steel jack posts

[Jungle]

I think i need about 6-8 in the basement. Would 2 x(2x6') screwed/glued together be just as good? I would put plastic at the base.

What i've discover is some crumbing around the concrete of the main support beam in the basement. One of the steel supports is tilting a bit. I think i should put a supports underneath, at least one on each end and under some of the floor spots. What i've done now is sprayed the gap fill foam in the cracks which seemed to work well.

I don't like that jack posts they are expensive and hard to jack up. What about concrete blocks? I like the 2x6's because i can hammer in there by making it 1/8" higher. I was thinking using stacks of cinder blocks then a car jack, then slide some bricks and wood underneath?

I don't think i should try to jack up the house too much though. The bathroom and tub are sitting right above it as well as the stair case, it might cause cracking? I wonder if it was the weight of the staircase and bathroom that caused too much weight on the foundation wall? I guess that would make sense.

Basically the main floor reminds me of skate board park as it is now. There are some odd shaped joysts down there too. Probably wouldn't get too much worse better to at least stop it from moving.

 

[nealtw]

If you try to support the house off the concrete floor, you will just break the floor. Can you post some photos of the damaged foundation, the steel supports, and the structure beside the stairs?

 

[Jungle]

Your saying the concrete floor will crack if it supported with jack posts? This is why i'm thinking 8+ posts. The concrete floor is very thick i believe too. Wood posts would crack, maybe sinder blocks are good idea build a whole new all under the main beam?

The damage around the main beam and the basement wall doesn't look too bad just some crumbling, the other side it looks like a mouse was trying dig under it. Maybe someone was trying to check under there.
Not much to see since the foam is filling in there. I just figured it out now after being in the house for some time. Looks to be about 1/2" down. One of the steel support looks slightly tilted. The support sit on a funny piece of metal that support the main beam of 3 x (2x6"'s) some of the 2x6" are slipping a bit because the metal plate only cover about 3" width of the 6" width of the beam.

 

[nealtw]

2x6s are never used for a beam of any length and usually they extend over on top of studs to support it. I think you are talking about a hanger on each end of it and using a double hanger and nailing a third member is ok in some cases. I will just ask some questions so we get a good picture of what is going on.
1. Does this beam look newer than the rest of the house?
2. How long is this beam?
3. What are the hangers nailed into?
4. What percentage of those posts are sitting on good concrete?
5. Do the floor joists join on top of this beam?
6. What is above this beam, like another wall upstairs?
7. What is the height of this beam from the floor?
8. Any chance you know how deep the foundation goes below the hieght of the floor?
9. Can you read the numbers and letters on the side of the hangers?

 

[Jungle]

The house is about 26x26', the main support beam in the basement is 3x (2.5x7"ers) from 60 years ago set in the middle at 13', with 22" centers. The 3 beams are nailed together and look in reasonable shape. They are the main support for the whole house, on the main floor there is some sinking in the middle,n about 1/2" , both sides slop down toward the this main beam. So the beam must have come down 1/2" which i think is caused by the concrete degeneration on the supporting ends.
The beams ends sit on the concrete foundations of the basement, looks to be blocks and concrete. Then the main beam is supported by 4 steel posts grounded in the thick concrete basement floor. Look ok.
The foundation looks in good condition but there has been water damage over the years. I believe i have stop the water problem now. But the joyst has suffers some warping probably due to humidity.
Above the main beam on the main floor is a supporting wall then on the other end is a small bathroom underneath the staircase. So the bathroom and stair case sit above and on the main beam. There seems to be the most amount of 'sinking' is below the bathroom.
When you look at the bathroom floor you can see a bit of hump forming in the middle of the floor where the main beam is bellow and the side walls are pushing down. like a skate board park...
I think i need to support bellow at about 3 feet off of the main beam, supporting the bathroom walls and staircase.
i should be thinking of support each of the 13' joysts in the basement as well as the main beam near the foundation crumbling. Which is about 28 posts. That's why i'm think sister 2 (2x6's) as support posts should be $trong enough.
One the other hand it seems to be what is known as 'settling' of house but i think it is good time to think about preventive measures. The inspection i had mention doing this with jack posts. I have already fixed one crack joyst this way. What do you think about sistering all 13' joysts once i've propped them up with the new posts? overkill?

 

[nealtw]

I have a better picture, thanks. I am fearfull of putting to much weight on the floor as we don't know how thick it is or how strong it is or the condition of the soil under it.
In new house construction, anything that is going to support any amount of weight will have footing below the floor.
Sometime if we know that the footing is just under the floor beside the foundation we can add more support to the beam or lift the beam without fear of damage.
The probelm with that is, we don't know how big the footing is or how deep it is, if it's not right under the floor but lower you could still break the floor.
When you consider damaging the floor and the cost of repairs after that, I would suggest your best bet is to have an engineer look it over.
The only safe suggestions I could give would be to cut holes in the floor and install footings, which might be overkill.