House Relevelling – How to Level a House on Stumps
October 25, 2021 // BMSA Footing Solutions
Having a floor that’s not level in a home can be stressful. Homeowners find dips and sags unattractive (and unsafe) and a floor that slopes from one end to the other can make a home seem off. For homeowners, it’s a frustrating problem that can feel nearly impossible to remedy. And for project managers and engineers, it can be a problem that overrides an entire project.
While ‘wonky’ floors are certainly a common problem in old homes, particularly old wooden homes, they’re also a fixable one. In fact, when it comes to the question “how to level a house on stumps” it can be done, and it can be done well particularly with the new cutting-edge and innovative products available today from BMSA Footing Solutions.
What Causes An Unlevel House?
Generally speaking, a house or other structure will require releveling when the soil beneath the foundations subsides causing areas of the home’s footprint to sink under the weight of the structure.
House Re-Levelling: How to Re-level Uneven Floors in Old Houses
Re-levelling a house is a complex process that addresses uneven floors by replacing or adjusting the house stumps and / or bearers.
When it comes to level uneven floors in old houses there are a few techniques to consider. And how you tackle the solution depends on the specific problem.
Floor Problem #1—Floors that Slope
Floors that slope or slant in one direction are fairly common in old homes. In this situation, the floor itself might be relatively flat, but simply lower by quite a bit on one particular side or corner. Many times, this happens as the result of subsiding stumps, particularly in older homes that might have originally been built on wooden stumps.
Floor Problem #2—Floors that Sag or Dip
In this case, you might have a floor that is level at both ends, but that has sags or dips at various points in the room. When you have this problem, it may be caused by the weakening of the joists or beams below your floor. Or it may be that stumps under those particular areas are failing to provide the necessary support. This is particularly common in older homes that rely on multiple upright stumps rather than central steel beams.
Techniques for How to Level Uneven Floors in Old Houses
Floors that Slope
If you’re considering a correction to an existing sloping floor, it’s important to note that this exercise is quite complex. Your initial starting point is the house needs to be raised to enable the restumping contractors to evaluate the foundations of the property and the ground upon which the house sits.
Secondly, upon a successful restumping evaluation the recommendation moving forward would be the installation of adjustable house stumps in order to ensure the leveling process of sloping floors in the future is a more simplistic exercise.
StumpRite House Stumps are adjustable house stumps that allow you to level a floor extremely accurately without the need for hydraulic jacks or packers. This makes house restumping (and floor leveling!) much faster. And being able to adjust the house stumps faster, with fewer steps and with fewer tradesmen, allows you to cut down on labour and costs, giving you and the homeowner a fantastic result and more value for less.
Find Out More About Adjustable House Stumps
Floors that Sag or Dip
When you have a floor that sags or dips you can take a couple of approaches for levelling. First, you could pour a self-levelling underlay, but this is not always suitable for old homes with wooden upper-level floors.
You could also lay down new hardwood over the existing floor. This can bridge any sags or dips in the existing floor as long as you ensure that the joists in the home can handle the addition of a lot more weight from the new floor. This is often an expensive task and one that can ruin the original character features (such as pine flooring) in old homes—something many homeowners won’t like.
Another technique is to sister or prop up the joists. Sistering the joists involves jacking up sagging joists until they are level and then mating them with new boards that can support the weaker board. Propping up joists is simply affixing a steel column that can secure and level the floor.
With this last technique, you have the benefit again of modern, innovative adjustable house stumps that can do this job more simply and efficiently. Cutting-edge products, like our StumpRite House Stumps, save you time and money and let you level the house by sistering and propping easily and effectively. And because you can get a range of tops for the stumps, this method suits almost all bearer arrangements and ensures that when you want to know how to level uneven floors in old houses, you’ll have the best options available to you.
Find Out More About StumpRite House Stumps
What About Renovating Old Houses? Or New Builds?
How to level uneven floors in old houses should be something homeowners think about whenever they’re renovating an older home, even if they haven’t noticed particular floor problems. And project managers and engineers will certainly be doing the same. After all, renovations can change the weight distribution of the home, and impact on foundations that aren’t strong enough. It’s well worth exploring flooring before any renovations to ensure you don’t develop problems in the future.
And of course, ensuring a level floor is vital with all new builds. Adjustable stumps (like our StumpRite House Stumps) can help you build almost anywhere with ease and efficiency.
Foundation Problems Should be Taken Seriously
An uneven floor isn’t just annoying for homeowners (though it’s that as well). It can also be a symptom of serious foundation problems. And all foundation problems should be inspected and diagnosed by an expert.
Give us a call. Our team of experts are ready to help determine the best solution for how to level uneven floors in old houses. And with the best products available, you’ll be able to bring every old home you work with into the future while maintaining its beautiful and unique character features.
Wondering how to level uneven floors in old houses? Get in touch today and one of our specialist personnel will be very pleased to provide you with the best solutions for your specific needs. Call us on 1300 809 565 or get in touch online.