Uneven basement floor
Uneven basement floor
(OP)
Hi,
Are bowing or sagging in basement floor any indication of a foundation problem or other structural problems? I was shown a 1925 house where all residential floors look level, but the basement floor has bowing or sagging as you walk along its long side (i.e. as you walk parallel to the beams). I was advised elsewhere that basement floor is poured at a different time, so it should not be related to structure, I want, experts, your opinion on this.
Are bowing or sagging in basement floor any indication of a foundation problem or other structural problems? I was shown a 1925 house where all residential floors look level, but the basement floor has bowing or sagging as you walk along its long side (i.e. as you walk parallel to the beams). I was advised elsewhere that basement floor is poured at a different time, so it should not be related to structure, I want, experts, your opinion on this.






RE: Uneven basement floor
BA
RE: Uneven basement floor
Are the walls visible, and crack free?
Some tapping with a hunk of 4X4 or a hammer may reveal a thin floor's hollowness due to settled subsoil.
RE: Uneven basement floor
RE: Uneven basement floor
Thanks for your input. The foundation walls are masonry, the basement is finished, so I can't see cracks if any, but I presume there must be cracks in the floor since solid concrete slag must be flat, am I correct? Can the issue with basement floor/subsoil present a problem other than annoyance?
LR
RE: Uneven basement floor
BA
RE: Uneven basement floor
RE: Uneven basement floor
If by that comment you mean that concrete must be flat because it is placed while fluid, that is not correct. A concrete basement slab that was placed in a house in 1920s is often very uneven so, current "out of level" or uneven conditions might be misleading.
Also, I find that cinders were often used for basement slab leveling back in the day.
It's tough to say without seeing more but I would not normally expect that an uneven concrete basement floor alone is a sign of a foundation problem. Usually I'd expect to find distress in the floor above. With that said, I often find that interior footings in houses of that age are sometimes substantially undersized (or practical non-existent) and THAT will lead to uneven conditions but they should materialize in the floors above.