Floors pushing up and causing humps

reneechurchill

I live in a 1960's conventional foundation house in the south. the past 5 years or so during the summer my floors have been pushing up in certain sections of the house. I'm not sure what the problem is or how to fix it. I've got to do something before I trip over the hump. I can provide pictures if needed.

joecaption

Picture are always nice.
We also need to know what's on the joist on up. How many layers, what thickness and what material.

Is there a full basement or just a crawl space.
If it's a crawl space is there a 6 mi. plastic vaper barrier on the ground?

allthumbsdiy

it might be pushing up or the other sections might be sagging...

reneechurchill

It's just a tongue and groove subfloor with floorcovering such as carpet or vinyl over the subfloor. It also has a crawl space. We don't have a vaper barrier. I was told that that might help, but they weren't really sure. The house was built by my great grandparents and the problem has never occurred before. I've been trying to figure out what the difference is. They only thing I can think of is that the house hasn't always had central a/c. It was put in after my great grandmother moved out to get ready to rent. I don't remember this happening during the time it was rented, but it could have and no one said anything. It goes down during the winter when we stop using the a/c and comes back up when the a/c is turned on. My husband likes it arctic cold in the house.

Ok, I just went under the house (somewhat). I didn't go too far as it just smaller and I didn't want to crawl around under the house while I was home alone. Yes, I'm a scaredy cat when it comes to things in dark damp tight spaces. Anyway I found a couple of things. One is that the a/c unit drains under the house. It doesn't have far to go to go out and is easy to get to so it should be an easy fix. But that doesn't seem to be the only problem. I need to be educated as to how the floor joists need to be. I don't really know what I'm looking at. Here are some photos. I will try and get my husband to crawl up under there later and get more photos.

allthumbsdiy

where do have the bump in relation to your pictures?

i also see a lapped joint (beam) that really should have a support underneath it.

that drain from your ac really should be piped to outside

joecaption

Good job with the pictures, It's not that easy trying to take them in the dark like that.
And good eye, it's very bad to have that condinsate drain line installed like that I would raise hel* about it to the HVAC company that did a hack job like that. And your right it needs to be run outside ASAP. Just make sure the line runs down hil and is fully supported, PVC likes to sag when run horizontal.
You also have a couple other issures. one is you now have wood eating fungus growing under there. Al the wood needs to be treated with a boric acid solition, Any exterminator company can do it.
You also have old galvinized pipes with at some point are going to leak and by now are all closed up on the inside redusing flow.

Where's the foundation vents?
All that moisture can very well be causing most of your issues.

reneechurchill

I can't get to the really big hump. There is a small one in one of the images. I will have my husband try and get a picture of the really big one.

I thought something looked funny with the beams. I'm doing some research now.

Yes, the a/c drain was the first thing I noticed and it's an easy fix.

allthumbsdiy

also, in looking at your first picture again, I noticed a 2x? lumber on its side, supporting joists and blocking.

what is the distance between the first beam and this support and the size of your joists?

supporting beams are usually done more like your first beam on its ends, not on its side.

reneechurchill

The a/c was put in by my grandmother before she deceased. It's been that way for a while. It does go down hill and there is a vent hole straight to the back of the house, not far from the drain. I will call the exterminator tomorrow about the fungus. Thanks for that. I wouldn't have known what it was. The galvanized pipe is a gas line. It goes to the heater. Wait til you see my plumbing. My papaw was a plumber and it is crazy. One thing at a time. I will eventually get around replacing the plumbing after I get done with my floor problem and replace the old windows in the house. The vents are in the cinder block foundation.

reneechurchill

I will go back under there later and measure it. I know there was a repair at one time but wasn't sure why. I wasn't involved with the house at the time and my mother has a hard time remembering what was done and why.

joecaption

Gas lines should have been done in black iron not galvinized.

zakany

When you feel uncomfortable doing something, stop.

Never apologize for being safe. Many of us receive confined space training for good reason.

reneechurchill

Yes, it was done a long time ago and like I said my papaw was a plumber/pipefitter and you should see some of the crazy stuff he did at home. They basically used what they had. It works, it's just not pretty or normal. Even my shower curtain rod is a piece of galvanized pipe. It's everywhere. I guess you could say we are true rednecks.

reneechurchill

There's training for that? You would probably laugh if you knew what kind of space I'm talking about. I can literally crawl on my hands and knees. It's not too terribly tight under there. I just want to make sure that someone was there to rescue me if a snake jumped out at me.

reneechurchill

Well it's raining pretty good here and so I didn't get any more pictures. I will work on it again tomorrow and get them posted.