For decades, people have been experiencing sinking floors and trying to come up with ways to raise the floors in turn. That means there are many ways to raise sinking floors. However, not every method of fixing sinking floors is good at what it claims to do.
- Joist Sistering
One of the older options for raising floors is sistering a joist. Through this process, you simply add more material to the joist. The idea is that because the joist is no longer holding the floor up appropriately, adding more material can allow the joist to do its job again. Typically, an expert will ratchet the floor up, add more material, then allow the floor to rest on the joist again.
However, the problem with this approach is that it doesn’t actually tackle any of the underlying problems. Oftentimes, the problem has very little to do with the joists working improperly. Instead, it may be that your foundation has shifted, causing the joists to no longer be placed correctly to hold up the floor in any capacity. In any case, you need a different solution.
- Crawl Space Jacks
If the problem rests with issues that come along with your crawl space joists, you’re going to need a solution that maximizes the stability of those joists. Sistering a joist could actually harm it in the long run. Instead, you might want to consider using crawl space jacks, which physically increase the amount of support your crawl space has available.
Crawl space jacks are an effective way to permanently stabilize and potentially lift a sinking floor. Many other proposed solutions for uneven floors are much less effective or come with significant issues. However, if you opt for crawl space jacks, you can probably get your crawl space working normally again in as little as a single day. Talk to an expert today about installing crawl space jacks in your crawl space.
