Is Your Home’s Floor Sagging Or Uneven? Is Your Floor Bouncy When You Walk On It?

An uneven feeling underfoot usually points to a problem in the crawl space beneath your home. A sagging floor is often a warning sign that part of your structural wood flooring system has lost the support it needs.

AMC911 has been helping Hampton Roads homeowners with floor repair for 30 years. You’ll be in great hands with our foundation experts!

What Causes Sagging Floors?

Since it happens slowly, most homeowners never notice the moment a floor starts to sag. If you’re dealing with one of these common causes, something might be deeper happening in the crawl space:

The house is settling

When soil beneath your home shifts, settling problems follow. Soil conditions in this region cause the ground to expand, shrink, and create pockets that pull a floor out of level.

The house has waterproofing issues

A foundation, basement, or crawl space without proper waterproofing and drainage invites excess moisture, which leads to wood rot and wood-eating pests. A lot of times effects of poor waterproofing and drainage starts with sagging floors. Many sagging floors begin with water damage that no one saw coming.

The crawl space support piers have settled into the ground and are no longer vertical

Clay-rich soil expands when wet and shrinks when dry. That movement lets the support piers or support columns under your floor joist system tilt and sink, so they settle into the ground unevenly.

The crawl space support piers are improperly spaced

Poor construction at the original build shows up for the life of the home. When a support column sits too far from the next, you get sagging, squeaky floors, and gaps along the wall.

Not enough support piers

Some homes simply never had enough piers installed under the main support beam during construction.

The support piers, joists, or girders have been damaged by wood rot or wood-eating pests

When wood rot or pests damage the joists or sill plate, they can no longer hold the floor above. In serious cases, the floor can fail and lead to costly repairs.

All of these can produce a sagging floor over a crawl space. If you notice any of these signs in your Hampton Roads home, don’t wait to contact a foundation repair professional. Reach out to AMC911 today for a free evaluation.

How Do You Repair A Sagging Floor?

When a sagging floor is caused by settlement

The most common reason for a sagging floor above a crawl space is support piers that have settled and are no longer vertical. In that case, we remove the old piers and replace them with new wooden piers or steel screw jacks. An adjustable steel jack can be fine-tuned later if the floor needs another small correction.

Replacing piers only solves the problem temporarily if you ignore why they are sinking. If poor drainage left excess moisture in the soil, brand-new piers will eventually settle the same way. That’s why the first step in many floor joist repair projects is installing a drainage system to control groundwater around the home’s foundation so the new support system stays put.

Older homes in Hampton Roads are especially prone to these issues, since decades of moisture and shifting soil add up. Whatever the cause, we treat the structural problems at their source, not just the symptom you can see.

How Much Does It Cost To Repair A Sagging Floor?

Repair costs depend on why the floor is sagging and the solution your home actually needs. Swapping out a few deteriorated screw jacks sits at the lower end. If poor drainage caused the support piers to settle, the project usually costs more because it also involves installing a drainage system to provide long-term protection.

The only way to know the total cost is to schedule a crawl space evaluation. We’ll inspect the space, find the cause, and give you a written free estimate.