How To Properly Jack Up Your Floors

When the space above the temporary post is adequate to place the jack and reach the structural member above start jacking the house up.

How to properly jack up your floors.

Jack up that portion of the house and place new footers. As the house moves add smaller blocks to support the center of the structure at the new elevation. By jacking up the ceiling of the basement you. Drive 16 penny nails through the holes in the plates and into the wood framing.

Buy or rent a hydraulic jack. Stack 8 x 12 blocks two wide in a criss cross pattern until they as close to the bottom of the girders as possible. Lower the hydraulic jack to transfer the floor load to the new screw jack. Look for bowed beams that are sinking lower than their compatriots or places where a sagging floor above may mark a problem beam below.

Jack stands are important tools that keep a vehicle propped up after having used a floor jack like a scissor jack or a hydraulic jack to lift a vehicle once the vehicle is lifted enough to fit the jack stands on a solid part of the car underneath it like the chassis they can be carefully fitted and tested by hand for sturdiness at which point the jack can be removed. It has to be jacked up slowly over days or even weeks to avoid cracking drywall plaster windows and even structural elements. Place support of the floor joists with wood studs. Adjust the screw jack up or down to achieve a level surface.

Once the floor is at the right level jack it up just a little bit higher. Get underneath your house and look for the support beams that hold up the house. Adjust the screw jack so that the top and bottom plates are flush to the wood surfaces above and below. Use a string to watch the floor come up.

Anything involving 20 ton house jacks will take time. If the foundation is sinking then you need to jack up the sinking side. Slowly jack up the floor.