Proudly serving Kentucky including Lexington, Frankfort & Nearby

Uneven Floor

Sinking Or Uneven Floor Repairs Near Richmond, Lexington, Georgetown

A floor that is sinking by a half inch.

This wood floor in a Versailles home is sinking by 1/2". It's located over a crawl space.

Sinking floors can lead to a variety of other issues, including jamming doors and drywall cracks.

In addition, uneven floors over crawl spaces are often accompanied by serious mold problems.

The Problem:

The floors in your home are significantly out of level.

Telltale Signs:

  • Sinking or Heaving Concrete Slabs
  • Mold & Rot In The Crawl Space
  • Interior Doors Jamming
  • Floor Cracks
  • A Floor That Sags Toward the Center of the Houses

How to Fix It:

Crawl space jacks can address the unlevel structural problem in your crawl space.  The cause of the uneven concrete slab could be settlement or foundation heaving.  These can be solved by installing foundation piers.

Foundation heaving requires a highly experiences specialist to evaluate because it can be a very complicated problem.  A foundation contractor should inspect the problem in person if you suspect that this is a problem with your home.

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We fix the foundation problems that cause sinking floors! Call us for a free foundation repair quote today!

We serve Richmond, Lexington, Georgetown, and many nearby areas in Kentucky.

Causes & Solutions For Uneven Floors

Uneven floors often occur when settling or shifting ensues.  These are foundation issues that are not caused by the floor systems itself, but impacts the floor. 

Floor beams and joists will usually bend or flex rather than crack or break because of the type of wood they are made out of.  This is not true for masonry foundations though.  Soil issues will usually bend the floors above, but will cause a foundation to break.

 

Collapsing crawl space support pillars Nancy

Floors Above Crawl Spaces

The floor joists above a typical crawl space are supported by the perimeter walls of the crawl space foundation and by a post or column-and-beam framework that extends down the center of the crawl space.

Floor problems may be caused by the settling or shifting of the perimeter walls of the crawl space, but it is more like for the center support systems to settle or sag because it was not built properly in the first place. 

When moisture causes wood supports to rot and collapse, this can most definitely cause a post-and-beam support system to weaken and settle.  When a dirt-floored crawl space begins to sag, the floor above will sag as well. 

Interior wall cracks, jamming doors and gaps between walls or doors and the floor underneath them are also signs of a sagging crawl space.

More about sinking, sagging crawl spaces.

Installed crawl space jack post system in Monticello The Solution:

We have the solutions for your crawl space at The Basement Doctor of Central Kentucky.  Our trained specialist can quickly and effectively repair a crawl space structural issue with our heavy duty crawl space jacks.  These crawl space jacks will stabilize sagging crawl space structures with the help of their adjustable steel posts.

During installation, we prepare a base of compacted engineered fill at all jack placement points, located directly beneath the main support beam.  We install a pre-cast concrete base on this fill and then extend a crawl space jack between the base and the beam. 

The weight bearing on the beam is transferred to the soil below once each jack's threaded rod is adjusted beneath the post. This system is also successful in the way that it brings your sagging floor back toward its original, level position. 

Our crawl space jacks can effectively stabilize your crawl space -- usually in a day.

More about crawl space jacks.


Illustration of a sinking concrete slab floor

Settling, Sinking Concrete Floors

Concrete floors tend to crack and break instead of bend because of the material they are made out of.  If your foundation is settling, it may be lifting the concrete floor as the rest of the foundation experiences movement. 

Sometimes the slab floor can lift or sink independently of the walls.  This may be the result of settling soil underneath the concrete slab floors.  This kind of floor will crack if the soil beneath shrinks, settles, or washes away. 

Similarly, a concrete slab will lift, or "heave", when the soils underneath expand. 

A concrete slab can move independently of adjacent foundation walls, or along with them. Since settlement isn't uniform, one section of a slab may be elevated as another section sinks down.

More about foundation settlement.

More about sinking slab floors.

A repaired concrete slab floor illustration The Solution:

A slab pier system, shown on the right, can repair slab floors that are sinking independently of the walls.  These piers can be used to lift a slab back to its original, level position.  They are placed in cored holes in the floor, extending down to competent soils to hold your floor in place.

To stabilize your entire foundation your contractor will recommend either foundation push piers or helical piers.  These not only strengthen and fix your cracked uneven floor from foundation settlement, but also lift the foundation to its original position in some cases.

Foundation heave is a complicated and multifaceted problem that requires a professional inspection.

More about foundation heave.

We're Your Local Foundation Repair Experts in KY

Our team of professional foundation contractors can help. During our foundation repair quote, we'll personally inspect your foundation issue, explaining what's happening with your home and making suggestions for repair. Each of our visits comes at no obligation and it includes a written foundation repair estimate.

To get your foundation fixed permanently, you will need to know exactly what is going on with your home -- and which solutions will best address the problem. It costs nothing to have a professional help you find out!

To schedule your free quote, call or e-mail us today! We proudly serve Georgetown, Richmond, Lexington, surrounding areas such as Nicholasville, Frankfort, Winchester, Danville, Shelbyville, Berea, Middlesboro and nearby.

Looking for a price? Get a no cost, no obligation free estimate.

our service area

We serve the following areas

  • Allen
  • Auxier
  • Banner
  • Beaver
  • Betsy Layne
  • Bevinsville
  • Blue River
  • Boons Camp
  • Burdine
  • Bypro
  • Dana
  • Drift
  • Dwale
  • East Point
  • Eastern
  • Flatgap
  • Grethel
  • Hagerhill
  • Harold
  • Hi Hat
  • Isonville
  • Ivel
  • Jenkins
  • Keaton
  • Lackey
  • Langley
  • Martin
  • Mc Dowell
  • Meally
  • Melvin
  • Minnie
  • Oil Springs
  • Paintsville
  • Prestonsburg
  • Printer
  • River
  • Sitka
  • Staffordsville
  • Stambaugh
  • Stanville
  • Teaberry
  • Thelma
  • Tram
  • Tutor Key
  • Van Lear
  • Weeksbury
  • West Van Lear
  • Wheelwright
  • Williamsport
  • Wittensville
Our Locations:

The Basement Doctor of Central Kentucky
22 Reilly Rd
Frankfort, KY 40601
1-859-795-5068