by Carey, James
Turn off the electricity and call your electric company to report the flood.
Turn off the gas to the water heater and furnace.
Call your insurance company and report the circumstances.
Arrange for remediation and cleanup immediately.
Remove salvageable items as quickly as you can, and discard items that you can’t clean or that are contaminated.
Protect yourself from sewage and other types of deadly contamination with hip boots, gloves, and goggles. And limit traffic in contaminated areas.
If your basement flooded because of a sump-pump failure, call a plumber.
After the water is gone, run dehumidifiers and fans until the units collect only a small amount of water over the course of a few days. Initially, the dehumidifiers will collect buckets of water. It may take several days — or longer — for the majority of the moisture to be collected.
Prematurely draining a basement that was fully flooded due to a natural disaster could cause a collapse. The flood waters in the saturated soil exert a tremendous amount of pressure on your basement walls, and the water within the basement is needed to resist that pressure. You have to allow the water in the soil to evaporate and seep deeply into the ground before your basement can be pumped dry; this evaporation can take a week or more, depending up how saturated the soil is.
The Floor Frame
If plywood were strong enough, we wouldn’t need a framed structure beneath it for support. Even better, there wouldn’t be anything beneath the plywood to go squeak in the night. Despite all the strength that the floor frame provides, it’s plagued with inherent problems. Builders have two fears in a newly built home — leaks and squeaks. A one-story home with a slab floor solves half the problems. Does that tell you anything about how inherent the problem really is?
Floors that go bump in the night
No matter what kind of finish flooring you may have — carpet, vinyl, tile, or hardwood — unless your home is built on a concrete slab, underneath it’s wood. And it’s that wood that causes the squeaks — well, sort of. Usually, the squeak is a loose nail rubbing inside the hole it was originally driven into. Lumber used to build homes contains a certain degree of natural moisture, which makes the wood easy to cut and minimizes splitting when it’s being nailed together. Unfortunately, as the wood dries, it shrinks — a natural process that can take years. When the wood shrinks enough, once tightly seated nails can loosen and rub when the wood flexes below the pitter-patter of foot traffic, creating the familiar irritating sound: a floor squeak.
Boy, have we got good news for you: Floor squeaks aren’t difficult or expensive to repair, and with a little guidance, you can avoid the frustrating part of the task: actually finding the cause of the squeak.
If you have company coming or you’re expecting houseguests for a week and you don’t have time to make the repair, try this temporary fix: talcum powder. We’ve found that talcum powder works particularly well in quieting a squeaky hardwood floor or wood stairs. Sprinkle a generous amount of the stuff wher-ever the floor makes noise. Work the powder into the joints and around any exposed nail heads. Make sure that you completely remove the excess powder, because it can make the floor dangerously slippery. The relief lasts for a few weeks or months.
First up: Finding the squeak
The first step in repairing a floor squeak is to find the nail that’s rubbing up against the wood floor — a task akin to finding a needle in a haystack. Here’s a trick that we use to pinpoint a floor squeak so that we can make a repair: Use a short length of garden hose as a stethoscope. Hold one end of the hose to your ear and the other end on the floor while someone else walks across the floor to make it squeak (see Figure 4-7).
Figure 4-7: Finding floor squeaks.
If you can listen to the floor from a basement or subarea, the makeshift stethoscope yields more accurate results.
Fixing the squeak
If the problem is a loose subfloor (the wood floor beneath the carpet, vinyl, hardwood, and so on), the repair can get sticky depending upon the type of finish flooring you have. However, if access below is available (that is, you can get to the subfloor through the basement or crawlspace), installing a wood shim shingle between the subfloor and the floor joist is a quick and easy means of preventing the subfloor from flexing, and it quiets the squeak. Just squirt some carpenter’s glue on the thin end of the shingle and tap it in with a hammer (see Figure 4-8).
Figure 4-8: Tapping in a shingle with a hammer.
Another means of quieting a squeaking floor by preventing it from flexing is a nifty gadget called a Squeak-Ender. It consists of a metal plate and threaded-rod assembly that’s screwed to the underside of the subfloor and a steel bracket. You slip the bracket beneath the joist and over the threaded rod; then you tighten a nut onto the rod to pull down the floor and close the gap. For more information on the Squeak-Ender, go to www.squeakender.com or call 800-854-3577.
If access below is not available, after you locate the culprit nail, the next step is to create a better connection. Don’t use nails to make the repair — use screws. Just follow these steps:
1. Locate the squeak using the method discussed in the preceding section.
2. Near the existing squeaking nail, drill a small pilot hole through the carpet, pad, and wood subfloor and into the floor joist.
The floor joist is the horizontal floor framing member that the wood subfloor is attached to. Drilling a small pilot hole makes the job easier. You can leave the old nail in place, or, if it’s loose, remove it using a nail puller or pry bar.
3. Drive a construction screw into the pilot hole, through the carpet, pad, and so on (see Figure 4-9).
When working on a hardwood floor, countersink (recess) the screw head so that it can be concealed with hardwood putty. Use a putty knife to install hardwood putty. Touch up the floor finish with 400- to 600-grit wet/dry sandpaper.
Figure 4-9: Drive a screw in the pilot hole.
We recommend construction screws because they’re easy to drive and they grip like crazy. You can purchase ones with a finish head (like a finish nail), which makes them a particularly good choice when working on a hardwood floor. You simply countersink them slightly and putty over them. You can also drive them directly through the carpet, pad, and subfloor and into a floor joist. A construction screw’s course threads and really sharp tip make it the perfect fastener for old, dry wood. The sharp tip gets through harder lumber easier, and the course screw threads go in faster and hold better.
If you do decide to use nails, choose a ring shank nail, which has a barbed shank for superior holding power. (Ask a clerk at the hardware store to help you find these nails if you don’t know what they look like.) Like construction screws, ring shank nails can be driven through the carpet and pad; however, due to the size of the nail head, they aren’t a good choice for hardwood flooring.
If the squeak persists, it may mean that your foundation has settled, in which case pier post shimming may be required. This process is similar to installing a shim shingle (discussed earlier). Instead, the shingle is inserted between the top of the pier post and the bottom of the girder (see Figure 4-10). Coat the end of the shingle with glue and tap it in snuggly using a hammer.
Figure 4-10: Pier post shimming.
Still struggling with a squeaking floor? Major foundation settlement or an out-of-level floor could be the problem; see the following section for more informa-tion. Because this is a more expensive repair, you may want to consider the positive aspects of owning your own floor squeak. Think about how different the movie Psycho would’ve been if Janet Leigh had heard Anthony Perkins coming.
Getting on the level with your floors
Is a stroll across the floors in your home like negotiating the decks of a ship upon the high seas? If so, it’s probably time to consider leveling the floor. Out-of-level floors are not only nuisances to go across, but if severe enough, they can also become a real safety hazard. Out-of-level
floors can also cause cracks over windows and doors or make doors and windows stick and tough to operate. Thus, by repairing your out-of-level floor, you may find the windows and doors in your home are a whole lot easier to operate and last longer. Talk about preventive maintenance!
Not sure whether your floor is out of level and by how much? Don’t head to the workshop to pull out a fancy level just yet. Simply swipe a marble (we like peeries) out of the little tyke’s toy box and place it in various locations on the floor throughout the home. If the marble doesn’t stay put, your floor isn’t level.
If the marble test proves that your floor isn’t level, be prepared to venture into your basement or crawlspace to investigate and make the necessary repairs. Unfortunately, floor leveling can’t be done from above, unless you’re willing to tear out the finish flooring to install a troweled-on floor leveling compound. This alternative is rare and is typically only performed when flooring is being replaced. Furthermore, you’ll want to leave this one to the pros because the required material dries pretty fast — if you don’t know what you’re doing, you could end up with a bigger problem than you had before you started.
The majority of homes with floors not on the level probably didn’t start out that way. Poorly compacted soil, excessively damp or excessively dry soil, and shrinking support posts under the floor are a few of the most common causes of this condition. Homes constructed on a hillside, on soil that expands when wet, or in earthquake country fall into a totally different category. Although some of the fixes suggested in this section may indeed apply to these homes, chances are, the services of a licensed soil engineer and structural engineer will be required.
Plan A: Trying some easy fixes first
Before embarking on the floor-leveling project we describe in the next section, we suggest that you take a simpler approach first: Start by stabilizing the moisture content of the soil near the foundation. Installing gutters and downspouts (and keeping them clean), installing downspout diverters (splash blocks), installing underground drainage systems, controlling landscape irrigation, and grading soil to shed away from the foundation are all effective means of controlling excessive moisture. (See “Preventing moisture under your home,” earlier in this chapter.)
Don’t expect miracles. This isn’t one of those conditions that will straighten itself out overnight. Depending upon the climate and temperature (based on the time of year that you take action), this passive stabilization process could take anywhere from a few weeks to the better part of a year. Try the marble test every month or so to see if your work is making a difference.
If controlling the moisture near your foundation doesn’t help or if there was a change for the good, but it simply wasn’t enough, you need to move to Plan B.
Plan B: Giving the support posts some support
If the easy fixes didn’t work, you can whip out that fancy level you’ve been dying to use.
All bubble levels are read the same way, regardless of length. True level is established when the bubble in the glass tube is located equally between the centermost lines on the glass vial. Lifting one end of the level will send the bubble in one direction while lifting the opposite end will send the bubble the other way. Playing with the level, raising and lowering one side or the other, will familiarize you with how it works.
Start your floor-leveling project with a 6-foot level and a Sherlock Holmes approach. Walk the floors of your home to identify the areas that appear out of level. Place the level over the floor in various directions and read the level to determine how far out of level it is. Repeating this process enough times in various locations will reveal where the high and low spots exist.
Now comes the fun part: Here’s where you get to work on your belly, side, or back in a space similar to that of graves in ancient times. Seriously, working under the house can be no fun, so make sure you wear coveralls, carry a drop light (what a mechanic uses when working under the hood of your car), and have the tools you’ll need with you:
A few feet of replacement post material
A couple metal connectors (see the following section)
A handful of 8-penny nails
A hammer
A nail puller
A sledgehammer
A circular saw
A hydraulic jack
A screw jack and an adjustable wrench (if you’re installing a screw jack — see “Installing a screw jack,” later in this chapter)
Some patience and, if you’re the least bit claustrophobic, some anti-anxiety medication
A helper topside to assist (because crawling in and out of the subarea can get old mighty fast)
Most crawlspaces are accessed in one of two ways: through an access door in the foundation (an opening in the foundation with a door or removable panel) or through a trap door somewhere inside the home (typically in the floor of a closet). If your house is on a concrete slab or has a full basement, you don’t have a crawlspace. Lucky you: No spiders to do battle with. Plus, if the support post that needs adjustment runs from your basement floor to the support framing of the floor above, you don’t have to work in a dark crawlspace on your belly; you can work upright in a well-lit basement.
However, if you’re among the unfortunate, after you get into the crawlspace, you get to have a look around. Here’s what you’ll see: At the perimeter of the crawlspace is the foundation. The various piers are scattered about the interior. Atop these piers, which vary in depth from home to home, are support posts called underpinning posts. The bottoms of underpinning posts are attached to wood blocks embedded into the tops of the concrete piers. The tops of the underpinning posts are also fastened to floor support beams called girders. Sometimes the subfloor is attached directly to these girders; other times, for a more “beefy” floor, floor joists (horizontal floor framing) are installed above and perpendicular to the girders. The subfloor is then attached to the floor joist. In either case, the repair to the support posts is the same. Over time, the piers may either sink or rise depending upon the type of soil in which they’re embedded and how moist it is.
Installing new support posts
To install new support posts, follow these steps:
1. At those locations where the floor is high, place the floor jack atop a block of wood and directly under the support beam, a couple of feet from the pier.
2. Jack up the floor slightly (just enough to relieve any pressure on the existing support post) and knock out the existing post (see Figure 4-11).
Figure 4-11: Leveling the floor by replacing piers.
3. Cut a new support post (shorter than the one removed by the amount calculated with your level from above) and place it between the pier and the support beam just like the one that you removed.
To determine the length of the new support post, from above, place one end of the level on the high spot and direct the opposite end to a predetermined level area on the floor. Hold the level so that the bubble is between the centermost lines in the glass vial. Then, measure the distance between the bottom of the level and the level area of flooring. The new post should equal the length of the old post less the measurement taken with the level.
4. Slowly lower the jack until the support rests firmly on the new support post, and attach the new support post to the pier and the support beam with metal connectors held with 8-penny nails.
Metal connectors are made of galvanized sheet metal fabricated to accommodate a specific size framing member. For example, the metal connector that would be used to anchor an underpinning post to the wood cap on a pier block is called a post bottom. In the case of a four-by-four post, the post bottom is square (slightly larger than the size of the post and about 21/2 inches high) and has holes in all sides through which nails are driven. You drive nails through the holes in the bottom of the connector into the pier cap.
A girder-to-post connector is used at the top of the underpinning post. This connector consists of two straps that attach to opposite sides of the post and two straps that
attach to either side of the girder. As with the post bottom, this connector has holes in all the faces for nailing.
Both connectors must be in place before the new post is installed. Use a short level to make sure that the post is plumb — at a right angle to horizontal. Remember: The bubble in the glass vial needs to be centermost between the lines.
At the locations where the floor is low, the process is the same with one exception: The new support posts being installed need to be cut longer by the amount calculated with your level from above.