My daughters 2 story 38 year old house has a couple of piers under the house that has settled approx 1/2″. some
interior doors won’t latch when closed and i noticed that the floor molding has seperated from the floor in the
upstairs hallway bathroom near the center of the house. If i jack up the center beam in the crawl space,
what tonnage jack(s) would i need and what would be the best approach to correct this problem. FYI, there
is no moisture in the crawl space. Thanks.
Replies
Use screw jacks. One every 10 feet or so. A half inch you can maybe do in one day, rotating from jack to jack and giving each a quarter turn. Any more and you'd like to spread it out over 2-3 days.
The jacks need to sit on a solid surface -- paving blocks or some such. DO NOT use concrete blocks set on their side -- they can collapse suddenly. The top of the jack needs to bear on a major beam, at least 3" wide, and you need to somehow secure the jacks (eg, fasten to the beam) so they can't shift and have the beam slide off.
You may need to add more piers.
You don't mention any cracks in walls in or near the center of the home. Usually seen in perpendicular to that beam center walls, both 1st and 2nd floors.
Odd that the space between the baseboard and floor would suggest settled piers, as the vintage of the house suggests platform framing where the walls are built on the floor system. I suppose if there's solid blocking sitting on the beam between the joists that they could settle while the long hall wall would not drop as much.
Make sure the doors are not latching because of other reasons b/4 you start jacking up the beam. Check floor level etc to help you verify. Remember tho, original settling or framing problems could have built that house a bit off plumb and level right from the beginning.
Best of luck.