SmartJacks Saved This House from Sagging - Portland, OR
Challenge
This homeowner was informed that the previous owner had cut into the support beams in the home thinking it would be okay to just "cut out" any water damage. Because of this, the new homeowner noticed that their sub-floor was starting to sag and in some rooms of the house it felt completely unsupported. They decided that they wanted this issue fixed so that their house could stable but didn't know where to begin. They reached out to John's Waterproofing to see if anything could be down to save their home. We informed them that installing SmartJacks in their crawl space would help to re-stabilize the home and installing a vapor barrier would protect against any moisture that clearly had seeped in before causing the original damage to the wooden posts. They agreed that it would be the best option and wanted to get started right away.
Solution
When a crawl space experiences water seeping in, it opens up the possibility of exposure to wood rotting and mold or mildew growth. Without proper protection, then the issue will only continue and worsen over time. The previous homeowner decided to cut out some of the support beams in the crawl space as a form of protection from the rotten wood to spread. But, as long as water has entry into the crawl space then the issue can keep occurring and in time, water damage will still spread. We installed 10 different SmartJacks throughout the crawl space and 34 ft of steel beams. SmartJacks are steel piers installed in crawl spaces from the base and are jacked up to the support beams to help address sagging floors. Because there are made of steel, it inhibits any rot or mold to grow on them. One thing that makes SmartJacks able to withstand any conditions long-term is they can always be adjusted if there's changes in the foundation soil so that there is constant support. To help add some protection against moisture, a drainage system was installed and then we laid out a new 6 mil vapor barrier to help keep water from puddling in. The vapor barrier is overlapped over each seam and anchored up the foundation walls to help keep water out of the crawl space. Once the SmartJacks and vapor barrier were installed, this homeowner can enjoy their home without the fear of the sagging floors.
