Sagging House Floors

Here s a quick review of the most common problems and a few of the typical remedies.

Sagging house floors. In my own house for example every floor pitches toward the center stairwell. These problems can result from open crawl space vents or doors excessive moisture and humidity and wet rotting wood. Sagging floors result from failing floor joists in the crawl space underneath your house. In a lot of cases the owners of these homes simply ignore the problem or pass it off as a normal part of having a classic house.

And not all structural problems are that big a deal. Sagging floors a common problem in old homes have many potential causes. I can tell that without even seeing it from the description. Although most floors slope it is important to know how much and why.

Even historic houses have saggy sloping floors. Many older homes have problems with sloping and sagging floors. Fixing a sagging floor requires patience and construction experience but it can be done. The average person can sense if a floor slopes 1 inch in 10 feet and sloping floors or sagging floors are often one of the warning signs that structural engineers look for when analyzing a house.

That house has a structural problem. Minor workarounds are possible such as leveling individual elements within the floor tables armoires cabinets etc. Some are serious structural issues that require the attention of a contractor while others are more routine cosmetic problems that you can solve yourself if you re a fairly advanced do it yourselfer. Well after doing the navy seal crawl up under the house we found that the joists that were supporting that floor were not actually attached to the sill plate any longer as seen in the photograph below.

Old houses often have floors that are less than perfect. If you have a crawl space foundation which is common in the south a sagging floor often means you have a structural problem with your floor joists or beams. The sagging floor was the symptom and somewhere under the house there had to be a cause. Some homeowners when confronted with staggering bills for floor repairs come to terms with their floors.

Over time the dirt your house sits atop can compact causing the foundation to sink. Although generally only an annoyance sagging floors can be an indication of worsening problems. There are lots of clues that indicate structural problems in a house. Though a sloped floor might indeed bring some character to a house some of the issues that can cause them can lead to other problems down the road.

One of the most common complaints of old house owners is sagging floors.