Sagging floor

Daniel Holzman said:

If you are looking for a useful opinion as to options and costs, you will need to supply a lot more information. Inquiring minds would likely want to know:

1. Size, spacing and span of the floor joists
2. How many inches are they sagging and where
3. How are the floor joists currently supported
4. How much working room is there underneath the floor joists

You would of course have to make measurements for this information. Making accurate measurements of the sag of a floor joist is not as simple as it sounds. I usually use a fluid level, accurate to about 1/8 inch, to measure deflection inside a house. However, bear in mind that measuring deflection of a floor is not the same as measuring deflection of the joist. To measure the joist, you can use a laser level along the bottom of each joist, then measure the deflection of the bottom of the joist along the laser line.

All of this may be difficult in a foreclosure, especially if the bank refuses to allow you to have unrestricted access to the underside of the house.

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