Tips On How To Level An Existing House

I would be a liar if I said you can wake up one day with no experience at all and begin leveling your already existing house reason being this is not just any simple task that just anyone can do on their own. Even those that are skilled at it know that leveling an existing house is not a walk over however when you have knowledge about how it is done then it will become a lot easier for you. When your house is starting to seem very small and you feel like you don’t have plenty of space that you need due to various reasons and your are not yet ready to buy a  whole new bigger house, the best option would definitely be to level your already existing house. Definitely what is enough for you now might change in a few years and you will start feeling like it is no longer what you thought it was. Therefore in such cases you will realize that knowing how to level an existing house would be of great help when it comes to finding the perfect solution for your house. This is how you can level an existing house………………….

1. Talk to your architect or structural engineer; before you think about anything else, the very first thing you will have to do is get in touch with someone who is a lot more skilled than you are and that is none other than a structural engineer or an architect. This will prevent you from making any mistakes with your house hence making the initial problem a lot more difficult to solve. With an experienced person you can even discuss more about what exactly you want in order to have results that are more than perfect.
2. Establish how further you the house to be raised; you will only achieve the most accurate if you use a laser level, so use your laser level to project a straight line starting from one side of the foundation through to the opposite side. Take measurements of the distance from the straight line and keep repeating this on different areas of the foundation. The best thing about using a laser level is that it makes your task much simpler compared to when you use any other tools.
3. Mark off the lowest portion of the center; after making the first measurements, next you will have to do is determine the lowest part of the middle area of your foundation and label it. Ensure to put a clear mark on it so that you don’t have to go through the same trouble of marking it off again.
4. Use concrete or wooden blocks to create a provisional post; before building the temporary post, make sure that ground under the house is well leveled and very firm so that when the post is placed it will not easily fall. Adjust the blocks well for added stability.
5. Find a hydraulic jack; depending on how much you are willing to spend, you can either buy your own hydraulic jack or simply rent one just for the job. Grab your hydraulic jack and place it right on top of the temporary post that you made. Between the structure above and temporary post you built, there should be enough space for you to insert your hydraulic jack. After than begin jacking the house upwards and keep inserting smaller blockers at the area where you just jacked to fill up that area that has been elevated.
6. Carefully remove the hydraulic jack; after jacking the house to your desired height, then it is time to get the hydraulic jack out and let the temporary posts support your house. Keep in mind that these temporary posts will be guiding you when it comes to fixing in the permanent ones.
7. Look out for any damages caused or problems; the essence of doing this check before installing permanent poles is ensure that any problems are solved before the project is done. It will be better to find out the errors such as sheetrock cracks before than realizing later when the damages have become way too big to repair. Therefore take a very careful checkup all around the foundation and see whether movement of the house has caused any problems.
8. Build another temporary post; when you realize that there isn’t anything to worry about, you can then go ahead a build your second provisional post the exact same way you built the first one. If the floor feels stable on temporary then you will know that it is time to install the permanent ones.
9. Installation of permanent posts; this is the final step of your procedure, putting up permanent posts. If you old posts are still firm enough or simply have a few rotten areas that you can modify them and still use them on your new floor. However in case they have overly been decomposed, you will definitely have to purchase new ones. Concentrate more on center to ensure that there is enough support on that middle part of the floor since it distributes support to the entire house. And finally you will be through with leveling your already existing house.

LEVELING TIPS

• Using a hydraulic jack is not bad but most people prefer screw jacks reason being a screw jack will allow you to personally feel the amount of resistance delivered. While on the other hand the hydraulic jack does give you this kind of impact.
• It is best to use smaller movements instead of larger ones, smaller movements reduce the risk of damages while larger movements can easily lead you into making huge errors that will require more time and effort to correct.
• Make you entire process easier and much more convenient by making several jacks. Multiple jacks will deliver maximum stability as compared to few ones.
• It is also recommended to take breaks in between so that the house can settle after every few movements. There is no need to rush into the final stage, take your time and you will get more stable and reliable results.