Straightening The Floors 200 Year Old House

Floor slopes and slants are common in old houses.

Straightening the floors 200 year old house.

The 120 year old house my mom lived in had a similar problem. This 1859 house was used as an old schoolhouse. The problem turned out to be a failed foundation along an outside wall that no longer supported the floor joists the cap joist across the ends. This job took two people one afternoon.

Typical of pre 1900 construction it uses notched tenon joists set into a mortise beam which is no longer al. The floor sagged and was also bouncy. Natural deflection of second floor joist and supporting beams. They may include hardwood flooring ornate windows doors and woodwork as well as custom cabinets.

There s a feeling that comes with the grain in the floors and the high ceilings and the thick walls that you just can t capture click ahead to see 10 homes for sale that are 200 years old or older. We used 18 000 pound screw jacks 4x4 lumber a circular saw power drill driver and cement blocks. Which generally would not be considered a defect but just a natural process. We got muddy because we were in a dirt crawlspace doing just that crawling.

The foundation was one made of large rocks that were piled into a wall. If a 100 year old house is worth remodeling it probably has features worth keeping. A slant slope situation might be one where over the course of 15 or 20 horizontal feet the floor slopes down one or two inches. A span of 12 to 16 feet may have a natural deflection of a 1 2 inch over a period of years.

Total cost was less than 200 while a pro would charge 500 1000.