jacking a house
 

Alan:

AM I've got a bit of a saggy floor in my 130 year old home, and want to
AM jack it a bit. I've already had a structural engineer look at it and he
AM told me what has to be done, but not how to do it.
AM
AM I've got to put 12 feet of 6" I-beam in, with 3 posts. OK, easy.
AM I need a good hydralic jack. Ok, easy.
AM
AM But how to I rig up the jack? Do I have to build up a bunch of
AM wood (2 pieces this way, 2 pieces at 90 degree, and so on)
AM until I am high enough where the jack fits in under the ibeam?
AM Then jack it, adjust the posts?
AM That seems the obvious way to me.

How about a steel post with a screw at the top? Fit the post snug,
then tighten the screw a turn to bring the floor level up a bit.
(Probably want a steel plate to distribute the contact along the
existing joist.) About once a week adjust the screw part another turn
until the floor is level again. (You don't want to do it all at once
so as to allow the wood to modify.) Dad did this at his place back in
the late 60's (the support is still there).

The steel post unit is available at hardware stores, I just don't know
what they're called.

-
¯ barry.martinþATþthesafebbs.zeppole.com ®

* You have the right to remain silent. So please shut up!
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jacking a house
 

Alan:

(Answering to someone else's comments to try to help explain.)

AM First you need a solid concrete footing.
AM Got a good floor under there - concrete

Good. Remember, when the jack is pressing up to restore the floor
level all the pressure has to go somewhere, and that somewhere is
whatever the other end of the jack is resting on!


AM Dont use hydraulic jacks if
AM your jacking will effect diferent floors
AM
AM What do you mean? If I don't have a concrete one?
AM And why are screw jacks better?

AFAIK hydraulic jacks will 'leak' == the oil/whatever will seep
through the seals and the level will go down. You would need to
periodically punp the hydraulic jack up again. With the adjustable
steel post once you have it to the correct level set the lock nut and
it will stay there forever.


AM Is it just a
AM sagging floor or an unlevel area , how big.
AM
AM Tomato, TomAHto. Aren't they the same thing?
AM Most of my main 2 rooms (small house - each room
AM is 15' x 15' roughly) sags towards a point near the
AM center of the two rooms

Hmmm: that doesn't seem like that large an area to be sagging but
since it is...... Dad needed one because originally the Living Room
was long and proportionately narrow so he added a wall to create a Den
and Living Room. Along the wall he built what's now called an
Entertainment Center -- solid wood, plus the audio equipment at the
time was a lot heavier than they are now, plus the weight of the LPs
(remember vinyl records?!). My mother noticed the moulding was
pulling away from the ceiling -- floor was sagging from all the
weight!

-
¯ barry.martinþATþthesafebbs.zeppole.com ®

* 26% of Americans can't read, and the other 82% aren't good in math.
---
þ RoseReader 2.52á P003186
þ The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA 563-359-1971
---
þ RIMEGate(tm)/RGXMod V1.13 at BBSWORLD *