Carolyn (or whomever! g)

CM My wife and I have just inherited a house, and we are embarking on the
CM home repair/renovation challenge. One of the projects one our list of "to
CM do's" is leveling the floors.
CM
CM There is about a 2" drop from the outside walls to the center of the main
CM floor. The basement (25' long x 22' wide) has two adjustable steel columns
CM supporting the beam that supports the main floor joists.
CM
CM Is the solution as simple as renting some form of jack, jacking the floor
CM up a 1/4", extend the post, raise the floor, extend the post, ... unitl
CM the floor is again level? If so, what kind of jack can I use. I am
CM assuming that my car jack wouldn't be able to support the weight of the
CM house.

You said there are "two adjustable steel columns" -- check these for a
screw mechanism at the top; these may be the floor jacks you are
considering. It may be all that is needed is to extend the screw some
to correct the 2" sag. I would do it slowly - maybe a quarter-turn a
week until the floor is level again. You need to allow the house to
compensate for the structural changes when the support is moved up.

Otherwise there are support beams available. As another responder
indicated, these are two steel tubes, one inserted inside the other.
The top has a screw to expand/lengthen. Not sure what they are really
called but a good hardware store would know and either have them in
stock or order.

Based on what you said I don't think you need to replace your new
home's support beams with the steel beams, just change the floor
support.

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(barry martin) wrote in
news:1895990956.7138.04.8600859.1779635466.RIMEGat :

Carolyn (or whomever! g)

CM My wife and I have just inherited a house, and we are embarking on
the CM home repair/renovation challenge. One of the projects one our
list of "to CM do's" is leveling the floors.
CM
CM There is about a 2" drop from the outside walls to the center of
the main CM floor. The basement (25' long x 22' wide) has two
adjustable steel columns CM supporting the beam that supports the
main floor joists. CM
CM Is the solution as simple as renting some form of jack, jacking
the floor CM up a 1/4", extend the post, raise the floor, extend the
post, ... unitl CM the floor is again level? If so, what kind of
jack can I use. I am CM assuming that my car jack wouldn't be able
to support the weight of the CM house.

It just so happens that I just came across a page in how-to book about this
just before I came online. It mentioned getting two telescoping jacks to
place on either side of the existing post, and raising the joist with them.
Then remove the old support, put in a new one (or in your case, perhaps
simply turning the screw to raise it), and then lowering the jacks (I take
it you can rent these). At any rate, a stop by a Barnes and Noble or
library to browse through the Home Improvement section will no doubt have
some illustrated answers for you.

REPOST from ARA