# Floor Bowing



## SarahFair (Aug 2, 2013)

We moved into the house about 6/7 years ago and our bedroom floor has always been slightly bowed in one spot but never really noticeable.
A couple months ago I thought to myself, huh, that seems a little higher than normal... 
And within the past couple weeks its become almost like a hill. I can visibly see it now.

We have a crawl space, but there are no water pipes under that part of the house. 


Any ideas whats causing it?


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## Crakajak (Aug 2, 2013)

Is there wet mud under the crawl space somewhere?
Is the termite treatment up to date?
are there visible cracks in the foundation that wasn't there 1 year ago?
For a floor to bow something has to move or become very weak.
Gonna have to go under the house and look around carefully and see if you can determine  the cause.
Look for really wet mud, termite tunnels going up the foundation wall, cracks in the foundation etc....


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## Bobby Jackson (Aug 2, 2013)

Your house foundation is settleing..
Th part the is bowed up is actually sitting on piers and the rest of the house has settled on both sides of it.


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## 1gr8bldr (Aug 2, 2013)

The exterior and wall weight causes settleing, yet the interior piers with no weight on them usually do not settle which is probably what you see. Unless your talking about a floating floor issue?


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## SarahFair (Aug 2, 2013)

Floating floor?

If its the house settling why is there no other raised areas?

Its mud under there and I suspect with all the rain the house could be somewhat "sinking"
We live in the lowest part of the neighborhood and a heavy rain causes a lot of water to run through my yard, next to the house
Usually it only happens a couple times a year, but its happened probably over 5x this summer alone
This picture is from a couple years ago, but it gives you an idea of what its doing. The bowing floor is on the opposite side of the house though. 












I mentioned cracks in the foundation that have shown up over the years to my BIL, but he said since this is a modular house the brick on the outside isnt actually the foundation and is there more for looks 


I havent seen any signs of termites, but it is mud under there and from what I can tell, its wet


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## shakey gizzard (Aug 2, 2013)

More than likely when your laminate was put down they did not allow for proper expansion and contraction!  pull up the shoemolding and see, might just be a nail!


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## SarahFair (Aug 2, 2013)

Its under my master bedroom carpet. 
The "mound" is about 4ft long and give or take 2ft wide
A couple weeks ago it wasnt anything near this size


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## shakey gizzard (Aug 2, 2013)

So it's the subfloor that's bowing? Find the direction of the joist and screw it back down through the carpet. There is a special tool with special screws for this!


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## shakey gizzard (Aug 2, 2013)

If it wont suck up you have a more serious settleing issue!


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## SarahFair (Aug 2, 2013)

I lied... Its tarped under there and not mud.
And the joists are running east to west while the bow is running north to south.

We replaced the floor in my laundry room and all it was under there was press board. 
Im guessing this is what is bowing under the carpet, if that is what you mean by subfloor


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## shakey gizzard (Aug 2, 2013)

SarahFair said:


> I lied... Its tarped under there and not mud.
> And the joists are running east to west while the bow is running north to south.
> 
> We replaced the floor in my laundry room and all it was under there was press board.
> Im guessing this is what is bowing under the carpet, if that is what you mean by subfloor[/QUOTE When you step on the bow does it move?


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## SarahFair (Aug 2, 2013)

Nope


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## shakey gizzard (Aug 2, 2013)

Bobby Jackson said:


> Your house foundation is settleing..
> Th part the is bowed up is actually sitting on piers and the rest of the house has settled on both sides of it.





1gr8bldr said:


> The exterior and wall weight causes settleing, yet the interior piers with no weight on them usually do not settle which is probably what you see. Unless your talking about a floating floor issue?



These! a much mo difficult fix!


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## SarahFair (Aug 2, 2013)

shakey gizzard said:


> These! a much mo difficult fix!



Shhh! Don't say that! 
We were planning on replacing the carpet soon and I was just going to cut out the bowed piece, but seeing how rapidly its bowed has caused concern


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## jimbo4116 (Aug 2, 2013)

The seal will sit on the pier not the joist.  If there is settling on load bearing walls on either side of a pier then the resulting bulge in the floor will most likely run longer in the direction of the seal verses the joist.

If you stomp on the center of the bulge and it seems unusually solid then you most likely have settling in a load bearing interior wall that does not sit directly on a seal with piers under it.  Shouldn't happen but it does especially in older homes.

If this is the case you can install a seal under the sagging joists using a footing of solid concrete cap blocks, cinder blocks and a PT 4 x 6.  Jacking up 4x6 against sagging joists and placing new piers every 4 foot.


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## Mike 65 (Aug 2, 2013)

If this is a modular home your sub-floor is most likely particle board not plywood, that being said it sounds like you might have a water issue getting the floor wet. Particle board will not swell unless its wet, is there a bathroom or laundry room close to the bowed up spot?


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## SarahFair (Aug 2, 2013)

Nope. Like I said the water pipes are located the back half of the house,  this is the front. 
It was particle board in my laundry room,  I'm guessing it's the same under the carpet.


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## 1gr8bldr (Aug 2, 2013)

Based on what you described, it sounds like a pier is directly under the bow. Does it move when you step on it?


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## SarahFair (Aug 2, 2013)

No.. and upon further inspection it runs the full width of the room and stops at the closet, which would be the "back" of the house


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## . (Aug 2, 2013)

Unless I overlooked it, is this a modular or manufactured home?  I had a similar problem years ago in a manufactured home and the pressboard just bowed up for no apparent reason I could find.  Can y'all get underneath and see the actual floor?  You may have to pull plastic sheeting and insulation down to see it.  I'd almost bet it's a moisture problem somehow but I could be wrong.


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## SarahFair (Aug 2, 2013)

It is a modular home. 
When you go under the house there is black plastic and insulation under there,  but I'd almost rather go in from the top, the bedroom. 
The crawl space is very low and you literally have to belly crawl under there


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## Mike 65 (Aug 3, 2013)

Ok does the bowed spot start at an exterior wall, if so you could have water getting in from there. The best thing to do is pull the carpet and pad back and see if the wood is wet,if so locate the water source. Don't wait to long, a slow water leak can cause huge amounts of damage and can cost lots of $$$$$.


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## SarahFair (Aug 3, 2013)

Yeah we learned about slow secret water leaks last month.. the washer was leaking under neather and we had to replace the walls and floor in there. 

The carpet is in not great shape. The people before us must have locked a dog in here because at the corner of the door it was ripped or chewed back. I cut that down a little and used a broom handle to slide under there and lift it up. 
The place where the hump starts width wise is on a seam (like where two boards come together). The board next to it is not affected and the bowed board wasn't damp/moist/wet. I could only see the very side of it before I ran out of broom handle though. 

A few years ago the hump started in the middle of the floor. I noticed it when I was vacuuming and thought it was odd, but figured it was just a bad piece of wood.
Then recently it seemed to extend towards the inside of the house and grow taller. Now it seems to have extended towards the exterior wall, but hasn't reached it yet.


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## CC Rider (Aug 3, 2013)

Water could be coming in from outside. Is there a window near the bow? Is a deck bolted to the outside of your house near the bow? Could water be coming into the soffit and running down the inside of the wall?


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## SarahFair (Aug 3, 2013)

No the window isn't near the bow and there is a deck,  but it stops before the bedroom starts,  plus the bow started in the middle of the room.. but not the center


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## Doc_5729 (Aug 3, 2013)

Without seeing the problem, it's hard to detirmine the actual cause but several do come to mind.

You describe this as being in the middle of the room.

Is there any heavy furniture sitting on either side of the room in line with the bow? IF so that could have caused the floor joist to bow or even crack in the middle and raise up over time as the end settles more and more.

Also, on manufactured houses (and that includes modulars), not only are piers required under the main steel frame beams, but they are required to be placed at certain points around the perimeter to support the outside walls. Those locations would have been marked on the set-up plan when the home was originally set up.

As you brother in law mentioned, the blocks you see from the outside aren't supporting anything and these peirs would be located behind those. They are usually located where interior walls intersect with the exterior or roughly every 16 feet or so. There again, spacing would depend on the manufactors requirements

Due to the wet summer, water could have caused additional settling, and the floor joist bowed up in the middle due to pressure (weigh) on the outside walls, or something heavy on an inside wall.

Something else that comes to mind is has there been any additions to the back in which an additional roof was added? Roof loads transmit downwards.

The floor joist are 2x8 SYP. If there was a knot locted near the center, it could have simply popped (broke) and over time the weigh has taken a toll with age.

This could be a simple fix, or it could get real expensive in a hurry. Too many variables and unknowns at this time.


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## SarahFair (Aug 5, 2013)

Thanks for all the input.
I think I've convinced the SO to put carpet in sooner than later. 
When we rip it up I guess (hope) we can tell what is the cause


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