Typical cost in Redmond
A floor that bounces or sags has a cause underneath. Redmond Foundation Repair repairs the posts, pads, girders and sill plates in Redmond crawlspaces; this page explains what holds a floor up, why damp wood fails and how moisture ties into the repair.
About 23 percent of Redmond homes were built from 1960 to 1979, and under 2 percent before 1950. Crawlspace framing varies from house to house, and a look through the hatch shows what is there. Woodinville and Carnation are also covered.
In a post-and-beam floor, short posts sit on concrete pads and carry a girder. A post that has rotted at its base, tilted off its pad or sunk with a cracked pad lets the girder, and the floor over it, drop. Replacing a post means supporting the girder first.
The girder is the beam that carries the floor joists, and the joists carry the floor. A girder that sags, a joist that has split or been cut and a connection that has pulled loose each give a floor its own signature, from a general slope to a local bounce under a heavy piece of furniture.
The sill plate is the timber bolted to the top of the foundation wall that the framing rests on. Damp can reach it from the soil, the wall or a leak, and how a damaged sill is dealt with is assessed on site once the wood and the wall beneath it have been looked at.
A sagging or sloping floor can come from a failed post, a deflected girder, a settled footing or a rotted sill, and the floor alone does not say which. Look at it from both sides: a level or marble on the floor shows the direction and how far it falls, and a flashlight in the crawlspace shows what holds it up.
If the cause is a moving foundation and not failed framing, the work belongs on the foundation settlement and piering page. A repair that raises a post under a floor that is following a settling wall treats the symptom, so both are checked.
Wet wood rots. The Forest Service decay manual, written for waterfront structures, puts it plainly: wood kept damp for any length of time gets infected with fungi that weaken it and cost it weight. Under a house, the exposed wood is the posts, girders, joists and sill.
For ground cover, Building America asks for heavy polyethylene sealed to walls and piers in every crawlspace, vented or not. Vented ones have a different main moisture source: bulk water from grading, perimeter drainage and gutters gone wrong. Ground cover is part of moisture control around framing. The water side is on the foundation drainage page.
Crawlspace work is slow because of the space. Clearance, access hatches, ducts and pipes decide what can be carried in and how supports can be set.
Tell us about the access: the size of the hatch, whether the ground is dry and whether insulation hangs from the joists. Photos from the hatch help.
Price follows the number of posts and pads, the span of any girder, how much of the sill or joists is damaged, how tight the access is, whether the ground is wet and whether the moisture source needs its own work. We quote after seeing the crawlspace, and a repair plan names what it will and will not do.
Redmond’s median home dates from 1993, so check what you have: a post-and-beam floor, a stem-wall crawlspace with a joist floor or a slab. Each has its own failure points, and a look through the hatch shows which it is.
Redmond’s FAQ treats even a minor remodel such as removing a wall as an alteration that needs a permit. Call the permit center to ask whether crawlspace framing repair needs one. A contractor also needs Redmond’s business license, which is separate from a permit.
A bounce can come from a girder or joist that has deflected, a failed post, or split joists. A flashlight at the hatch shows which.
According to the Forest Service manual, damp wood picks up decay fungi. If the wood is soft, dark or crumbling, get it examined and deal with the moisture source as well.
A ground cover can be part of the moisture control around a framing repair. Ask what the quote includes.
Standing water or damp ground under the house is a drainage question, covered in foundation drainage. A floor that follows a sinking wall is a settlement question, covered in foundation settlement and piering. All services: Redmond Foundation Repair home page.
Which part of the floor sags or bounces, how far does it drop and when did you notice? We'll get back to you soon with an estimate or any questions we have. Estimates are free and there's no obligation.
Call (425) 534-7222