Sloping and Uneven Floors - What Does It Mean and What Can You Do?
Are the floors in your home sloping or noticeably uneven? If you have sinking or sloping floors, you may have also noticed other problems in your home, including cracks in drywall and jamming doors. If the floor is over a crawl space, this issue is often accompanied by mold problems as well.
Here are some signs that your uneven floors could actually be signaling a foundation problem with your home:
- Sinking or heaving concrete slabs
- A floor that sags towards the center of the house
- Interior doors jamming
- Floor cracks
- Mold and/or rot in your crawl space
Uneven floors are rarely caused by problems with the floor itself. The cause is usually settling or shifting of the foundation underneath the floors. If the floor beams and joists are made from wood, like the ones above a crawl space, they will usually bend rather than crack. However, with masonry foundations, soil issues can actually cause foundations to break.
The floor joists above a typical crawl space are supported by the perimeter wall of the crawl space’s foundation and by a post or beam in the center of the crawl space. It’s common for this center support to settle and sag if it wasn’t properly built in the first place. Moisture in a dirt floor crawl space can also cause the wood to rot and in turn the beams may collapse. As the structure of the crawl space begins to sag, the floor above it will sag as well.
Other signs that a sagging crawl space is causing your floor issue are:
- Interior wall cracks
- Jamming doors
- Gaps between walls or doors and the floor underneath
At Connecticut Basement Systems, we can quickly and effectively repair a crawl space structural issue with our crawl space jacks. These jacks are adjustable steel posts that will stabilize the sagging structure and push a sagging floor back towards its original – and level – position.
Since masonry is more likely to break than bend, concrete floors that are uneven are generally cracked or broken as well. If your foundation is settling, it may be lifting your concrete floor as it moves. Concrete floors can also lift or sink if the soil underneath them shrinks, settles or washes away. On the other hand, a concrete slab can lift or “heave” if the soil underneath expands as well.
Slab floors that are sinking independently of the walls like this, can be repaired with a slab pier system. The piers are placed in cored holes in the floor, extending down to more stable soil to hold the floor in place. They can even be used to lift a slab back to its original position.
Foundation heave is a complicated problem but no matter what kinds of problems you may be experiencing; our in-house team of foundation experts are here to help. We offer free, personal consultations to help you decide which repair solution is right for you. Each consultation includes an on-site inspection and free written estimate.
