Sagging floors can gradually compromise your home’s structural integrity when left unaddressed, causing foundation shifts and other damage. Understanding the causes of sagging floors helps you recognize early warning signs, such as sticking windows or visible unevenness, before they worsen. Knowing the right solutions allows you to address the issue promptly and protect your home’s structural stability. Here are a few causes and solutions for sagging floors in your home:
Foundation Settlement
Uneven compression or shifting of the soil beneath your home can cause floor settlement, where one side sinks more than the other. Foundation settlement reduces the support available for floor beams and joints, which leads to uneven sagging. When clay-rich soils absorb and release moisture, they expand and contract, causing the foundation to heave and settle over time. Poorly compacted fill soil during construction can weaken the foundation, and water runoff may erode the soil around the footings, further increasing the risk of structural movement.
Helical piers are screwed into the ground until they reach bedrock or load-bearing soil that can support the home. By providing controlled hydraulic lifting, these piers stabilize sinking foundations and gradually correct sagging floors. Polyurethane foam injection offers another solution, as it raises settled foundations with minimal disruption. When the foam expands, it fills voids and gaps beneath the slabs, and it compacts the underlying soil to correct sloping floors.
Poor Construction
Poor original construction leads to defects such as substandard joist spacing in the floors. Too-small joist spaces don’t evenly distribute your home’s weight, causing the floors to bend and sag progressively. Substandard construction may also result in poorly compacted fill soil beneath slabs or helical piers. Inadequate compaction can cause the soil to compress, leading it to fail to withstand your home’s weight. This contributes to the formation of sinking columns and gradual floor deflection. Other defects associated with poor original construction that lead to uneven floors include:
- Inadequate foundation footings
- Low-quality beam materials
- Undersized beams
- Missing blocking
Installing adjustable steel jacks beneath failing support beams provides necessary lifting and reinforces settling floors. Adding extra beams or steel flitch plates strengthens uneven floors, restoring their load-bearing capacity and helping prevent future sagging. When footings are inadequate, push piers can extend the foundation deeper into stable soil, preventing compaction failures while stabilizing the structure.
Moisture Damage
Plumbing leaks and poor drainage increase moisture levels, which cause the subfloors and wooden joists to soften and rot over time. This reduces the stability of joists and subfloors, making them sag under the home’s load. Water from leaks and poor exterior drainage can erode the supporting soil beneath the slabs and crawl spaces. This causes beams to sink into voids, minimizes foundation support, and causes the floor to sag. Applying encapsulation, thick polyethylene sheeting on the walls and crawl space floors, can help block ground moisture vapor. Installing French drains and other measures to improve exterior drainage helps prevent floors from sagging by minimizing basement seepage.
Fix Sagging Floors Today
Identifying the causes of sagging floors and implementing targeted solutions immediately prevents recurrence, leading to a stable, comfortable home. An expert will help fix this problem by installing interior and exterior waterproofing, encapsulation, or crawl space supports, such as new beams. Contact a reliable basement waterproofing company today to protect your home.
