The Dean of Home Renovation & Repair Advice

COMMUNITY FORUM

theschif

10:59AM | 12/07/04
Member Since: 12/06/04
3 lifetime posts
Bvbasement
We purchased a new home in August of 2003 that has a concrete block foundation that is out of level. The house has a "daylight" basement so only the front and one side wall are concrete block and it is only a portion of the front wall that is out of level. To ensure level floors, the builder "shimmed" the I-beams and floor joists. By shimmed, he put one or more 5-6 inch wide wood or OSB squares (as deep as the sill plate) depending on what was needed to ensure that everything was level. The house has been constructed about two years and we have not had any problems to date, but I was wondering how this will hold up in the future. The builder says this is a common practice but would it be prudent to get a structural engineer's opinion? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

david_wv

02:51AM | 12/08/04
Member Since: 01/28/01
171 lifetime posts
I would be concerned with the shims compressing, especially the OSB. I guess that depends on the thickness of the total shim. You could talk to a local building inspector, even if you live outside the jurisdiction (some times the local municipality has inspections while the surrounding rural area is anything goes).

Piffin

04:17PM | 01/09/05
Member Since: 11/06/02
1284 lifetime posts
if this were going to compress and cause settling problems, it would ahve done so before he was finished building the house. It is the weight, not the time that compresses the shims. The total load of the materials was there the day he finished.

Excellence is its own reward!




Post a reply as Anonymous

Photo must be in JPG, GIF or PNG format and less than 5MB.

Reply_choose_button

captcha
type the code from the image

Anonymous

Post_new_button or Login_button
Register

Follow Us

horizontal divider
facebook
 
webapp2