House Leveling
After researching to determine the reason that my foundation was showing a lot of movement, I learned that I had a drainage problem and I corrected it immediately. I also installed an irrigation system to regulate the moisture around the perimeter and now my foundation and house are once again stable. Is there anything else that I should be observing?
Larry Alexander
Jackson, Mississippi
If you have your foundation stabilized and it is no longer moving, you still need to level it. If trim over doors and windows show a definite slant and they don’t function properly, you need to approach this problem head on. Rolling a marble on floors is the classic way to determine where you need to do your leveling work. If you sell your home, you will have to disclose this information to your buyer. If you haven’t corrected this problem, negotiating a selling price would not be in your favor.
Leveling is accomplished with a series of jacks
Leveling a house is serious business. House leveling is accomplished using a series of jacks, so-called because they adjust ‘with a screw mechanism. These jacks have the capacity to lift tons and tons of weight and with them a professional can make the necessary leveling adjustment to your house. The jacks are placed on a firm foundation, such as your basement floor or slab and will push against the floor joists overhead.
Raising a house is a creaking experience as it will creak and stretch as this process is being completed. Over the months and maybe years, your house has adjusted to the ups and downs of the foundation it is resting on. When you level the foundation, what you’re doing is structurally rather traumatic as the house now has to re-adjust to where it started. It will gradually make this adjustment.
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