Expert: Bruce E. Johnson - 4/23/2009

Question
Hi
I am hoping to purchase a house which was originally built in 1856, I have noticed that on the first floor in one of the bedrooms the floor slopes a considerable amount. There are quite a few cracks internally, fairly small in size. There are not any visible cracks on the exterior walls. Over the last three years there have been quite a lot of alterations. The loft space has been converted into living space and a large amount of living space has been added to the ground floor into the garden area. I have limited information apart from research that I have carried out about the property due to the nature of the sale. My concerns are obviously if this could be subsidence or any other major structural damage. I would appreciate it if you could give me any advice.
Thank you

Answer
Hi sophie, a severly sloping floor is a sign of settling.  It might not be too serious of a fix.  If you have a crawl space foundation you can get underneath and jack up the settled areas and add longer supports etc. to bring the building back up to it's original elevation.  One question, is the room with the sloping floor an original part of the house or was it a patio that was converted to living space?  Sometimes, when remodeling, people that build on a patio don't realize that patio slabs slope away from the building for drainage.  Just a thought, your sloping floor may be due to something other than settling.  But if it was part of the original house it can be taken care of by jacking and reshoring.  I hope this information helps feel free to write again regarding this or other matters, sincerely bruce e johnson..bejohnsonconsulting.com