30 years ago I had a contractor build my house. I had the contractor suspend the deck versus a wooden deck from the original plans.. He put in concrete blocks to support the 2×8’s plates and placed sheet metal on top of the wooden 2×8’s
The deck next to the house is dropping due to the deteriating 2×8’s which were not treated.
It has dropped about 2 1/2 inches and the brick also was placed on top of the suspended deck therefore now creating a 2 1/2 gap under the windows and a 2 1/2″ gap at the top of brick below the cornice.
It is 24×12 x 3″ thick
There are plenty of support post made of concrete blocks and have footings. About 8 feet apart and 3 rows.Inside next to the house, outside and down the middle.
I appears I need to jack up the deck and knock out the 2×8’s and place concrete cap blocks and shims to get it back up.
One person had a company level his house and it cost $8,000 but that is beyond my budget.
What I need your expetiese advice on is how is the best way to correct my issue. I have one 20 ton jack but could borrow more .
Replies
Maybe it's just me, but I find your description impossible to follow.
Dan,
Suspended slab was poured as a deck with the slab resting on 2x8s that sat on the piers. 2x8s rotted and slab is settling. The brick facade was laid on this slab instead of a footing and now they are settling.
This is not DIY but a house moving company could do it .
KK
I was kinda thinking something like that, but if that's the case the $8000 is a bargain.
youll need about 4-5 jacks, they dont need to be that big, and youll need as many people as you have jacks pumping together. you raise the slab to much at one point and you will more than likely crack it.
its very labor insentive and very easy to mess up...thats why the guys that can do it, and do it correctly can charge you what may seem like a lot of money.
Mark,
Would you be willing to be one of the guys under the slab jacking? Is there rebar and rewire that will hold the slab up when it cracks? Seems like a good way for rookies to die.
KK
nope!
30 yr old mistake coming home to roost?
Sounds like you made a 30 year old mistake going against mother nature. Apparently your contractor at the time wasn't professional enough to advise you against it. The best advice is to not make the same mistake twice and hire a professional contractor to fix the settlement. If you don't have enough of a budget to do that, then save until you do. It will be money well spent when it's done.
The OP wants to jack up the concrete slab to replace the rotting 2x8 joists with CMU blocks. Does that make sense to you?
No, it doesn't make much sense. The "slab" is apparently 3" thick and presumably un-reenforced (or maybe it has a little "wire" in it). There's nothing to "jack".
Well, there's a slab that needs jacked. I don't know if it has any reinforcement, but a 3" slab sitting on rotten joist and sinking several inches without cracking or falling down for 30 years that someone wants to save is probably pretty strong. I would give it a try, with proper safety cautions of course.
You'll note that he doesn't say that it hasn't cracked.