I’ve got to re level the floor in the front entrance to my home. As soon as you take one step through the door there is a noticable dip in the floor. Seems that the old joists are not level with one another anymore. I looked at it closer and its almost every two feet its going down or up a half inch so its kind of like walking on waves. I’m just wondering if anyone has a thought as to how I should rectifiy this. I’m not sure theres really a point in getting out a transit. I was thinking just to make it straight side to side would be good enough. Actually just straighter at all would be good. I’ve got power planes and a belt sander. I’ve considered taking off all the planking to reveal the joists and figured at that point I’d put on new plywood ect. Thats a big job. I thought if I plane the planks on top of the high joists maybee 1/4 inch and fill the low spots with something. I’m not sure what would be more work. Or should I let this oportunity slide seeing as the house is 100 and maybee untrained feet won’t feel these indiscrepancies. I’m so torn. I’m installing 3/4 jatoba on the top so I’m not even sure it it will bend enough for these humps.
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Look at the "floor joist installation" post under general discussions to see what happened when we tore the planks off our 100yr old kitchen to fix the wavy floor. Live with the waves. Of course this is non-professional, stressed homeowner advice. :)
they make a flowable concrete made just for this. it will self level itself out and your ready to put down hardi board and tile.maybe someone will give you the technical name for it.you can buy it at hd. larry
hand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.
He's talking about a hardwood install....not tile.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
Youre right the install will be jatoba. I'd probably be able to get over the waves easy enough, The wood on the other hand??? I've checked underneath the joists have shrunk fairly uniform. And for what it's worth the sill are still in good shape. The highest two joists are right as you walk into the room. The door is a lh open and that is adding to the problem as people tend to walk right away to the left and then right over the hump. The joists are on 16/c I've looked down them theyre supprisingly straight for being 100,(they are 2x10) and only 13' regardless I was impressed. The opposite side of the living room is very straight, so the humps die off quickly the further your into the room. I think I've got to plane the joists. I know it's not the easyiest task and It will cost me 250 in plywood. and an extra afternoon. Oh well. Has anyone had experience with bondo?
Were some joists crowned upside down? If the house is a hundred years old the wood may have had a higher moisture content than nowadays so once under load they streched and bent a bit more. What's the sub floor now? Could you shim the gulleys with felt (15 or 30 # as needed) then lay over with some lauan? If the joists have moved and then stalized planing into them may cause more moisture release/retention issues. If you can shim and lay over with 1/4" then run the hardwood you may be better off. Unless the added thickness totally buggers your transitions. In that case pulling the subfloor up and running shim stips of lauan ontop of the low joists then relay the sub. If you're lucky you could reuse the old material but if not then use new. In similar instances I had good luck running two layers of thinner ply adhered together and run perpendicular, or at least one diagonal (say 3/4 topped by 3/8 or double 5/8). The extra layer with adhesive seemed to absorb the waves. But if the sub isn't flat then you're asking for squeaks wherever the finish planks span a gap that may work a fastener loose. I've watched basketball court floorers run two layers of 1/2, one diagonal, then top with the maple stipping and they said the two opposing layers help smooth out the surface for the finish floor.
Do you have access to the underside of the framing?
It sounds as though your joists may be on 24" centers....and considering its most noticable at the entrance, may be a sign of sill rot.
May be a larger problem than you're expecting....but might actually be easier to rectify on the whole than attentioning one joist at a time.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements