Leveling a Floor?
Hello- We are planning to renovate the top (third) floor of our brownstone. We plan to rip out the walls (in bad shape) and some ceilings (except for the tin ones) and update the electrical. Unlike our lower floors, there is little detail to preserve. The floors are quite slanted having sunk down in the…
Hello-
We are planning to renovate the top (third) floor of our brownstone. We plan to rip out the walls (in bad shape) and some ceilings (except for the tin ones) and update the electrical. Unlike our lower floors, there is little detail to preserve.
The floors are quite slanted having sunk down in the middle over the years. When we bought the house a couple of years ago, we replaced the main beam in the house and it should be solid now (it had been supported by tree trunks!).
We are wondering if we should have the floors removed and leveled while they are doing all of this work on the floor? Is this possible? How much would it cost? Besides being slanted, there is nothing wrong with the floors but they are nothing special either — they are wood but thin planks nothing decorative.
One more factor is that in a couple of years we may do further renovation on the floor and move walls around– so we could potentially wait and level the floors then. But, I wonder if we put new floor board moldings and everyhing in now, would we have to rip that out again to replace the floors?
This may be hard to answer given all of the contingencies, but any general guidance on whether leveling of the floor is possible and how much it may cost will be useful to us.
Thanks so much!
Your floors should be leveled on the joists. I have a few examples of this work on my web site at http://www.summitsurfaces.com – we will be starting a project like this shortly at a Synagogue on 9th street, between 7th and 6th ave in Brooklyn.
The second option of using sleepers on top of the existing floor should only be used on leveling issues of ½ to ¾ of an inch.
If you’d like us to take measurements to determine the slope – I’d be happy to set up a meeting and provide you with a report.
Brewse – Summit Surfaces
646-284-0304
If you are going to completely gut the third floor down to bare studs it will be much easier to do the entire job more efficiently. You would leave the floor joists in place and shim them up as needed. If you level the floors with interior partition walls remaining you will have to level around them and if you remove these walls in the future you will have to make major patches over the trenches where the walls plates used to be. Depending on how much your floor is off level you can also lay sleepers or shims before you lay the new floor over an existing floor. All baseboard moldings would have to be removed with any changes to the floor. Also doors and stairs may need to be altered as they have sagged overtime as well. Almost every house in Brooklyn that i have seen has uneven floors usually pitched from both party walls in the direction of the load bearing wall that runs the depth or central hall of the house. Are you sure you can’t live with it? The cost depends on if you demo (remove and replace) the floor or just put a new floor on top, what kind of wood you choose, what kind of baseboard moldings if the doors will need to be corrected, changes to plumbing (raising radiators) and on and on. This work can be done by a good flooring contractor, with the help of your GC carpenter. If I was going to gut the entire floor I would do everything now and remove all the walls even the ones you plan on removing in the future. Remember that removing walls (load bearing ones like the one in a brownstones central hallway require much more additional planning. Non bearing walls can be removed and replaced but remember they require changes at the ceiling level (repairs to the tin ceilings) Level floors are not important except in bathrooms and kitchens where they interfere with the installation of fixtures. Anyway, your architect/contractor will advise you as to your options.