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Small Cabin Forum / Cabin Construction / how to lower floor corner that is high
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carcrossguy
Member
# Posted: 12 Sep 2014 12:04am
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Post and douglas fir beam. I removed the posts but i.
t has not lowered at all. Thinking of filling garbage cans with water and putting them in high corner.

bldginsp
Member
# Posted: 12 Sep 2014 10:22am
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Can you send pics of the outside, and what's underneath?

carcrossguy
Member
# Posted: 12 Sep 2014 12:34pm - Edited by: carcrossguy
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Second pic depicts the corner in question. third picture is the next beam over. the beam under the high corner and everything below appears not to have weight on it. sways a bit. joists dont seem bowed but they slant up towards high corner. thanks for the interest.



http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e25/vancouverbc_2008/level001.jpg



http://s36.photobucket.com/user/vancouverbc_2008/media/level002.jpg.html

http://s36.photobucket.com/user/vancouverbc_2008/media/level006.jpg.html

bldginsp
Member
# Posted: 12 Sep 2014 02:50pm - Edited by: bldginsp
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Bizarre. Anyway, what I suggest is that you epoxy one or more threaded rods into the concrete footing, and then bolt it down, either with nuts and washers to the sole plate in the wall, or to a hold down attached to studs, or the corner studs, in the wall. Putting buckets of water might bring it down, but that's not a long term solution.

The other solution is to remove or reduce whatever the subfloor is sitting on where it pivots upward, so that it can lie down. In other words it's supported somewhere, so if you cut enough away from there, it should come down. But easier said than done.

If you bolt it as explained above, it may pop up on the opposite corner, because you tilted the teeter totter the other way. Best thing is to adjust until it lies by itself.

there may be some other factor lifting the corner, which I can't see or imagine. Best thing is to remove the lifting factor. You might get a contractor to look at it, but that will cost you.

Could be your foundation has heaved, and is pushing things catywampus. If this is so, no easy solution.

carcrossguy
Member
# Posted: 12 Sep 2014 04:24pm
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Interesting thoughts. The opposite end of beam was about 3 inches lower because it sunk in black soil. I have lifted that end so maybe the high was raised by teeter totter and needs time to realize it can come down. I will try raising opposite end more to see if that helps. Bolting down idea is also good.
Thanks very much.

bldginsp
Member
# Posted: 12 Sep 2014 08:32pm
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Hmmm.. Mysterious 'black soil' consuming your foundation as you watch.

One thing you might do is get some sort of leveling device, like a laser, to establish exactly where your foundation is. The foundation should be level, of course, but if not, you need to know where it's at.

But if its being subsumed by mysterious black soil, you may need an exorcist, or a new age shaman, to ameliorate the local gods, and stop your foundation from being literally eaten by earth daimons, whose diet includes carbonaceous limestone and other similar building materials.

Just kidding. You need to determine the exact source of the problem, either it is coming from the wood structure above or the concrete/ concrete block footings below, and correct the cause at the source. Otherwise the problem will persist and cause difficulty again. Looks to me like it is a foundation problem, but I can't tell with the limited info I have.

carcrossguy
Member
# Posted: 12 Sep 2014 10:22pm
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Thanks for the reply . There is no foundation. Any concrete or blocks was provided by me. The "posts" sit on flat rocks. Rock sank into top soil. Cabin is pretty level after 70 plus years. Thanks for your help. Appreciated.

bldginsp
Member
# Posted: 13 Sep 2014 09:02am
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Any black, rich top soil is going to be very bad for supporting a foundation, because of it's expansiveness.

Sounds like you have a lot of digging to do, or just shore it up and live with it.

old243
Member
# Posted: 13 Sep 2014 09:37am
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If your topsoil is not deep. Remove the supporting flat rocks.Dig down to subsoil, pour a footing. with a concrete filled sonotube . Bit of work , but it should fix your problem. Also make sure drainage around cabin is not causing your problem . Put drain tile on high side will take pressure off ground. We had this problem at our camp. old243

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