Purchased a new house. Its a 1962 split level ranch. I have noticed to looks like the concrete floor has sunk about 1 inch. I can see the marks on the foundation walls were it used to be and also the wood framing in the lower level is about 1 inch to short. Also the columns are about 3/4 of an inch to an inch off now. The foundation walls themselves seem ok. they are not bowed or really cracking ( 1 or 2 vertical cracks near the plumbing). I think its just the floor.
How bad is that.?
There are some instances where multiple minisplits make sense.
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Replies
^
Ha! Beat Rez.
1212
This'll put ya back to the top of the board.
SamT
Hi, ducati, welcome to BT. If you'll fill in your profile, we'll know where you are and that will help us give some answers that might make sense. A lot of problems of this sort are regional.
The first thing we need to do with this problem is find out why the floor is settling. It's no good proposing remedial measures until you know that. For instance: Is there a high flow of ground water under your slab that could have washed out the gravel? Do you live in a mine-subsidance area? Are other houses of the same age in your neighbourhood afflicted with similar problems? What can the local building inspector's office tell you about the type of soils these houses were built on? They usually have a pretty good handle on stuff of that sort.
Dinosaur
A day may come when the courage of men fails,when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship...
But it is not this day.
Lets see Its in the North East just outside of Boston. the area is wet. Not a flood zone but its a low area and in the spring there is water in the yard and a small brook maybe 15 feet off one side of the house. so there is ground water about.
Not sure about the other houses in the area as far as the basement floors. I do know that allot of people get foundation cracks because of the wet soil. I only have the one foundation crack.
I had a home inspector look at it when I purchased it and he said to get a structural engineer if I wanted absolute answers but he didn't think the house was going to sink. Big help..
Also there is one spot under the floor maybe a 4 foot by 4 foot spot that sounds hollow underneath. Sounds like your walking on a hollow piece of wood but its the slab.
What kind of soil are we talking about?If it's clay, you may be facing a slab that heaves up and down as the seasons change (and the water content in the soil). Clay is notorious for destroying structures over time - our basement took about 130 years before it was too far gone to save. It's also the reason (apparently, I don't know this for sure) why oil tank piping has to incorporate swing joints by code in many jurisdictions.I'd investigate the thickness of the slab. It oculd be a mere rat slab that was cast over plain dirt. If this is the case, I'd investigate digging down to the footings, installing gravel, XPS, vapor barrier, and a 4" slab with 1/2" PEX tubing on 12" centers and loop lengths below 300' to give you a solid floor with heat. Check out buildingscience.com for a great online library of homeowner resources and explanations.You can minimize the impact of the soil on the exterior of your home and significantly decrease your energy bills by excavating in sections, replacing 2 feet of soil around the house with gravel and putting XPS on the walls of the foundation at the same time. Have a fooing drain at the bottom and a drain to daylight or a sump pump. With the gravel and the XPS, you'll have a great buffer to handle the expansion and contraction of the soil. Frost heaving/expansion/contraction is another big factor, regardless of soil type, in our climate. Keep the water away from the foundation and perhaps the water levels in it will stabilize somewhat.
Also there is one spot under the floor maybe a 4 foot by 4 foot spot that sounds hollow underneath. Sounds like your walking on a hollow piece of wood but its the slab.
This could get exciting. If you decide to take a peek, make sure you have a substantial pump at hand. Don't forget the camera. Some of us live sedate lives.
Alternatively, is that For Sale sign still on the premises?<!----><!---->PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
It could be water I guess but the house is at ground level. The slab is not sunk at all you walk righ in onto it. If water is pooling there it would mean there is a pond under there.
I wasn't making any prediction, just suggesting the old Boy Scout motto was apt. Was serious about the pix if you decide to dig into the situation. Could be a learning experience for us all.
Good luck.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
There is no good scenario I can think of boded by that hollow-sounding area you mentioned. (Well, okay, there's one, but it's unlikely: there's a hidden archeological cache under there and you're gonna be rich and famous as a result....)
Back to reality. You are going to have to bust through that and see what is going on under your slab. Based only on the information you've given, it seems likely that your slab has sunk because it's been undermined by seasonal groundwater flows. But it could be something else. You need to find out as a first step.
In any event an undermined floor slab indicates a serious probability of undermined footings hence foundation walls. (Hence your foundation wall crack.) This is a major structural problem, which is not good news at all. But there is some good news, which is that there is a possibility, depending on how Masssachusetts law reads, that you might have a claim for a 'hidden vice' against the seller. And possibly another claim against the incompetent home inspector who blew it off so cavalierly....
Dinosaur
A day may come when the courage of men fails,when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship...
But it is not this day.
I have had several home inspectors in the past and I find them all vague and not very helpful. For the most part they want to make sure they dont say anything that might hold them responsible for anything. Everything is you should check with a plumber, you should check with an electrician, you should check with blah blah...
Here is why I dont think the problem is critical (I of course have no skills in foundations so I am talking out my %@#@)
1) my foundation has as far as I can tell 1 crack near the sewer line which I hear is somewhat normal. It seems straight and in good shape. The concrete is hard not waterlogged looking.
2) The house is 40 something years old and is still standing. for the most part its a very nice house in a real nice area.
3) The ground is very wet in the whole neigborhood. Wet ground means dealing with shifting and cracking issues.
4) There are no guuteres on the house and the roof water just pools next to the foundation. That is on my list of things to fix coming in at number 11
5) I cant afford to fix a foundation problem so I am convincing myself it is fine..
one more thing on where the hollow sound in the slab is. It used to be a 1 car garrage in the house. Like alot of splits in the north east have. It was finished off as a room sometime around 15 - 20 years ago. It looks like they might have tried to pour floor leveler or maybe the garage floor was lower and the raised it or something. The height from floor to ceiling is only 6' 5 so not much room for a car.
So it could be something the owners did and not a act of nature
As I remarked to Cap, at this point we're doing a lot of guessing and not coming up with any hard answers. If you can post a few photos of the way it is now, that will help some. Perhaps there's something that will clue in the cause, perhaps not, but it won't hurt.
Try to keep the file size of the photos you post to under 100kb; a lot of us (me included) are on dial-up.
Dinosaur
A day may come when the courage of men fails,when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship...
But it is not this day.
I am at work now but I will post some pics tonight.
Thanks for the help so far every post is informative in some way.
no good scenario I can think of boded by that hollow-sounding area you mentioned
Hmm, there's another that comes to mind. This is a 60s era house, back well before foundation excavators were as smart 9or as burned by lawsuits) as now. Too many would bury stumps in foundation work, whether pulled, or just cut off "to suit." Concrete had no flaws and cured all ills in those days.
The fact that a stump would rot, even under a slab, and leave a void was of little consequence in those days. Take your pick: "Can't see it from my house," or "Won't be in my lifetime."
I'll agree with the rest, OP should invest in some "before" photos. Sharing them here would be very helpful. Then investing in 3-4 masonry blades for the circular saw & a half-day's rental on the electric jackhammer would also be a good investment (some "after" photos, too, 'natch). We'd all know a bit more.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
Yup. At this point, we're all just guessing.
Dinosaur
A day may come when the courage of men fails,when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship...
But it is not this day.