sagging floors

[craigs73]

So from another thread i started most of you know i have my first baby on the way and is due in September we currently own a 2 bedroom house and need to upgrade to a bigger house. does anyone know anything about sagging floors. the house we really interested in there is suposably sagging floors i go to look at the house Friday. i was told that i could jack up the joist with a bottle jack and put some blocks under the joist and put a piece of wood between the two and let the joist down on the block(s) so it no longer sags this house is a 2 story house. can i jack the floor up to level at one time or do i have to jack it up little at a time. like each day or week . the person that told us that the floors were sagging was interested in the house and even put an offer in but got a better deal on another house so from the way he talked that they weren't that bad. so i hope. the house is supposed to be 42 years old any help would much be appreciated thanks.

[Jim Nilsen]

Sagging floors are repaired in time. You use screw jacks instead of bottle jacks. The amount to turn them is dependant on how fast you want to level things up. My brothers house was 5" out and it took him about 3 yrs to do it without a lot of plaster damage. 1/2 turn per week can be too fast in some cases. If you have sheetrock walls you probably already have some damage you can't see. It really depends on the house and how it sagged.

You can raise them up faster if you want and just fix the damage that it will cause but the expansion and contraction of the house through the seasons is how they get so bad with so little damage. I recall his house popping and creaking a lot until he got it back to where it was built. It's kind of fun to watch as things get square ,plumb and level again.

All in all you really don't do anymore repairs than most people do to just remodel and sometimes you can't remodel until the house is raised. It's a double edged sword but worth it if the house is cheap enough. His is worth 4 times what he paid for it and it is not over inflated in the area he lives.

Goodluck screwing around with your new house if you buy it!

[craigs73]

well i will find out more friday when i go look at it. Dont know what kind of walls are in it. it really don't matter to me if some of the walls crack because in time the whole house in time will be completely redone.so would i be able to jack it up all at one time. say if they were only out 2 inches how bad would that be. As far as the house value they want 79,900 i'm hoping that i can get them down to around 73-75,000 now there is a house across the street that is exactly the same and was completely redone and there selling it like around 150,000. would i take some sort of straight edge to find out how much its sagging???

[Young Gun]

We had that problem in our old house, They put up a steel I beam across the floor and no more sagging floor...

[lilhemi]

you dont want to buy a house that has a major problem like that. in this market you can pick and choose what you want. id look for something else.

[craigs73]

if its just sagging in the middle it can be jacked up and leveled from what i gather its not really to big of a deal unless its a load bearing wall or one of the outside walls. will update you guys on the house when i get back from looking at it is there anything i should definitely look for

[69LT1Nova]

Three words: Certified Home Inspector.

Spend a couple hundred bucks to save several thousands.

Never by a "fixer-upper" unless you hire a home inspector. It has saved my arse more than once.

[craigs73]

yeah i'm going to get a inspector i did when i bought my current house and it was in better shape then this one. what i was saying was if everyone here was to say no stay away to much money,trouble,etc. then i wouldn't even waste my money hiring a inspector to tell me what you guys would have already told me

[craigs73]

well dont have to worry about the floors. the house went under contract before i got a chance to even look at it all well.