One of my parents friends (elderly lady) has?

Question

a big problem with her house. The whole floor of her house seems to be sinking. She has no idea who to even look to fix such a problem. Someone who can jack up the whole floor and reinforce it, but what type of person would she call to do the work? It's gotten so bad she says she can her the floor popping and groaning and creaking! Someone please let me know so I can give her some advice?

Answer 1

I've had this happen on two homes that I have owned as investments. Your not too specific in what kind of house this is (ie older with a crawlspace or younger with a full foundation set with a steel cross beam). I've had problems with both types. I'm relating what I had to go through.


Let me say this first- if you hire someone to place jacks under the house they will not be able to jack up that house. These only stop the sinking from getting worse. The "jacks" are really just metal poles essentially that are braced against the bedrock far under the home and to either the house itself or a new poured foundation thats added around the perimeter. Think about this if a hydraulic jack or one capable of lifting the weight of a house were positioned on a corner of that house , then operated it would probably shear that corner right off. A house can't simply be raised like you lifting up a frying pan from a resting position. They are not constructed to have solid strength they have structural strength ( Webster's dictionary if you need it). How do I know this? This was solution implemented for one house I lost my rear on. The entire process cost me about $13K. But it did stop the houses foundation from sinking any further. My insurance company was gracious enough to NOT pay for any of it.


The second house is the home I currently live in. Built in 1870 the construction methods do not approach anything we see today in terms of foundations. They basically dug a trench about two feet down and started laying a double thick brick wall. About 12 inches up from the dirt are the floor joists themselves, stuck into little alcoves in the brickwork. Five rooms had issues. Some were termite damaged back in the 50's. Some had the "foundation" start to crumble underneath the joists themselves.

What had to be done was replacment of the joists and sub-floor. But the most important thing was to do something about the crumbling brickwork that was supposed to be the foundation.

What happened was that in small sections, they knocked out the brickwork exposing outside. These holes were then dug deeper and wider and steel re-inforced concrete was poured into a mold. It took a very long time as only small sections were done until they dried fully to prevent the collapse of the house. Now there is a somewhat modern foundation thats tar sealed and joists that I wont have to worry about ever again.

Some question that need answering:
Is her whole house sinking or is it one particular room? If it's the whole house understand that rooms will be out of line and noticeably start to lean. Doorframes get moved and the doors no longer fit into them. Also doors either shut or open on their own because of the lean of the house. If it's just one room more than likely its the foundation underneath the joists in just that room. This is the least expensive. Especially if you're related to or know a carpenter or someone who does vertical concrete work or someone who is a mason.

First step is to file a claim with her homeowners insurance. She'll know after the first inspection whether or not shes covered. If she doesn't have it- good luck.

Answer 2

Go into the basement of her house and stand directly under the spot where her floor is sinking the worst. Have her tap on the floor till you find the spot.

Just sit down for a while and try to determine what makes this particular part of the foundation different from the rest of the foundation. Often it is obvious.

Don't be afraid to try to do this for her.

If you are intelligent enough to get on the Internet and ask this question, you are probably up to the task. Many of those who do these types of repairs would be lost trying to use the Internet.

Trust Me.

It is important to understand what is happening so the one doing the repairs does not take advantage of the person that you are talking about.

Love and blessings Don

Answer 3

There were more small family-owned farms when those elderly ladies were young. I was born on a family farm and we grew 90% of what we ate and we grew our own flowers to landscape and have picked flowers from, so yes many elderly ladies have had hands-on experience with raising plants. It was a great fad in the late 60s-70's to have at least one houseplant in an office or home....they were considered very groovy man.

Answer 4

General construction contractors can put her in touch with the people in the know. As with all trades, one has to be wary. The Better Business Bureau is a good place to start in tracking down a general contractor, and then again when the contractor has made his/her recommendation.

Answer 5

This has been a problem in Amherst NY too. I was looking to move there and they mentioned that. You need to call a contractor. (yellow pages)
You can start with your town office, they have lists of contractors and numbers to call for emergencies like this, and believe me, this IS an emergency.

Answer 6

this house needs to be leveled and then the foundation restabliized. a foundation specialist or house leveler does this with dirt,concrete, digging and jacks.

Answer 7

Look under foundation repair that would be a good place to start.

Answer 8

Call a general contractor. If he can't do it himself he has the resources available to him to get someone that can.

Answer 9

need to find someone who does foundation work they will take care of your needs

Answer 10

a house mover can jack it up