When your floor drops, dips, or slopes, it often means you need floor joist repair near you to address sagging floor joists. Because the ends of floor joists rest on the sill plate, water damage often spreads from the sill plate to the floor joists. Another common issue—especially in older homes—is notched joists.
For homes with this type of floor, soft soil or bad compaction is almost always the culprit. Once the soil is compromised, the slab will shift, and this creates the sagging or sinking effect. Pressure from that shift will sometimes crack the slab itself, causing high and low places in the flooring.
Generally, if your floor rises or falls more than half an inch over a horizontal run of 10 feet or less, you should call someone about your sloping floor. This degree of slope indicates that there is likely a problem with your floor or your foundation. With that said, it's also important to consider comfort and safety.
Slab concrete will have dips on large stretches. This is normal and expected. There are building codes that make sure builders make an honest effort to limit this. Depending on the flooring you put on it, it may be noticeable.
They are often caused by heavy objects being dragged across the floor or sharp items scraping the surface. Repairing deep scratches requires more intensive methods to restore the damaged area. Dents are depressions or indentations in the wood caused by heavy impacts or dropped objects.
Water damage is arguably one of the most common causes of sagging and uneven floors. This water can seep directly into the foundation, especially where drainage is poor, or result from drainage problems caused by several things such as: Water that runs off rooftops that pools near your foundations.
What Are Sagging Floors? Sagging floors appear as uneven surfaces that dip or bow, often feeling unstable or unusually springy underfoot. This deformation occurs when the underlying crawl space floor joists become overburdened, warp, and deteriorate. Sagging floors are just one symptom of crawl space problems.
Sagging floors can indicate there's damaged wood under your flooring, that one of your supports is deteriorating, or that there are problems with the foundations.
If you're considering purchasing a home with uneven floors, don't wait to investigate the potential issues beneath the home's surface. The slope or slant of the floor may be a minor cosmetic issue, or it could indicate water damage or major problems with the home's structure or foundation.
Sometimes, the signs of sagging or sloping floors in your home are as easy to spot as they sound. Your floors may visually appear slanted. You may even notice objects roll when dropped on the floor. This occurs because the foundation has improperly settled, creating the sloping.
Sagging floors are a sign of serious damage to the joists beneath your home and the structure of your home overall. Left untended, this can lead to injury, property loss, and disaster. Worse, insurance companies often will not pay for such losses or repairs if you ignored the issue once the early signs became visible.
Technically, yes – sagging floors can collapse if left unrepaired. But your home will give you warning signs first. Ignoring them can lead to further deterioration and issues such as cold air leaks, pests, wall separation, and collapsing floors. Sagging floors rarely collapse immediately, but they always worsen.
Most homeowners pay between $1,000 and $8,500. Costs vary greatly depending on the type and extent of the damage. Sagging floor repair costs an average of $1,000 to $8,500.
Signs of Floor Sinking
Uneven or Sagging Floors: If you notice that your floors are uneven or sagging, it is a clear sign of floor sinking. Use a level to check if your floors are sloping. Gaps Between Floor and Wall: Gaps between the floor and the baseboards or walls can indicate that your floor is sinking.
By dividing the span of the joist in inches by 360, you can calculate the maximum acceptable deflection. For example, if a joist spans 10 feet, dividing 120 by 360 results in approximately 5/16″ of allowable sag in 10 feet.
In some cases, the original construction may not have included sufficient load-bearing support for the flooring, or the beams may be the wrong size. If load-bearing supports are not installed properly, a floor can collapse.
A dip slope consists of the upper surface of a resistant layer of rock, often called caprock, that is commonly only slightly lowered and reduced in steepness by erosion. Dip slopes form the backslopes of cuestas, homoclinal ridges, hogbacks, and flatirons.
Average Cost to Level the Floor in a House
We know, we know… it's frustrating, but it does depend on factors like the size of the slab, the severity of the damage, and the area in which you reside. On average, you are looking at about $3 – $5 per square foot.
Sinking floors can be a sign of subsidence and other issues with a house's foundations. When it comes to the structural elements of a property, any problems must be investigated as soon as they arise to avoid foundation collapse due to weak areas or voids in the underlying soil.
Signs of Sagging Floors in Your Home
Problematic Windows and Doors – Your windows and doors should fit snugly. When they start becoming too loose or too tight, it could be a sign that your floors aren't level. This often results from foundation settlement or floor joists struggling to maintain structural support.
Dents, scuffs, gouges, and scratches can appear due to many factors, unfortunately, a lot of them happen on an everyday basis, including moving heavy furniture, simply in households with young children and pets, due to high traffic on worn flooring surfaces, and more.
Foundation Cracks
Even minor cracks can create uneven areas. Regardless of your flooring type, you will notice these differences. On hardwood or tile floors, pieces may pop up and become displaced. Uneven floors are often the first sign that your home requires professional foundation repair.