Hello, I have a house from the turn of the century with an upstairs from the 1960s. One side of the house has a crawl space foundation and the other side has a basement. I'm not sure if the basement is from the construction year, but I guess the 60s for that too.
The house thus has two intermediate floor structures, and between both the basement-ground floor and ground floor-upper floor, there are two places where the floor structure sags. As if it can't bear the weight.
In the basement, it looks like this is due to a floor joist that is broken. I don't know why it's broken, but it has been sawed off. Another reason for the sloping floor structure might be that a brick wall has been built in the middle of the ground floor, which probably weighs a ton or more. I absolutely don't think the floor structure was intended for that.
I guess the brick wall was built to cover an old baking oven, and because it was popular in the 60s to have brick indoors. The wall runs "in the same direction" as the floor structure to the upper floor, so I don't think it was built for load-bearing purposes. However, I'm not sure about any of this.
Also, in the ground floor-upper floor structure, it slopes. This time I guess it is a "load-bearing" wall on the ground floor that simply doesn't bear the weight. In the original plans from the turn of the century, this wall was not at all load-bearing because it didn't need to be as the upper floor roof looked different (completely). Presumably, when the house was extensively altered in the 60s, an additional wall was built right next to it (it looks very odd) to help with the weight. However, it doesn't seem to have succeeded. The ceiling sags down, and the wood paneling on the wall bulges out.
What should I do?
What I'm considering is supporting with a glulam beam, in the same way as when completely demolishing a wall. The tricky part is how to raise the floor structure to the correct level so that I can insert the pillars and beam. What I have in mind is to place jack posts and push up the floor structure, and then set in the support beams.
How feasible is this? Does anyone have a smarter solution? The municipality said I didn't need a building permit for this.
The house thus has two intermediate floor structures, and between both the basement-ground floor and ground floor-upper floor, there are two places where the floor structure sags. As if it can't bear the weight.
In the basement, it looks like this is due to a floor joist that is broken. I don't know why it's broken, but it has been sawed off. Another reason for the sloping floor structure might be that a brick wall has been built in the middle of the ground floor, which probably weighs a ton or more. I absolutely don't think the floor structure was intended for that.
I guess the brick wall was built to cover an old baking oven, and because it was popular in the 60s to have brick indoors. The wall runs "in the same direction" as the floor structure to the upper floor, so I don't think it was built for load-bearing purposes. However, I'm not sure about any of this.
Also, in the ground floor-upper floor structure, it slopes. This time I guess it is a "load-bearing" wall on the ground floor that simply doesn't bear the weight. In the original plans from the turn of the century, this wall was not at all load-bearing because it didn't need to be as the upper floor roof looked different (completely). Presumably, when the house was extensively altered in the 60s, an additional wall was built right next to it (it looks very odd) to help with the weight. However, it doesn't seem to have succeeded. The ceiling sags down, and the wood paneling on the wall bulges out.
What should I do?
What I'm considering is supporting with a glulam beam, in the same way as when completely demolishing a wall. The tricky part is how to raise the floor structure to the correct level so that I can insert the pillars and beam. What I have in mind is to place jack posts and push up the floor structure, and then set in the support beams.
How feasible is this? Does anyone have a smarter solution? The municipality said I didn't need a building permit for this.
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To be able to provide advice and tips, both images and drawings with all measurements indicated are needed. Dimensions of beams, center-to-center spacing, directions of the different joists including the roof, etc.
That sounds worrisome to me, but if it has held since the 60s, maybe it's not urgent. However, it feels like a prop or two in the basement would be appropriate to start with immediately (as a safeguard against it sagging further).
That sounds worrisome to me, but if it has held since the 60s, maybe it's not urgent. However, it feels like a prop or two in the basement would be appropriate to start with immediately (as a safeguard against it sagging further).