How To Jack Up A Floor Joist

Jacking up a floor and leveling it is easy with these simple instructions.

How to jack up a floor joist.

Total cost was less than 200 while a pro would charge 500 1000. A day until they re level. The only tools required is a bottle jack string straight claw hammer circular saw and a light source. Jacking up a ceiling joist or beam is a process that requires the use of a screw jack.

Tack a beam under the sagging joists. We used 18 000 pound screw jacks 4x4 lumber a circular saw power drill driver and cement blocks. Set a hydraulic jack and post under the beam and jack up the joists about 1 8 in. The inside pipe is threaded and adjusted up and down by turning a large wing nut.

A screw jack is a metal support post that can be adjusted to level the floor. We got muddy because we were in a dirt crawlspace doing just that crawling. If the correction is minor only a 1 4 inch over an 8 foot span using shims between the floor joist and the subflooring can often rectify it without the need to raise the floor joist with a jack. After the old joist is lifted by the jacks the new joist will now sit on the supporting walls or wall and i beam in our case while the old is lifted off of the structure.

Make repairs to settling piers and weak joists to fix swagging floors and roof lines. It consists of two heavy steel pipes one inside the other. Jacking them up too fast may cause cracks in the walls and floors overhead. Wooden shims are often used to work out squeaks and stabilize spongy areas but they can also be used for slight adjustments to specific places.

This job took two people one afternoon. The screw jack is attached with nails to the underside of the girder and to the wood block atop a concrete pier. Cost time and skills. To correct this you can use a screw jack to lift the joist until the floor is again level.