alex3610
Well-known member
I realize this is getting a little off topic from Garage stuff but I have learned far more about building construction topics on this forum than anywhere else. A true wealth of knowledge!
Anyway, here's the problem. My house is built on a pier and beam foundation over a dirt floor crawl space as is common in the south east. (Richmond VA area). I have a low spot in the floor at one end of my house as well as a few doors where the doorway seems racked and they don't close properly. My area is notorious for shrink/swell soil and the foundation issues that it creates. So I have always assumed that was what I was dealing with. Recently while poking around doing some recon for an upcoming electrical project, I realized I had a floor joist that is sagging at least an inch in the center. It's hard to explain without a picture but it seems like the last pier at this end of the house was maybe 8" shy of being under this joist. On the other side of this joist the foundation gets narrower for a bump out on that side of the house and no piers are needed. So either the pier was placed in the wrong spot, or some other solution should have been used here.
It's also worth noting that this is where about half of the electric service for the house is running so sistering another piece of lumber to this joist would be a huge pain in the ***. I am thinking what I need to do is use some sort of crawl space jack that will be underneath a beam that runs perpendicular to the joist in question. My thinking is that I need to have the beam at least capture the joists on either side of it so I know when everything is square again.
My concern is what do I put underneath said crawl space jack? As I mentioned we have marine clay / shrink-swell soil so I already don't have much faith in the dirt underneath me. Some have suggested some sort of special gravel to fill in a hole and then a concrete block on top of that. It's difficult to find much information as most of the contractors that specialize in this kind of work don't seem interested unless its a $45,000 job (JES) so they can pay for their TV ads. It seems like a very doable DIY project.
So I need to know:
What do I need underneath the jack?
What type of jack? (Remember this will be a permanent installation as I can't easily sister the joist)
How slow do I need to go when jacking up the joist?
Thank you in advance!
Anyway, here's the problem. My house is built on a pier and beam foundation over a dirt floor crawl space as is common in the south east. (Richmond VA area). I have a low spot in the floor at one end of my house as well as a few doors where the doorway seems racked and they don't close properly. My area is notorious for shrink/swell soil and the foundation issues that it creates. So I have always assumed that was what I was dealing with. Recently while poking around doing some recon for an upcoming electrical project, I realized I had a floor joist that is sagging at least an inch in the center. It's hard to explain without a picture but it seems like the last pier at this end of the house was maybe 8" shy of being under this joist. On the other side of this joist the foundation gets narrower for a bump out on that side of the house and no piers are needed. So either the pier was placed in the wrong spot, or some other solution should have been used here.
It's also worth noting that this is where about half of the electric service for the house is running so sistering another piece of lumber to this joist would be a huge pain in the ***. I am thinking what I need to do is use some sort of crawl space jack that will be underneath a beam that runs perpendicular to the joist in question. My thinking is that I need to have the beam at least capture the joists on either side of it so I know when everything is square again.
My concern is what do I put underneath said crawl space jack? As I mentioned we have marine clay / shrink-swell soil so I already don't have much faith in the dirt underneath me. Some have suggested some sort of special gravel to fill in a hole and then a concrete block on top of that. It's difficult to find much information as most of the contractors that specialize in this kind of work don't seem interested unless its a $45,000 job (JES) so they can pay for their TV ads. It seems like a very doable DIY project.
So I need to know:
What do I need underneath the jack?
What type of jack? (Remember this will be a permanent installation as I can't easily sister the joist)
How slow do I need to go when jacking up the joist?
Thank you in advance!