Signs of a foundation problem
Crawl space repair: when the floor above is sagging
A house or an addition built over a crawl space rests on a few beams and a row of short piers. When one of those gives a little, you feel it in the floor above.
Signs upstairs and underneath
Upstairs: a dip you can feel underfoot, a floor that gives near the middle of a room, a gap opening under the baseboard, furniture that rocks.
Underneath, with a torch from the access hatch: a pier that leans, a beam that has dropped away from the joists, stacks of wood shims, a post standing on bare soil or a loose block, wood that looks dark or soft, standing water or a damp smell.
Why crawl space supports fail
The piers were often set on small pads near the surface, in soil that is wet for part of the year. Over decades the pads sink unevenly. Moisture does the rest: damp air and wet ground soften sills, beams and joist ends, and softened wood crushes under load.
Sometimes the cause is weight the builder never planned for, such as a tiled bathroom or a kitchen island with a stone top.
What gets checked
A proper look means going in. The inspector measures how far the beam is out of level, checks each pier for plumb, probes the wood with an awl or a moisture meter and looks at how water gets in: low vents, soil sloping toward the house, a missing ground cover.
They should also look at the perimeter wall, because a sag in the middle and a settling outside wall need different work.
What repair might involve
Typical proposals are adjustable steel posts on new concrete footings beside or in place of the old piers, a new beam or an added one where spans are long, and replacing or doubling up joists and sills that have rotted. Lifting is done gradually.
Ground covers, drainage and sealing the space deal with moisture, and are often quoted separately or by a different firm. Ask which parts of a proposal are structural. On a house that is pier and beam throughout, the same parts are involved on a larger scale.
Questions people ask
Should the moisture be fixed before the supports?
Usually the two are planned together. New steel posts will hold a floor up in a damp space, but new wood will rot again if the space stays wet. Ask the company in what order it would do the work, and why.
Can a sagging floor over a crawl space be made level again?
Often it can be improved a good deal, because beams and posts can be adjusted. How far depends on how long the floor has been out of level and what finishes sit on it. The company should tell you its target before work begins.
Ready to have it looked at?
Talk to a foundation repair company near Wichita
Call and describe what you are seeing. You will speak with an independent local company that can arrange to inspect the house and give you its findings and its price.
Foundation repair for houses
Basement walls, settling, cracks, crawl spaces and sloping floors in Wichita and nearby towns.
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