Sagging Floor

[bcampos]

Hello,
I am new to this forum, and a new home buyer, so if this was answered 8 times already I apologize in advance. I checked a few of the forums here and couldn't find anything specific, so here I go.

I just recently purchased a house, that has a few small problems. One of which is a slightly sagging living room floor, due to the age of the house 65+ years old. I noticed in the basement that there is no beam directly under the living room, and a contractor that I know recommended that due to the fact that the basement will remain unfinished, a possible solution to halting any further sagging would be to place a new beam, parallel to the other, perpendicular to the floor joists, in the affected area, and lock it in with a few colums (2-3). I have read up on lolly columns, etc, but have run into a problem.

Everything seems doable, (ie: 3 2x8's spiked as the beam, 2-3 columns) but my question lies in the footing. I know the basement slab is 4" deep, and is typically not enough to support a column. How would someone like me, with limited knowledge of concrete work, complete the task of cutting, and created a new column footing. Please help me out with some directions on how I can do this, and ANY WARNINGS that I may not want to attempt this project. It seems easy enough because I'm not replacing any columns, just creating more support, but who am I to say.

Thanks alot for any help you can provide,

Ben
New Homeowner

[pushkins]

The following would be if you want to lift the sagged floor:

Before any digging or cutting try to locate any sewer or other potential problem sites, you don't want to cut into a sewer line for the sake of shifting a footing 10" left or right.

It is not hard to create a footing for your new posts, if you have access to or can rent a concrete saw, it's as simple as marking out a square on the basement floor (12" square would be okay) where you need the footing cut through the slab then dig out the dirt to a depth of around 36". Fill the hole with concrete, trowel it level with the floor. sit your house jack's foot on the concrete ( I'd give it 14 days before any bearing weight is placed on it) the rest of the jack can be added to support the beam and then jack up to relieve the sag.

Having said the above, if your just looking to stop any further sagging of the floor or to relieve a small amount of sag, then the use of simple house jack posts on the current basement floor at 4" in thickness would be fine, especially if you are going to use 3 house posts as the support over say 18' 20'. Even better would be if the area you need to lift was just an open area floor above, not a support wall that takes load from the roof down.

[Troy]

Hello,
I am new to this forum, and a new home buyer, so if this was answered 8 times already I apologize in advance. I checked a few of the forums here and couldn't find anything specific, so here I go.
Ben
New Homeowner

Welcome to the forum!

[bcampos]

Thank you

Thanks for the advice, I think I'll just support for now under the room (non-load bearing wall). What are the actual units used to support it. I have accest to a bunch of "shoring posts," but dont know if they are the same as "lally columns." The one's that I have access to have a threaded section to allow you to torque the post onto the beam. If this or some other type of threaded post is appropriate, how much should I torque the posts onto the beams as to hold, and not attempt to jack up the floor?

Thanks again,

Ben

[pushkins]

The support columns that you screw to take the load (shoring columns) are the ones you need, much the same as lally columns. Easily available at Lowe's or H.Depot.
Screw them up to a turn past firm as a rough guide for stopping any further sagging.