Craling A Floor

If you have a crawl space foundation which is common in the south a sagging floor often means you have a structural problem with your floor joists or beams.

Craling a floor. The most common types of floors that have to be insulated and air sealed include cantilevered floors floors over garages and floors above unconditioned crawl spaces. If your floor is concrete use a concrete grinder for large open areas or a 4 inch or 8 inch angle grinder with a cup wheel attachment made for use on concrete. Generally floor joist are blocked every so many feet to help hold them in place and from moving. This is because concrete slab floors don t have the wooden structural elements that come with a basement or crawl space.

Grinding and repairing a concrete floor can create concrete dust so be safe and wear a respirator a dust mask will not give you enough protection. Our intention is to help you make an informed decision about what you need to repair your home. If this blocking is not properly placed or missing then this may allow the joist to move. Once the compound is dry make another sweep with your electric sander to shave down slight differences in the height of the subfloor and even out rough patches.

If a floor built over an unconditioned space isn t sealed to be airtight it can cause unwanted heat loss in cold weather and heat gain in warm weather. The first and most significant is the construction type of your floor system. Sand from one end of the room to the other pushing the sander along in a straight line and reversing your direction each time you reach the opposite wall. Over time the dirt your house sits atop can compact causing the foundation to sink.

Should this be the case homes with a crawl space will usually allow access to the joist area and repairs or blocking can be easily made to the floor joists. This framing system can also be used for framing storage shed floors this floor framing system is typical over basements and crawl spaces. Framing a floor using i joists.