Joined
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1 Posts
Hello All!
This is my first post - i've been lurking around for month and I just had to join to pitch in and also pick brains.
We live in Ontario, Canada - me and my future wife :huh: just bought an older house by the lake here in Ontario.
The house was built in three sections and started off as a cottage. I'll try my best to explain everything - forgive my lack of knowledge - i'm handy but i am still learning!
The first section was built in 1968 - then in the mid eighties a step down living room was built - then also, around the mid eighties - an apartment was added over the garage and the majority of the origional house.
The house is three bedrooms and 2 bathrooms in the main house and three bedrooms and 1 bathroom in the apratment over the house.
The house sits on a crawlspace area with access from the suken living room.
The crawlspace under the living room was built well and is about 3 -4 feet off the ground and is sitting on cinderblocks - it all seems OK under that section of the house - the floors are straight and seems to have been built well.
The MAIN house (two stories) is interesting...
The crawlspace is all sand and is maybe 6-10" off of the ground. There is NO access from crawlsapce to that section of the house - the ground is just way to close to the joists.
Needless to say - no service has been done down there since it was built - there is no way anyone could have fit down there.
The main section is about 35 feet long from end to end - maybe more - i will update with the exact measurements later on when i get to the house.
There is one center support beam that runs the entire length of the house - directly down the middle - there are joists every 16" that run over the main beam.
The main beam consists of three 2x10's all bolted together
The crawlspace is heated so the wood is dry - there is no sign of rott or water damage to any of the wood that i can see.
The main beam is supported on one end of the house with cinder blocks and bricks and at the rear of the house with a brick on top of a scrap piece of 2x10...
Needless to say - the beam is sagging in the ceter of the house and has caused the floors to sag - according to a laser level - we're looking at about 3" of sag - give or take.
2 X 10's need to be supported every 15' - but with the age of the house and the stress on the wood - i'd like to place supports every 8 feet.
I have an advantage - I have to rip all of flooring out in every room except for the kitchen - reason being.....they layed hardwood directly on the joists - no subflooring - nothing.
I will have the entire center main beam exposed from from to back to front with removing the flooring. I was thinking about digging 24x24x24 footings and pouring concrete as a jack pad - i'll have to dig quite a bit down under the beam since it is so close to the ground. From there i was going to use 20t bottle jacks and jack over 1 week until I have it close to where i want it and then supporting with cinderblocks and bricks/shims and then removing the bottle jacks. Maybe even adding additional 2x10 supports around the sections where the main beam 2x10s were joined.
Does anyone have any tips or suggestions? can it even be done? The sag is mostly in the center of the house where the kitchen is - the mainfloor kitchen is exactly where the upstairs kitchen is - there is plenty of weight in that area.
We were going to jack the beam up straight - then place a good thick vapor barier on over the dirt/sand in the crawlspace - then install subflooring and our flooring.
Any tips / suggestions / advise?
I was thinking of using the thickest plastic sheeting i can find at homedepot for the vapor barrier and 3/4" tongue and groove plywood.
Any advise is good advise!
This is my first post - i've been lurking around for month and I just had to join to pitch in and also pick brains.
We live in Ontario, Canada - me and my future wife :huh: just bought an older house by the lake here in Ontario.
The house was built in three sections and started off as a cottage. I'll try my best to explain everything - forgive my lack of knowledge - i'm handy but i am still learning!
The first section was built in 1968 - then in the mid eighties a step down living room was built - then also, around the mid eighties - an apartment was added over the garage and the majority of the origional house.
The house is three bedrooms and 2 bathrooms in the main house and three bedrooms and 1 bathroom in the apratment over the house.
The house sits on a crawlspace area with access from the suken living room.
The crawlspace under the living room was built well and is about 3 -4 feet off the ground and is sitting on cinderblocks - it all seems OK under that section of the house - the floors are straight and seems to have been built well.
The MAIN house (two stories) is interesting...
The crawlspace is all sand and is maybe 6-10" off of the ground. There is NO access from crawlsapce to that section of the house - the ground is just way to close to the joists.
Needless to say - no service has been done down there since it was built - there is no way anyone could have fit down there.
The main section is about 35 feet long from end to end - maybe more - i will update with the exact measurements later on when i get to the house.
There is one center support beam that runs the entire length of the house - directly down the middle - there are joists every 16" that run over the main beam.
The main beam consists of three 2x10's all bolted together
The crawlspace is heated so the wood is dry - there is no sign of rott or water damage to any of the wood that i can see.
The main beam is supported on one end of the house with cinder blocks and bricks and at the rear of the house with a brick on top of a scrap piece of 2x10...
Needless to say - the beam is sagging in the ceter of the house and has caused the floors to sag - according to a laser level - we're looking at about 3" of sag - give or take.
2 X 10's need to be supported every 15' - but with the age of the house and the stress on the wood - i'd like to place supports every 8 feet.
I have an advantage - I have to rip all of flooring out in every room except for the kitchen - reason being.....they layed hardwood directly on the joists - no subflooring - nothing.
I will have the entire center main beam exposed from from to back to front with removing the flooring. I was thinking about digging 24x24x24 footings and pouring concrete as a jack pad - i'll have to dig quite a bit down under the beam since it is so close to the ground. From there i was going to use 20t bottle jacks and jack over 1 week until I have it close to where i want it and then supporting with cinderblocks and bricks/shims and then removing the bottle jacks. Maybe even adding additional 2x10 supports around the sections where the main beam 2x10s were joined.
Does anyone have any tips or suggestions? can it even be done? The sag is mostly in the center of the house where the kitchen is - the mainfloor kitchen is exactly where the upstairs kitchen is - there is plenty of weight in that area.
We were going to jack the beam up straight - then place a good thick vapor barier on over the dirt/sand in the crawlspace - then install subflooring and our flooring.
Any tips / suggestions / advise?
I was thinking of using the thickest plastic sheeting i can find at homedepot for the vapor barrier and 3/4" tongue and groove plywood.
Any advise is good advise!