Depending upon the conditions it is possible to strengthen or repair existing framing members such as floor joists or roof rafters by adding reinforcing material sandwiching the member on either side with plywood is sometimes worthwhile but the plywood must be installed correctly for greatest strength.
Floor sag addition.
But larger is not always better when builders are constructing a home or adding a room addition.
A sagging floor from home settling will cause bigger problems than just the floor.
A sagging floor is almost always a sign of a structural problem and can be the first sign of a sinking foundation that will lead to more damage.
In addition to the floor being bouncy or spongy you may see cracks in the tile or grout if it s a tile floor or hear a snapping or creaking sound if its a laminated type of floor.
The cause of these may be the same or may be different.
Common sense tells you that large floor joists can carry more load and spacing joists closer together also increases the load bearing capacity of a floor.
Sloping floors verses sagging floors.
Thre ways to fix a sagging or sloping floor.
Foundation issues deteriorating wood supports especially sills which rest on the foundation footer improperly installed joists or sub floors and other issues can all cause a floor to slope or sag.
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.
This is an obvious problem considering the fact.
The settling can be very damaging to your foundation as a whole especially if it s settling more on one side than the other.
These terms are related and a sagging floor actually has a slope from each side of the sag.
On the top side of the floor another fix it idea to lay down new hardwood over the existing floor.
Sagging floor issues often relates to framing issues or the loads that the floors are carrying.
In addition to foundation problems termite infestations wood rot waterproofing.
At times there may be spongy floors that appear to slope or sag as well as being spongy.
There are several problems that can cause a sagging or sloping floor which is one of the reasons why fixing a sloping floor is difficult.
A plywood subfloor will bridge any minor waves in the existing floor and leveling compound would help too.
But if there s a sag somewhere in the middle the floor is not in plane even though it s technically level.
Depending on the cause fixing a sagging floor can be pricey because the floor itself probably isn t the problem.
It s incredibly important to pay attention to the home settling issues you re having regardless of how bad it looks from the.
The sagging floor was the symptom and somewhere under the house there had to be a cause.