Pier & Beam Foundation Problem

Q: Is there anyway I can stabilize wobbly areas in my house without having to pay a foundation company $2,000 to do the whole house? I need to do this until I can save up enough to pay a pro.

A: You are going to have to tell us more about the problem. Are the piers crumbling? Are the beams cracked? What are the piers made of? Do they sit on footings? How high off the ground are you?

Q: From what I can see in some areas the cement blocks have moved and are no longer stabilizing the outer area's of the house. I don't know about the beams, I can't see way under the house. As far as how high I am above the ground....at the front of the house I am pretty close to the ground, but the ground slopes and by the time you get the back of the house I would say we are about 3 feet or a little more off the ground.

A: There are some pages that I have put together on my website for jacking up homes, follow the link. However, those pages are based on jacking in the basement or crawlspace and you really don't have room to do that. You need solid ground to do the jacking, in your case you will need to rent some steel plates about 4' square, at least 3/4" thick to place on the ground. Place the steel plates on the ground, remove any grass or loam and place the jack on the plate under the house about 2' from the problem. Jack until the jack is tight, then jack about an 1/8" at a time until the building is off the current support and being supported by the jack. You will then have to dig down to install a footer, and then a column to support the structure, the following page is for deck foundations, but the it applies to a home as well. http://www.renovation-headquarters.com/deck-foundation.htm. The columns have to be level, I suggest you use a laser level, they are relatively inexpensive. You have to be extremely careful, the house is only supported by the jack and you will be digging, don't allow yourself to be under the structure unless you are a 110% sure that it is stable.

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Do We Have To Level Our House?‏

Q: We have a very old house that of course has settled unevenly over the years. Actually there is just one spot in the middle that seems to have sunk. My question is after we get it stabilized (by using a jack) do we need to jack it back up to level, or can we just leave it like it is? We will be replacing all the windows and siding, so I thought they could just cheat when they put them up and make them level within the framework that's there. There is only two interior doors that are affected and they just need a little taken off the bottom.

A: Never do half a job! Jack the floor up to level. You will have no end of problems in the future.

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Jacking Up A Floor

Q: I have noticed the house settling really bad on one side. It is mainly the living room and back bedroom. It has gotten so bad that you can notice how it slopes down as you walk through the hall really bad. I have been going to work on the attic area and get it fixed up for livable space and just went up there to check things out and noticed even that space over the living room and back bedroom is also sloping really bad. So I went to the basement to see if I can find out what happened. And it really scared me.

The basement is kind of like a full basement where there is about the size of a room cemented in and can be walked around in. The heat and air unit and washer and dryer go down there. Well in 4 areas are these really heavy large poles that are screwed into the cement floor and go all the way up to the top to keep the floor level above. Well one of the post has gotten old and fallen out of the square thing it was in that is screwed to the floor. I don't think I can use any of the parts that have fallen since it is kind of damp down there at times when we get a lot of rain. So it is pretty much rusted out and ruined.

The other 3 still look like they are in good shape. But how do I get the floor leveled back out without that pole? I thought maybe I could get a really heavy board and beat it with a hammer until I get it in the area. But I don't know if that would work. And I know the jacks that are sold in the stores would never go that high. I could put some jacks back in the back where there is dirt that wasn't finished. It is just about 3 feet back there. Which is actually only about 4 feet from where the post was so it may work. If the dirt under the jack doesn't give, which it probably won't since it is like concrete back there it is so hard. But then I don't know if I have the strength to push on a jack and get it to go up and level the floor. Are they really hard to get up? I am really worried about the house staying this way too long. And I don't have a man around to help give me extra strength.

A: By "the jacks that are sold in stores" do you mean the ones for cars? Those are not tall enough, but there are special jacks used for houses that consist of a column with a built-in threaded extension that are used for jacking up basement beams. You install one next to the broken column and jack it up very slowly, over a period of several weeks, until the height is where it's supposed to be. Then you put in a new column to replace the jack. From the way you're talking, it doesn't sound as though this would be a do-it-yourself job for you, but a contractor could do it easily.

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Repacing The Foundation On An Addition

Q: My wife and I have been working almost non-stop to fix up our little hovel to make it a comfortable retirement cottage. At this point we're focusing on the exterior. It's got old clapboard siding that we've been scraping old, priming and painting (and fixing up when the need arises).

There's a small addition that was built onto the house some time ago and the folks that did it didn't do a very good job of providing sufficient foundation or footing for it. It has since fallen away from the main house at the top by almost four or five inches and the floor inside is very un-level. We're thinking of jacking it up and working on the support to level it out, but haven't done this kind of job before. Any ideas on how we should go about doing this (including things not to do) would be greatly welcomed.

A: You have to be very careful when jacking up an addition as the addition is joined to the main house and you can do major damage to the areas where the two buildings are attached to one another. Without seeing the addition the best method, if logistics allow, is to run a temporary beam under the outside edge (inset the thickness of the foundation) of the addition, longer than the addition and jack the building from under the ends of that beam. That gives you full clearance under the building to rebuild the foundation and basement floor.

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Jacking A Damaged Beam

Q. I need to replace the beam in my basement that fell. Do I need a jack to jack it up first and then put a jack stand in? I can't tell if jack stand has a jack made in it or not.

A. The top plate of the jack stand is connected to a threaded rod. Although you can use it to jack up the beam it is hard, because you must place a wrench on the joint where the thread sits in the jack post.

It is easier to use a hydraulic jack to do the actual jacking - you can rent them at most rental stores. Once the beam is jacked into position, you insert the jack in the link you sent and tighten it snug.

Q. Oh are the jacks I can rent long enough to go from the floor in the basement to the top, which is about 8 feet? I am trying to replace that metal post that fell down. I know I can do it I just am not sure of all the tools I need to do it with.

A. No the jacks will not have a long enough cylinder to reach 8'. I would recommend you get a piece of 6 x 6 after you rent the jack - you have to know how high the jack is before you will know the length of the 6 x 6, it will be 8' less the height of the jack. Make sure everything is level and perpendicular before you start jacking.

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