For Housing

Leveling Floors

Older homes and buildings most generally present you with structural obstacles when it comes to renovations or updates of any sort.  Aged structures, many times, have foundation problems which result in sloping, sagging or dipping floors.  Depending on your personal needs, these obstacles can be dealt with in several ways.

If you want to retain the existing floor, you must find out what caused the floor to become unlevel in the first place.  It could be a foundation problem, a deteriorated sill or even cracked or broken floor joists.  Regardless, unless you are an experienced jack-of-all-trades repairman, you will most likely refer this problem to an experienced professional to get the job done.

On the other hand, if you have an aged floor that is not level yet secure and you want to install a new floor over the existing unlevel floor, the easiest way to achieve this is to use wood bracing and new sheeting, as described below.

Find the highest point in the existing floor.

Using a leveling device, level vertically and laterally along both sides of the room.

Chalk a level line around the complete perimeter.

Nail a 2” board around the perimeter.

Cut the floor joist to meet the top of your perimeter.  Make sure your joist rests on the existing floor or is shimmed tight/level; secure on 16” centers.

Check this joist and adjoining joists to make sure they are level and fasten in place.

Once joists are installed, install ¾” tongue & groove sheeting & secure (nail, glue, screw, etc.)

How To and repairs