Your crawl space may begin to sink due to various factors, including the age of your property, the architecture of your home, and recent weather in your area. Of course, this can happen in some houses, but it doesn’t mean you should disregard it just because it’s not unusual.
If any of the elements beneath your crawl space begin to sink, you must stabilize it. There are various reasons why your crawl space may start to sink, but they all indicate that you should seek professional assistance.
What is a Crawl Space?
If you’re new to home ownership, you might not be familiar with your crawl area. Most people don’t consider what’s right beneath their feet when purchasing a property. But, if you’re walking over a crawl space, the region below you is highly critical. It’s one of your house’s most crucial features.
Some homes have a crawl space, a hollow area beneath the floor. It’s located between the first and second floors. A crawl space is typically one to three feet high. The name comes from the fact that this place is barely big enough for you to crawl into.
A crawl space elevates your home off the ground. It’s also a non intrusive and comfortable place to hide the inside of your home.
This area is usually used to store the components found in a basement. The air conditioner, heater, and duct work are examples of these components. Electrical wiring, insulation, and plumbing fittings may also be included.
What Is a Floor Joist?
The joists that support your floor above the crawl space are called floor joists. They’re an essential part of your home’s structure. But, again, you probably don’t give floor joists much thought. Many components of your building are located directly beneath your feet, which may surprise you.
Some floors are built right on top of concrete slabs. If not, a layer of underlayment will be applied to the flooring. After that, there’s a layer known as the subfloor. Finally, the floor joist support system will support the subfloor.
A crawl space or basement is also present in a home not built on a slab. A floor joist support system is almost always used in these homes. This type of system provides weight-bearing support. Floor joists support everything in your home. They keep furniture, floors, and, most crucially, humans in the place.
Watch HydroHelp911’s video on crawl space encapsulation.
Floor Jacking can Mean Many Things
While few of us want to jack up an entire house, complete with cribs, girders, timbers, and everything else needed to lift a place off the ground, some do-it-yourself may want to jack up a piece of the house to insert an extra tier or beam for repairs or to level an old, sloping floor.
For practically all do-it-yourself, lifting an entire house into the air is simply out of the question. There’s too much that could go wrong. Moreover, it’s pretty dangerous for your home and everyone involved if you don’t know what you’re doing
Jacking up a junction of the house is another story. However, there is still a surplus of room for you to wreak significant harm, not to mention the danger.
What is a Floor Jack?
A steel structural support is known as a floor jack. It would be installed beneath your newly repaired floor beams. The jack will then be tightened. Your floor will not sag as a result of this process. But, first, what are the symptoms of structural sagging?
- Supports for crawl spaces that are leaning or sinking
- Wood that is wet and decaying
- Floors that are sagging, sloping, or uneven upwards
- Fractures in the drywall of the inside
- Door and window frames that are rigged
Screw Jacks for House Lifting
A standard hydraulic jack will not be able to lift a house. Take your most vital automotive jack out of the garage and put it beneath the weight of a home. It will never even begin to lift, to be precise. Screw jacks are often used to jack up a house, and there are a lot of them. Handles are used to turn screw jacks manually.
Hydraulic jacks are also utilized as a backup. In any event, you’ll need at least 20-ton jacks, with 40-ton jacks being preferable. Heavy-duty jacks can be rented, but a rented hydraulic jack would sit beneath the house for a long time, racking up expenses, so you’d be better off buying one.
Permanent Floor Jacks
Permanent crawl space jacks span the void in a crawl space to promote air circulation under homes with limited natural ventilation.
Insufficient insulation can cause condensation in homes with below-grade foundations, leading to mold, mildew, water penetration into basement sections, or just unpleasant odors that leak into living spaces above the house.
Permanent crawl space jacks assist in the resolution of these issues by acting as positive drainage valves for moisture accumulation beneath your home.
How to Jack up a House?
- For the steel lifting beams, holes are drilled in the foundation. Concrete blocks or bricks are removed to make holes in masonry foundations.
- Through the holes, steel beams are inserted. The beams are parallel to the house’s joists or beams.
- The second pair of steel beams are installed perpendicular to the first set and underneath it.
- Under the steel beams, screw jacks are installed. Screw jacks are supported beneath them to keep them from sinking into soft ground.
- The jacks are gradually elevated, usually by an eighth of an inch per day.
- Under the beams are cribs or wooden supports.
- The jacks are lifted once more. The jacking and cribbing process takes a long time. The cribs are stacked in a vertical pattern.
- The home eventually becomes utterly devoid of its base.
- A new foundation wall must be constructed after the house has achieved its final height.
- After the foundation has been laid, the jack and cribbing process is reversed.
- After the jacks have been freed, they are removed along with the cribbing materials.
You now have adequate knowledge of the best floor support jacks. However, you’ll require the best crawl space repair service in town right now. If you’ve seen drooping on your floor, this could be a sign of a more severe problem. HydroHelp911 will assist you in locating the source of your crawl space problems so that we can address them before they worsen.
Looking for a Professional Crawl Space Jack Company?
You don’t want to wait until something goes wrong before calling a professional; trust us when we say that our services will save you money in the long run by preventing future repairs! So for a free estimate, give HydroHelp911 a call right now.
HydroHelp911 is the area’s leading crawl space jack service. We’ve been servicing homes and businesses for a long time and understand what it takes to get the job done well. You may trust that our work will always be of the highest quality.
Contact us today for a free estimate on any of our services!
WHY DOES MY CRAWL SPACE SINK?
What causes the sinking of crawl spaces? There are a variety of causes for home structures to sink, and it’s critical to address each one at its source.
- Issues with the Structure – If your home has other structural problems, those problems will likely spread to different parts of your house. Unfortunately, this includes your crawl space, which is the most vulnerable. This is one of the reasons why foundation jacks are required.
- Crawl Space Moisture – When the humidity in your crawl space is excessive, you may see your flooring buckling, indicating that your crawl space is having issues.
Elevated humidity levels in the crawl spaces can encourage wood rot, resulting in bouncy, springy floor joists that allow the floor to sink. Without the fungus that causes wood rot, moisture can penetrate the wood, causing a similar problem.
- Inadequate Support Planning – If your home already has a weak support system, you’ll most likely need permanent foundation jacks to correct the issue. These foundation jacks can replace joist support that was previously installed.
