chose for another estimate and see what they say.... then I can start planning for that and carpet! As well as the other things

That is very similar to what I did to my house and yes there was cracking and repair to be done inside. Like I said, I had to re-hang two interior doors because they were so out of square after I lifted the floor. I’m really glad I did it though. Our china cabinet had 3/4” blocks under the front of it so it wouldn’t lean away from the wall but now it’s perfect without the blocks.

 

[zannej]

Shan, I'm glad that your floors/house aren't in danger of collapse. I remember my friend's subfloors were rotted to the point that he fell through the floor in the laundry room (before he fixed the place up enough to move in). Did you get 3 estimates or only 2? I've heard 3 is the recommended number. But if you trust the one that you've chosen, then that is good.

 

[shan2themax]

I will be getting a second one this week. Had to wait on the report back. I may get a 3rd. I haven't decided for sure.

 

[Ron Van]

#3 was the manic number for our retaining wall job!