Crawlspace
Stabilization
Bouncy or unlevel floors, sagging walls, dragging doors — these are all signs of a support problem underneath the home. Schedule your inspection today.
Why floors
bounce or sag
There are primarily three reasons floors are bouncy or sag:
- Over-spanning of the floor framing system
- Improper support, or a lack of support
- High moisture content in the wood
Symptoms we see
in homes
Crawlspace support failure is gradual, so people adapt to it without noticing. If a visitor comments on your floors, take it seriously.
A dip toward the center
Set a ball on the floor and watch where it goes. Movement toward the middle of the house points squarely at the central girder line.
Bounce or spring underfoot
Floors that move when you walk past a china cabinet have lost effective support, whether from pier settlement or from joists that have lost strength.
Gaps at baseboard and trim
When the floor drops away from the wall, trim separates. It shows up first at interior partition walls that sit over the girder.
Doors that swing open on their own
An interior door that will not stay where you put it is a good indication that its frame is no longer plumb, because the floor beneath it has moved.
Doors that stick or drag
When the floor under a doorway drops, the frame is pulled out of square and the door starts catching on the frame or dragging on the floor.
Questions we
get asked
Can my floor be made perfectly level again?
Usually it can be improved substantially, and often a great deal. Whether it goes all the way back to level depends on how long it has been sagging and what has been finished on top of it since.
How long does the work take?
Most crawlspace support jobs run one to three days on site, sometimes longer.
Keep reading
Crawlspace Encapsulation
Fix the moisture that rotted the framing, or you will be back under there again.
ReadFoundation Repair
When the movement is in the foundation itself rather than the floor system above it.
ReadCrawlspace Drainage
Water at the base of your piers is what softened the soil they bear on.
ReadGet your floors
measured properly
Elevation readings across the whole floor, a look at every support in the crawlspace, and a written plan for bringing it back. No charge for the inspection.