2" gap between floor and wall! HELP!!!?

Question

Last night I noticed the floor was feeling like it was giving way in the northwestern corner of my bedroom. We pulled all the furniture away from that wall, just a file cabinet and a dresser (both a little heavy, but still should not make the floor sink). The gap is worse at the corner, probably 2-3", and gradually gets smaller farther along the wall. We live in Indiana, so we do have the weather changes and humidity. The carpet along the whole area looks fine, and no sign of water damage anywhere along the celing. It has had to happen in the last three years b/c it was not like this when we moved in. The people that lived there before us replaced the carpet shortly before we moved in. There are also little white/tan spots on the wall just above the trim. The house was built in 1985, has block foundation and a crawl space. My husband and his dad are going into the crawl space tonight to check it out. I am scared to death to find out how much it will cost to repair it or have a professional to come look at it! Please help!!! Thank you!!!

Answer 1

Wow, it sounds like you have some major settling in the foundation.  It's either that, or the floor beams have slipped, maybe from not being properly afixed from the start.

Try not to panic until your husband and Dad have figured out the problem.

Answer 2

2" gap that was not there before is bad.

Something is settling, either from rot or foundation problems.

The spots on the wall indicate moisture at that area which could be a leak or it could just be because of the lack of air circulation possibly behind the furnature you moved.

Post your pictures to Kodak gallery, photobucket, or any other site and the just insert the link to your pix in your description.

Answer 3

Actually I bet your problem is not as bad as you think.  Probably what has happened is that the trim and drywall make it look like there is a gap, but if you take your finger and stick it in the gap you will feel the 2x4 sitting on the floor, indicating that there really isn't a gap under your wall, just the drywall and trim makes it look like there is.