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tacoeater1234 t1_iwqru9o wrote

You need to fix this at the foundation before you do anything else.

13 degrees is a lot and is indicative of foundation stability issues. Before doing anything, you should verify that the foundation is currently stable, even after 100+ years it could still be sinking slowly, depending on the makeup of the ground below it. You level the floor, remodel the bathroom, and in 3 years you start to see cracks from the foundation sinking another 1/4 inch. There are ways to stabilize foundations that are not currently stable.

Additionally, I suspect mudjacking your house may make the most sense. This involves lifting the sunken part of the foundation up a bit and filling in the gap. This will naturally level out the floors and provide the most structural integrity overall. In some cases it's not as expensive as you may think and should be well worth it if the foundation has finally settled. Not only are your floors more level, but your house is more structurally intact overall. The downside is it's going to cause cracking in existing drywall, plaster, flooring etc. that was placed according to the sunken angle of your house, but like you said, it's a fixer upper, so presumably you're poised to do that work anyway.

At some point a house leaning due to a sunken foundation is dangerous, so it should not be taken lightly. The leaning tower of pisa is leaning at 4 degrees. It is 6 times older than your house and still sinking for the same reasons your house may be.

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Hey_look_new t1_iwqyfrp wrote

>13 degrees is a lot

this might be a huge understatement

OP def needs to get that dealt with

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tacoeater1234 t1_iwqys18 wrote

It really depends. I'm guessing the whole house isn't at 13, and the bathroom is on an exterior wall that sunk and the structure of the main floor results in the bathroom seeing the most of the slant. If the whole house is at 13 degrees I would be weary about living in it.

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Ivantroffe t1_iwrr9a3 wrote

The main floor is definitely not at 13 degrees, thank god. It feels flat. The bathroom is on a back section of the house that very well may have been added later.

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84FSP t1_iws3zf4 wrote

Typically in homes of this age the water/sewage was added long after and typically all plumbing will be on a single wet wall. It's highly likely that this additional added structure, typically an add on is the problem child. Jacking only a single section will be far less involved than needed to address the whole structure.

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RealOzSultan t1_iwqtcdu wrote

Can you put jacks under the subfloor? You'll have to examine all of that - there may also be foundation issues precluding that as an option

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inhospitableUterus t1_iwqrklb wrote

If you are gutting the bathroom remove the subfloor, sister the joists with level joists, then reinstall the subfloor.

If you are not gutting leveling compound or mortar and cement board is the way to go. A skilled tile man can nearly level a floor with varying thinset thickness.

Edit - I’ll echo the “try and identify the cause of sagging first” comments. I have a 100 year old house and things have naturally moved around a bit, but it’s mostly just dips between the joists and things being out of plumb. An entire room dipping so much is pretty sus and it could just happen again after you fix it if the problem is ongoing.

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popsblack t1_iwrgcfe wrote

It's typical for baths in older homes to have rotten joists from decades of water. If this is that simple, jack up the joists, tear out and replace rotted sills and joists then sister or replace joists.

It isn't overly technical, just a bear in a crawlspace. Hopefully you have a basement.

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Govspyman72 t1_iwrtk97 wrote

In this instance you can’t level the floor because you have a sewer drain connecting to the toilet. So if you level the floor you will have to extend the sewer line and probably water line. If it’s a 100+ old house and it’s just a 1/2 bathroom then most likely an added portion. Houses that old did t have regular plumbing they had outhouses. Everyone has it right. You have to start with the foundation first. I know it sucks but without a solid and level foundation you’re just asking for more problems. Especially if you use leveling compound. That will add extra weight to that end of the foundation. You should really start with a Structural Engineer. They will do a complete house look over. Then make your decision off of that. If it’s just that room then it might be (depending on your level of expertise) easy for you to DIY the foundation. I’ve worked on old houses and sometimes the SE says oh there’s a small area and sometimes it’s oh shit you need to move out. Just being honest here. Good luck!

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jdlogicman t1_iwqmnls wrote

You can cut shims from 2x4s and then lay plywood on top of them to create a level floor. This will raise the height of your floor slightly. You could also use leveling compound, but for that amount of slope you will have a lot of buildup on the downhill side, and it says heavy as concrete.

You could use leveling compound with filler pieces of cement board to make the process go more quickly. Cement board might have air pockets in it, so it'll be a little lighter.

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New_Insect_Overlords t1_iwqn1l4 wrote

This is the route to go, but I would recommend trying to get a look at the situation under the bathroom in the crawl space to address any rot that is causing the sagging

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Fuzzy_Chom t1_iwqo2qp wrote

This. The first question i would ask is "does the floor slope because the floor joists are compromised, or because they are sound but out of level?"

Also, how are the floors in the rest of the house? Does everything slope? This might be the difference between a bathroom floor leveling project, and a foundation project.

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jdlogicman t1_iwqox4f wrote

Absolutely correct.

My house is 100 years old, and I just learned during a foundation repair that they commonly didn't even pour footings. They also didn't properly compact the ground, so sagging soon after construction is pretty common from what I have heard. Concrete doesn't last forever....

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hammeroutremodels t1_iwuwhsu wrote

You should honestly be banned for this comment. What is wrong with you.

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kittenfordinner t1_iwqycdi wrote

A lot of these answeres are good, but you really need to find out why it is sagging, and if the reason it is settling is finished. Like did something rot? Is it still rotting? Did the foundation settle? Is it stillttlig. As for jacking back into position, vs leveling the floor, jacking may fix other problems, or may cause other problems, and if you level rhe floor, then have to jack the house later, then the floor will be out again. Fun stuff! Also look outside then house, is there a broken downspout, or some other water issue out there?

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Ivantroffe t1_iwrsy2b wrote

Do you know the best way to find out why it’s sagging? If I hired someone, I wouldn’t even know where to look.

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kittenfordinner t1_iwsncqp wrote

It's hard to say, I would hire a builder, that's what I am. Someone with local experience, some of these things can get pretty regional depending on where you are. Where I live there is a section of town built on an old landfill, so sometimes the foundation under all or part of the house sinks. You have to do detective work, look for cracks, we're those cracks repaired? Have the repairs re cracked? Maybe it stopped moving years ago. Just jacked up a friend's house that settled, groundwater collecting under part of the house, it sand a few inches, buy no signs of recent movement, cracks not growing more

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Wildweed t1_iwr1dpn wrote

Find out why it's sagging and fix that issue first. Before you go Jacking up shit consider the fact that many times this will cause door closing opening issues as stress points are changing.

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capnsmartypantz t1_iwrp350 wrote

I feel like foundation needs air quotes. A house that old could be a stone and mortar foundation and it's crumbling. I agree with those saying to address that first.

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FeteFatale t1_iwsj7ok wrote

A 13° slope is practically unusable. That amounts to a drop of 2¾" per foot, or a full step every 2.5 or 3 feet. On a small bathroom (since we don't have the dimensions) that could mean a drop of 1.5 to 2 feet.

You'll be replacing the whole floor, and much of the subfloor and piles, so you may as well decommission the bathroom and rip the flooring out. That'll be much easier than going into an underfloor crawl space and finding the sinkhole to hell is full of the contents of a broken sewer pipe.

Are you positive it's 13°? ... 1.3° would already be bad enough, but 13° is beginning to sound like someone just laid flooring on top of a [shallow] staircase.

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Ivantroffe t1_iwssn5m wrote

I checked again and the floor is at a 2 degree slope. Sorry, no idea where I got the other number from. Apologies!

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FeteFatale t1_ix3s0r5 wrote

All's good :D

It's probably better to run a level over it (so the the level is ... level) and to express things in feet & inches (or meters & mm). So you end up with something like ... "my bathroom's 8'6" across, and has a fall of 2¾" ... " - because anyone that would work on your floor is going to want hard numbers, and someone's going to have to translate those degrees into inches anyway. Get rid of the unnecessary complication - it's like giving your address as a GPS coordinate and height above mean sea level instead of saying "1234 Main St, Pleasantville".

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