"HerHusband" wrote in message
...
I need to jack up a section of a floor to replace a rotted beam. The wall
above sagged down a little over an inch once the beam had rotted. I have
full access in the basement, and the wall above doesn't support anything.
We're gutting and remodeling the bathroom above, so I'm not worried about
cracking plaster.

I have a basic plan of attack in mind, but I'd like to hear from other's
who have done this. What size jack did you use, how did you set it up,
etc.

I'm an experienced do-it-yourselfer, and my wife and I even built our own
house, but this will be the first time I've needed to jack up an old
floor.

Price buying or renting the jacks, plates, etc, and then price having a
floor leveling company do the swapout. Horsing main beams around with few
ways to use any assistace other than maybe a come-along, is hard frigging
work. Those things are HEAVY. Good time to look at whatever holds up the
beam, and upgrade that as needed. Nothing special about the work, other than
making sure the beam and posts are the correct specs. Steel plates on floor,
cribbing or screw columns up to ceiling level, and parallel temporary beams
to catch the load of the floor. (If the lap joints of the floor joists sit
above the beam, you will need to support both sides.) Oh, yeah, got a make a
road to get old beam out and new beam in. (That can get hard if the beam is
longer than the space to the house next door.)

Several of the This Old House projects over the years included beam swaps.
Perhaps their web site has pictures showing a step-by-step.

If this is the centerline beam than runs the full length of house, my
preference would be to replace with steel, sitting on steel columns on
oversize footers puched through the basement slab. Yes, expensive, but it
will Never Sag Again.

aems ends...