SAGGING FLOORS Why? and Should we FIX it?

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SAGGING FLOORS Why? and Should we FIX it?

Рет қаралды 30,890

Күн бұрын

So many of the old homes have this problem. Floors that sag. How much of a problem is it? Should they ALWAYS be fixed? What causes the problem.
Watch to see how I determine the extent of the problem, why it happened, and what should be done about it.

Пікірлер: 57

@homerehabpros9617 Жыл бұрын

So the beam in the basement is where the whole problem starts, but it has been stabilized and the problem is contained… I think we should just leave it alone.

@DevilManCoroner12 10 ай бұрын

I have a main support beam on both sides it sags wondering what could be a cause for this?

@brewted 7 ай бұрын

that sounds like your foundation has settled=@@DevilManCoroner12

@John572d4 5 ай бұрын

@@DevilManCoroner12. For one, humans over the last 30-40 years have tended to become heavier, maybe by as much as 20 lbs in some cases. When some of these older homes or even hotels were built say 100 plus years ago the weight movement across the surface of the floors was considered minimal as the average weight was barely 150. Now some weigh 200, 210, who knows. Also mankind has become taller.

@brewted 7 ай бұрын

Its fine leaving it- but it can be fixed by turning those screws in the basement 1/2 turn per week until you straighten the beam. This will translate to the 2nd floor, but not 2+ inches. that amount of sag probably includes compression of the first floor structure. You do NOT have to rip up flooring to do this. Doing it slowly will minimize the COSMETIC side effects. I would straighten/level the main beam and probably leave it there, even if it didn't fix the sag 100%. Ask This Old house had a good example of this, cant find it right now ...

@JordyLaundrie Ай бұрын

This makes me feel a lot better about sagging floors in my house. I have anxiety (and vertigo) so sagging floors have bothered me. You explained well how old houses (ours is 110 years old) have sagging floors sometimes, and that can be okay. It doesn’t mean the house is going to turn into a pile of rubble in an instant or that I will suddenly fall through the floor. 😂

@homerehabpros9617 Ай бұрын

That is true. It is worth an inspection, but I see a LOT of homes like this and they have been that way for decades without falling down. Glad I could help

@MVortex2 Жыл бұрын

Our first house was built in 1894, two story Victorian with a walkup attic. Sometime in the early 70's, they moved the entire staircase from the center of the house to the side, much like a side-by-side home or row home would be built. Whoever did it failed to support the second floor where it was cut out, including the basement beams where it was opened up. As a result, the second floor was sagging by nearly 7" around the staircase area. We were young an inexperienced and our home inspector was incredibly incompetent - this should have been caught and absolutely disclosed. I eventually found time to rip open the entire ceiling and then we decided to jack up the entire floor with 8-10 jacks and bolt in an engineered beam. This fixed most of the problem, when we let the jacks down, the floor came down about 1/2" and the door was out of whack again but not nearly as bad. The drywallers made the ceiling perfect. End of the day, it was worth it. I have pics of the huge blacksmith-made nails they pounded into to absolutely nothing.

@homerehabpros9617 Жыл бұрын

What a great story. I would have loved to seen the house and been a part of the fix. And in your case with a 7” drop I would have definitely recommended the fix. GOOD JOB and THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR WATCHING.

@Breezeyogi 7 ай бұрын

Wow. That's precisely my situation, which I'm planning/saving to fix in the Spring. Thx

@Unclebobs2 Жыл бұрын

Ok I will never complain about my floors being 1/4” saggy, and a little squeaky!

@homerehabpros9617 Жыл бұрын

LOL, boy isn’t that the truth.

@francesmingo7623 4 ай бұрын

Yeah, I got caught with that crap. Bought a house didn’t feel any problems six years down the road I decided to put down new floor, took up the carpet and put down laminate flooring. The people who installed the laminate flooring did not say anything one day I’m walking on the floor in my spare bedrooms and the floor gives. This is frightening. Now I have to repair my floors on my second floor. My house is on a concrete slab. I would never do this to someone and be so dishonest.

@homerehabpros9617 4 ай бұрын

Thanks for the comment. Sorry about what you went through. It’s sad that people are so dishonest.

@lialualex 2 ай бұрын

Is this type of job covered by insurance?

@Matt-e2j 3 күн бұрын

@@lialualex No

@blitz_blizzard1013 5 ай бұрын

I put wood beams under mine to fix the sag. i figured dont try to jack it up because it might wrecked the sheet rock up stairs. I have that same issue i. My 1960s house. Almost the same set up as well . To bad they didnt put more beams in These basements

@martinwhite418 2 ай бұрын

I don't understand. You had a sag, but didn't raise the sag? How or what does this fix?

@mirageleung5613 Ай бұрын

Thank you for the insight. I'm an idiot and knew nothing about this when we bought our place. At the time our realtor just said, "Oh just pour some self leveling concrete". So very stupid question, but we had the entire second floor leveled with self leveling concrete and one of the dips was up to 1.5" in small section of the house. But do you think the added weight would make things worse over time for a 35 year old house?

@homerehabpros9617 Ай бұрын

I would trace the sagging to its cause…in the video we saw that it transferred all the way to the structural beam in the basement…I would add a steel column or two to that support of it is evident that it has sagged any. Also I would monitor the situation every so often to make sure that nothing is moving. Put a level to the floor every so often, watch the walls at door openings and trim at the floor to see if cracks are starting or getting worse. You should be ok, but if obvious movement is happening then you should call a contractor in to inspect it.

@tifacola 7 ай бұрын

My house is 7yo with a 1.5” sag under a kitchen island bigger than most people’s kitchen. 24’ uninterrupted floor trusses. No cracked tile. It’s so weird!

@homerehabpros9617 6 ай бұрын

Have you thought about putting some posts under the joists to stop the movement?

@tifacola 6 ай бұрын

No. It would wreck the open concept layout in the walk out basement living area. I was thinking 40’ steel beam with new footings at the ends.

@homerehabpros9617 6 ай бұрын

@@tifacola engineered LVL beams might be a better choice

@tifacola 4 ай бұрын

@@homerehabpros9617 can I put that under open web floor trusses? Pretty sure I have HVAC and plumbing running through them.

@omarvelazquez2955 7 ай бұрын

My house is at a similar situation built in 1890 structural engineer just said live with it

@homerehabpros9617 7 ай бұрын

Yup…as long as you can stabilize it so it doesn’t get worse….just leave it alone.

@Breezeyogi 7 ай бұрын

Structural Engineer said the sane thing to me, then two months later it got worse.

@cwhite8860 Жыл бұрын

Yes thank you this is good video! Question, won't this have to be repaired at some point? Will the new buyers need to repair this issue or just leave it?

@homerehabpros9617 Жыл бұрын

Repairs…or really rebuilding the second floor floor only needs to be repaired if you want to. I probably would want to in time. But as long as it is stabilized and the movement has stopped you could choose to live with it for quite some time.

@MrsWokeNow Жыл бұрын

What would the average cost of repairs be should they keep the house?

@homerehabpros9617 Жыл бұрын

Thanks for asking … there are a couple options. Of course just stabilizing and stopping the movement would only cost a thousand or two. To fix the sag would require a full removal of the carpet, subfloor upstairs and then new floor joists to level up. Without really spending time on an estimate I would say starting around $10,000 without any surprises

@MrsWokeNow Жыл бұрын

@@homerehabpros9617 OMG got a quote for about that price. Thank you soo much. Really appreciate your expertise.

@denniscole7933 Жыл бұрын

@@MrsWokeNow thanks for the vote of confidence. Hope your project goes well

@ineedhoez 4 ай бұрын

@homerehabpros9617 thank you so much for this information because I have been trying to get an understanding of what my potential costs are looking like but nobody wants to tell me the price.

@atarileaf Жыл бұрын

They have to disclose this to the buyer?

@denniscole7933 Жыл бұрын

I certainly would but I would also discuss the stabilization that was done in the basement. And by the way GRREAT question.

@ineedhoez 4 ай бұрын

Yeah but they won't

@River_dawg 4 ай бұрын

@@ineedhoezAny decent home inspector would see the red jacks and know what to look for. Not to mention, the buyer will most likely notice the jacks and ask about it when they tour the basement.

@tjlivejaxkson231 6 ай бұрын

so lemme get this straight...the cost is passed to the buyer!!! I am going through this they said nothing of this sag that caused by termite damage to a joist, they put blocks obviously new in the crawl space floor still sags, and has some active termites.. did you tell the potential buyers about this??? people are so dishonest

@homerehabpros9617 6 ай бұрын

Oh yes everyone was full informed about the sag, the cause, and the potential repairs. Also there was NO termite damage. If you are dealing with termite damage that is a completely different issue and if you are the buyer you should speak to your agent about disclosure rights.

@tjlivejaxkson231 6 ай бұрын

@@homerehabpros9617 I got into an argument with my agent, she said there is no active termites i said your professional told me it is and he noted it in his documentation...so then says so the owners said they give you credit to fix it.. keep the termite people coming month after month well...I did not see that on the disclosure i would have passed , she well your not going to get you money back.. I said we see about that in court disclosure like termites are to be disclosed in NC they did not i bought in and want the 1000 back for due diligence, i never made an offer if they said there was termites damage and sagging floors!! I sent letter to owners letting them know i want my due diligence back based on they did not disclose termites.. I am prepared for court, if i go to court i putting the amount i paid for all inspections another 800 Buyer beware it like used car sale out here!

@ineedhoez 4 ай бұрын

Yep. Don't mess around and have a terrible buyer's agent who doesn't know anything and tells you everything is fine. Also, don't hire two additional Foundation inspectors to come out and tell you everything is fine. You must get a structural engineer to come out and do an an assessment. I don't care if it costs $2,000, do it. I paid 375 for him to come out and he called out everything. Unfortunately, this was after

@TheTarrMan 2 ай бұрын

> "sell the house" > * going to bed in my saggy house now watching home improvement videos *

@homerehabpros9617 2 ай бұрын

Sorry you’re dealing with that. Thanks for watching though.

@vanni9283 Жыл бұрын

You'd think an earthquake hit that house with that cracked ceramic tile!!!

@homerehabpros9617 Жыл бұрын

I have seen a whole lot worse.

@vanni9283 Жыл бұрын

@@homerehabpros9617 I saw a goofy pic this morning on my Facebook feed of a kitchen tiling job that literally looked like a wave!!!

@maxslomoff Жыл бұрын

Thanks! What’s the most you can jack up if 2.25 is too much? I have a single story stucco exterior and one corner has sunk about that much. What if you jack it up .25 a week or something and let it settle in between?

@homerehabpros9617 Жыл бұрын

Hey maxslomoff, thanks for the question. 2.25 inches is quite a bit. Your idea is a good one to try 1/4 of an inch each a week at a time. The truth is though that the basement beam may not bend back into shape. You want to be careful not to lift the entire beam and cause problems at the bearing ends. Make sure you have the correct steel posts that you can adjust as you jack the beam. And please be careful when you jack the beam. You will need several jacks and posts depending on the length of your beam so you put consistent pressure on the process.

@homerehabpros9617 Жыл бұрын

@@nihonguSan That is not necessarily the case. Many factors. The beam in the basement may not jack up to straighten that would mean that the ends will go up and the belly of the beam my stay curved which would cause other issues. Also, there have been repairs made and jacking the beam may cause cracks and damage to several walls and ceilings. All in all the shape of the beam now may not be fixable without changing out the beam. If you want to do that then you build temporary support on both sides of the beam in the basement, jack the center of the house up, remove the old curved beam, put a new beam in and lower the house down.

@homerehabpros9617 Жыл бұрын

@@nihonguSan most all houses with A basement have at least 1 bearing beam that goes the whole length of the house. I would make sure you have enough posts under the beam to keep it from getting worse