How to fix a very unlevel floor?

Question

The bathroom is about 6inches off from one end of the floor to the other. And that is a 4ft span. The tub is at the level end which is the lowest part of the floor. We want to leave the tub and build up the floor around it. What is the best and fastest way to do that ourselves?

Our kitchen is also unlevel. The floor slants to one corner. It may be about 3 inches off level. We need to level out both floors, but have no idea how.

Answer 1

Ewww. We had this problem and it not fun to fix. It is great however to spill milk in the kitchen and not have to break your neck running to catch it before it pours under the molding.

What we did was tear the floor up and attach level floor joists to the unlevel ones then re-lay the floor. Sound fairly simple but make sure you think it through before you start. Think about your doorways matching up if they don't have a step. If you only have one entry that will work- just level it with that. If you painted your wall a certain way or have paneling up half way it may look unlevel after the floor's done so you might have to change that too.

You could try jacking it up the low spot underneath but don't expect much. We tried it and by the time we had the house the joists were too warped. The high spot got higher too.

Anyway- good luck and you'll love it once it's done!  

Answer 2

You may need to check out the foundation. Why are your floors not level? In our house, we found the wood beams under it were rotted and we had to get s***w jacks to lift the floor back up to level. Putting something over the top will not help if the issue is below! Good Luck! If you need s***w jacks, we used this company and are very happy with price and quality: www.ellisok.com

Answer 3

First, if you have a crawl space, you may want to crawl under your house and see if any of the foundation under your house is sinking.  If it is, then you have a bigger problem on your hands.

If the foundation isn't sinking, then you can take up the sub-flooring and nail/bolt on floor joists onto the existing floor joists to make the floor level.  As long as you nail/bolt the floor joists on the same side, the spacing should remain the same.  Then just put down a new sub floor with screws or with ring shanked nails.  I prefer to use screws over nails.

If you add on top of the existing floor, then you may have problems at the doorway.  You could put down shims then secure the new flooring to the old sub flooring, but that is not a really good way to do things.

Answer 4

wow really? 6" over 4'? that's a LOT! well there's a few things you can do the 1st and probably best starts below the floor. you'll need a "jack post" with s***w assembly maybe 2 and a 2x4 or something that'll mount to the plate on top. floor unlevelness is usually caused by sinking (which usually is because something supportive was removed) if this is the case then go down below and crank it up like a spiral automotive jack the jack posts will move the floor up you then need to put a 4x4, beam spanning to support walls or a new support wall. jack it up till it's level measure and cut 4x4 or wall or w/e and put it in place. your favorite lumberyard should be able to help you out with beam rating if you decide to go that route.

the other way to do this is really just a patch you'd need to get some plywood and patch in several layers in pieces till it's up to about where you need to be floor sand each time then cover with floor leveler compound before flooring back over it. again that's just a patch and if it sinks further then it'll need to be repaired again.

this MIGHT be a pretty big task for a diy'er but if you want further instruction don't be afraid to ask someone at a small lumberyard. (not a box they're usually just college kids who don't know anything you can try but i wouldn't recommend it)

Answer 5

You have to find out what the root of the problem is, is it the foundation,is there a subfloor that is uneven you will have to find out the answers by doing some serios investigating Good Luck

Answer 6

If you are here asking this question you can't.  You need to get 2-3 estimates from contractors.  This could be a very major problem involving more than unlevel floors.