JB4XX Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 My three year old house is settling some. It is built on a walkout basement with a 2x6 wall running through the middle of the basement instead of steel poles. I noticed some cracks showing in the paint around door jams upstairs and some of the 2x6's in the basement are bowing. Can I just install some steel post jacks in the 2x6 wall to take some of teh weight off of it? If so, how far apart should they be spaced? The basement is 52x30 with the wall running across splitting the basement 17/13. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeaconXX Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 yeah, the steel pole thing is an easy enough fix. If you have settling like that in just 3 years, you'll probably want to put them in pretty soon and start keepin an eye for any other signs. It helps to run a level string line from wall to wall in the basement and measure to the joist in question. Then you just find the lowest point, insert support there, and lift until the joist is level. I'd start with 1, maybe 2 depending on the severity. IF you continue to have problems add more, equally spaced. Remember, if you go from 1 to more supports, don't remove the first until the load is supported by the others. The sudden drop can wreak havok on your doors closing upstairs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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