Comments on: Can I fix my slanting wood floors? I called a structural engineer… http://www.iboughtaduplex.com/general-day-to-day-landlord/can-i-fix-my-slanting-floors-i-called-a-structural-engineer.php "Are you sure you can handle managing something like that?" Well, there's one sure way to find out... Thu, 01 Jul 2010 01:38:07 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: landlady http://www.iboughtaduplex.com/general-day-to-day-landlord/can-i-fix-my-slanting-floors-i-called-a-structural-engineer.php/comment-page-1#comment-68812 landlady Tue, 17 Feb 2009 04:48:03 +0000 http://www.iboughtaduplex.com/general-day-to-day-landlord/can-i-fix-my-slanting-floors-theyre-very-very-slanted-and-im-kind-of-worried.php#comment-68812 Thanks for the info, Andrewa. This may work for some people in the southern part of the U.S., where it's warm year-round. Unfortunately, I'm located in the Midwest, where the temperatures are below freezing for most of the winter. Most houses here have either a full basement, or at least a crawl-space that goes below the frost line. Thanks for the info, Andrewa. This may work for some people in the southern part of the U.S., where it’s warm year-round. Unfortunately, I’m located in the Midwest, where the temperatures are below freezing for most of the winter. Most houses here have either a full basement, or at least a crawl-space that goes below the frost line.

]]> By: andrewa http://www.iboughtaduplex.com/general-day-to-day-landlord/can-i-fix-my-slanting-floors-i-called-a-structural-engineer.php/comment-page-1#comment-68744 andrewa Mon, 16 Feb 2009 21:57:49 +0000 http://www.iboughtaduplex.com/general-day-to-day-landlord/can-i-fix-my-slanting-floors-theyre-very-very-slanted-and-im-kind-of-worried.php#comment-68744 Sorry. Didnt make myself clear. Continue the process all the way round the house till you reach your starting point. Sorry. Didnt make myself clear. Continue the process all the way round the house till you reach your starting point.

]]> By: andrewa http://www.iboughtaduplex.com/general-day-to-day-landlord/can-i-fix-my-slanting-floors-i-called-a-structural-engineer.php/comment-page-1#comment-68743 andrewa Mon, 16 Feb 2009 21:55:52 +0000 http://www.iboughtaduplex.com/general-day-to-day-landlord/can-i-fix-my-slanting-floors-theyre-very-very-slanted-and-im-kind-of-worried.php#comment-68743 If you dont have a basement you could do what we do in South Africa yourself (the houses here are all double wall brick......with a wooden house you could use less concrete. Dig a hole about a metre long and half a metre wide at the side of the house, when you get below your foundation dig under the foundation till the foundation stops (depth below foundation about 250 to 350 cm) hit some 1 metre lengths of steel reinforcing bar about half way into the sides of the hole about half way between the bottom of the hole and the bottom of the foundation fill the hole up to the level of the bottom of the foundation with foundation grade concrete (you can mix it yourself) allow to harden for 3-4 hours and fill the remainder of the hole with removed soil This takes a 50 year old man (like me) about a weekend continue next week with the hole NEXT to the one you have just filled By the time you have finished you will have a new WIDER foundation under the old one hopfully DOUBLING the width of the existing foundation and underpinning it. It will therefore support TWICE what the original foundation did OR (and this is what you want) require TWICE the pressure to move . Ask your engineer freind to size it for you (it worked for me! on a badly built house in Blairgowerie Johannesburg.....the house has not sustained any further cracks after 30 years. The house belonged to my father and I dug the holes and mixed the concrete, it only took me 1 day a metre because I was then 20!)) If you dont have a basement you could do what we do in South Africa yourself (the houses here are all double wall brick……with a wooden house you could use less concrete.

Dig a hole about a metre long and half a metre wide at the side of the house, when you get below your foundation dig under the foundation till the foundation stops (depth below foundation about 250 to 350 cm)

hit some 1 metre lengths of steel reinforcing bar about half way into the sides of the hole about half way between the bottom of the hole and the bottom of the foundation

fill the hole up to the level of the bottom of the foundation with foundation grade concrete (you can mix it yourself)

allow to harden for 3-4 hours and fill the remainder of the hole with removed soil

This takes a 50 year old man (like me) about a weekend

continue next week with the hole NEXT to the one you have just filled

By the time you have finished you will have a new WIDER foundation under the old one hopfully DOUBLING the width of the existing foundation and underpinning it. It will therefore support TWICE what the original foundation did OR (and this is what you want) require TWICE the pressure to move .

Ask your engineer freind to size it for you (it worked for me! on a badly built house in Blairgowerie Johannesburg…..the house has not sustained any further cracks after 30 years. The house belonged to my father and I dug the holes and mixed the concrete, it only took me 1 day a metre because I was then 20!))

]]> By: landlady http://www.iboughtaduplex.com/general-day-to-day-landlord/can-i-fix-my-slanting-floors-i-called-a-structural-engineer.php/comment-page-1#comment-68089 landlady Fri, 13 Feb 2009 15:43:27 +0000 http://www.iboughtaduplex.com/general-day-to-day-landlord/can-i-fix-my-slanting-floors-theyre-very-very-slanted-and-im-kind-of-worried.php#comment-68089 Yeah, I guess that the sanding-down-doors thing is just part of having an old house. It makes me wonder, too -- if I did something to correct the slant, would I then have to get all new doors, because they would all be slanted on the top (or bottom) from all of the sanding down? Oh well, I'm not likely to pursue anything, so I guess I'll never know :-) Yeah, I guess that the sanding-down-doors thing is just part of having an old house. It makes me wonder, too — if I did something to correct the slant, would I then have to get all new doors, because they would all be slanted on the top (or bottom) from all of the sanding down?

Oh well, I’m not likely to pursue anything, so I guess I’ll never know :-)

]]> By: LeAnna in MN http://www.iboughtaduplex.com/general-day-to-day-landlord/can-i-fix-my-slanting-floors-i-called-a-structural-engineer.php/comment-page-1#comment-67946 LeAnna in MN Thu, 12 Feb 2009 21:45:16 +0000 http://www.iboughtaduplex.com/general-day-to-day-landlord/can-i-fix-my-slanting-floors-theyre-very-very-slanted-and-im-kind-of-worried.php#comment-67946 Mine does this, as well. I've had a couple of contractors look at things and they say all the shifting is done, but I have a suspicion they're wrong because I could swear some patched cracks are open again, and I've only had the house six months. Eeep....I'm not going to pursue it, though, because maybe I'm hallucinating. Maybe. I do however need to sand doors down this summer. *sigh* Mine does this, as well. I’ve had a couple of contractors look at things and they say all the shifting is done, but I have a suspicion they’re wrong because I could swear some patched cracks are open again, and I’ve only had the house six months. Eeep….I’m not going to pursue it, though, because maybe I’m hallucinating. Maybe. I do however need to sand doors down this summer. *sigh*

]]>