Footer not even with slab

gmanas · 03-25-2008, 06:42 PM

I'm wanting to lay some Bruce laminating flooring throughout the whole house. After pulling up the carpet this is what I found. This is persistent throughout the house's outside walls. Any where from 1/8” to 1/2”. I'd say most is about 1/4" I thought about renting a floor edge grinder but I'm just not sure if that's how this problem should be solved. aside from this the slab looks good everywhere else, no cracks, no wet spots, etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

mike costello · 03-25-2008, 08:31 PM

Probably not what you wanna hear but if you want to do wood that will have to be ground or chipped down

Bud Cline · 03-25-2008, 09:10 PM

.....or floated out a few feet.

mike costello · 03-26-2008, 05:35 PM

At a half inch high it would have to be a few Yeti feet

Bud Cline · 03-26-2008, 05:50 PM

Agreed! That's a friggin mess. I think I would grind a little and float it and go back to carpet.

How old is that structure anyway?

Bill_Vincent · 03-26-2008, 09:16 PM

I had the same problem in the showroom that gives me most of my work. Of course, it was with tile, but I basically solved it the same way-- feathering the floor out about 5 feet. To tell you the truth, I was worried about it, because there was no guarantee that the frost wall was done moving, or that it wouldn't go back down come spring time, but it's been down now for two years, and so far, so good. From where the picture's taken, the frost wall was up about 1 1/4", and the floor's floated out about a foot or two past the logo:

gmanas · 03-29-2008, 08:54 AM

Well I tried the grinder on Friday and man what a mess. I had to stop.

Bud the house is 15 years old. We bought it last year and after moving in we noticed everything we placed up against an outside wall would tilt forward. It was really noticeable in the dining room and the kitchen where the previous owner had installed 6"x6" ceramic tile. I pulled this up over the weekend and it looked like they had used thinset feathered out from the wall about a foot. As you'd imagine it was not helping the problem. One good thing was I asked the neighbor how long the tile had been down and it was there for two years with not one ever cracking breaking loose. I'd say most of the slabs settling is done.

I was thinking of trying backer board thru out the whole house to bring up the floor. Something like 1/4" board and 1/4" x 1/4" hand trial with thinset.
What do you guys think of this idea? Should I or Do I even have to use thinset on the underside of the backer board. I could go with 1/2" backer board and just let it float on the slab. Just not sure what the best option is here. Thank for any help you can provide.

Bud Cline · 03-29-2008, 01:18 PM

Backerboard won't be a good idea.

You could cap the floor with a cement mixture.

Ready-Mix companies can mix what they call "grout" for just such purposes. I have done many grout caps over the years. If you were to re-elevate about two inches that may end the problem. You would need to create expansion jonts where the cracking is now.

Just an idea, shouldn't be too costly.

MD_Tile · 03-31-2008, 03:15 PM

First thing i would do is get a basement/foundation specialist to determine if there is still movement, then possibly consider having the entire place flooded with gyp-crete. if you try to feather it or float any type of flooring over it you will continue to have your furniture and other items tip away from the wall. Gyp-crete is formulated to meet specific requirements, such as leveling, bonding, flexibility etc.

Otherwise your stuck cutting a half inch off the back legs on all your furniture so they sit level.
Good luck!