Sagging House Floors

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.

Sagging house floors.

I can tell that without even seeing it from the description. Many older homes have problems with sloping and sagging floors. And not all structural problems are that big a deal. In my own house for example every floor pitches toward the center stairwell.

There are lots of clues that indicate structural problems in a house. 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. One of the most common complaints of old house owners is sagging floors. Check sag locate the area on the floor where it sags by measuring the height in the room from the floor to.

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. Sagging floors a common problem in old homes have many potential causes. Over time the dirt your house sits atop can compact causing the foundation to sink. Although most floors slope it is important to know how much and why.

Some homeowners when confronted with staggering bills for floor repairs come to terms with their floors. Minor workarounds are possible such as leveling individual elements within the floor tables armoires cabinets etc. These problems can result from open crawl space vents or doors excessive moisture and humidity and wet rotting wood. 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.

Although generally only an annoyance sagging floors can be an indication of worsening problems. 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. Even historic houses have saggy sloping floors. Sagging floors result from failing floor joists in the crawl space underneath your house.

Old houses often have floors that are less than perfect. Foundation repairs are the most expensive reason for sagging floors in old houses. Floors out of level windows and doors sticking or not closing properly bouncy floors or floors that sag in spots in a room. The sagging floor was the symptom and somewhere under the house there had to be a cause.

That house has a structural problem.