Greetings....
I apologize if I have posted in the wrong forum. I have a small apartment that I rent out and the upstairs tenant finally moved out after 22 years.....actually hated to lose her, Anyway...I was getting ready to replace the floor in the kitchen using 12 inch stick tiles and found that the floor has a pretty good sag in the middle. The building is approximately 63 years old. The kitchen is about 8x10 and the floor joist run the long way (10 foot span). The flooring system consist of 2 x 10 floor joist on 16 inch centers. The sub floor has 2 x 6 7/8" run diagonally across the joist with 3 inch planking that is approximately 3/4" thick running perpendicular to the joist. When I lay a straight edge across the floor perpendicular to the joist at the worst place there is about an inch and quarter gap in the center. If I go downstairs to the kitchen, the ceiling there pretty well mirrors the floor upstairs having a "buldge" in the center of approximately and inch and a quarter. the really odd thing is that the "sag" runs PARALLEL with the joist. I would think it would across instead of with the joist. Where the floor meets the wall the floor comes back to level indicating there is little or no settling in the walls. I have had some water leakage (from the sink and hot water heater in the past and about 10 years ago I had termites (well not me, the building). Had the building treated and the man that did the repairs said they had not gotten into the joist, but the damage was limited to the pine flooring.
I drilled three 2" holes in the worst areas and ran an endoscope up and down the floors in between the joist. I saw some water staining but the wood was sound. Additionally I came across some termite tunnels but they were old and there was no activity.
I guess my question is do I have a structural problem? Can I safely level the floor that inch and a quarter using floor leveler? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
Chris
I apologize if I have posted in the wrong forum. I have a small apartment that I rent out and the upstairs tenant finally moved out after 22 years.....actually hated to lose her, Anyway...I was getting ready to replace the floor in the kitchen using 12 inch stick tiles and found that the floor has a pretty good sag in the middle. The building is approximately 63 years old. The kitchen is about 8x10 and the floor joist run the long way (10 foot span). The flooring system consist of 2 x 10 floor joist on 16 inch centers. The sub floor has 2 x 6 7/8" run diagonally across the joist with 3 inch planking that is approximately 3/4" thick running perpendicular to the joist. When I lay a straight edge across the floor perpendicular to the joist at the worst place there is about an inch and quarter gap in the center. If I go downstairs to the kitchen, the ceiling there pretty well mirrors the floor upstairs having a "buldge" in the center of approximately and inch and a quarter. the really odd thing is that the "sag" runs PARALLEL with the joist. I would think it would across instead of with the joist. Where the floor meets the wall the floor comes back to level indicating there is little or no settling in the walls. I have had some water leakage (from the sink and hot water heater in the past and about 10 years ago I had termites (well not me, the building). Had the building treated and the man that did the repairs said they had not gotten into the joist, but the damage was limited to the pine flooring.
I drilled three 2" holes in the worst areas and ran an endoscope up and down the floors in between the joist. I saw some water staining but the wood was sound. Additionally I came across some termite tunnels but they were old and there was no activity.
I guess my question is do I have a structural problem? Can I safely level the floor that inch and a quarter using floor leveler? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
Chris