The house is lopsided, how to straighten it. What to do if a wooden house is leaning

You should know that raising a house is not too difficult. Of course, it is better to entrust this work to professionals, but if this is not possible, you can do it yourself.

We will need following materials and tools:

• hydraulic jack, preferably ten or twenty tons
• beams measuring approximately 150x250 mm, you can take sleepers
• various construction tools
• thick steel plate

Sequence of work:

• calculate the load incident on each corner
• choose a place where the jack will stand
• put a jack
• raise each wall and place supports
• fix the raised wall
• replace crowns or top up foundation

Next, you should choose a place where the jack will stand. It depends on the purpose for which you are lifting. If you need to change lower crowns, you need to cut a hole in them until the next log, which will become the support of the jack. The hole should be wide enough to accommodate the jack itself, as well as the boards that will support the house after it is raised.

If the purpose of the lift is to increase the height of the foundation, it will be necessary if the foundation belt type, make a recess in it for the jack. If it is columnar, there is no such need.

Place a thick steel plate under the head of the jack. It’s good if there is some kind of milling in its center, then the head will not slip off.

You need to place a rod not far from the corner and stick it into the ground. You need to make marks on it and on the corner at the same level. The ratio of these marks during lifting will indicate how many centimeters the angle is raised.

Work begins by turning on the jack. It is necessary to ensure that the jack is vertical. If it deviates to the side, you need to stop work and install the jack correctly.

When lifting you must follow next rule. It is necessary to lift with two jacks at once, which are placed at angles. Raising one corner should be done if it has sagged in relation to the other corners and needs to be leveled.

Each wall at a time must be raised to a height of 4 to 6 cm and no more. Then you should place stops under the wall and begin lifting the opposite wall.

There are two options for how to fix an already raised wall. The first is to place boards between the foundation and the log. The second is to make a “bench”, that is, place boards under the wall at right angles to it. The ends of the boards should be placed on supports located on both sides of the wall. The choice of option should be determined by what you need to do with the house, for example, replace crowns, top up the foundation, etc.

Everyone has probably noticed that when wooden house it has been standing for a long time without residents, it begins to collapse. Not only the roof and walls, which bear the main load from wind and precipitation, deteriorate. Due to the absence of human activity, the microclimate inside changes, humidity and temperature drop, and there are no vibrations from the movement of bodies and work household appliances. The microclimate inside begins to sharply contrast with what is happening outside the house, and, of course, loses to the elements. Nature “undermines” a house even from underground: heaving soils cause the structure to be pushed out of the ground, peat soils cause subsidence, etc. When the soil freezes, it pushes foreign bodies out; when it thaws, soft, moist soil, on the contrary, tends to absorb heavy objects.

As a result, every now and then in the countryside we come across rickety huts, sagging fences and walls. As often happens, when making their first spring trip to the dacha to prepare for the gardening season, the owners discover that their house is leaning or even starting to collapse... What to do?

Causes

By the way, any wooden house can tilt, even a newly built one. And in order to understand what should be done in each specific case, first of all you need to find the reasons for what is happening.

Any wooden house can lean due to one or more reasons:

• The old house had not been lived in for a long time;
• Violation of foundation pouring technology, destruction or lack thereof;
• Soil characteristics;
• Poor functioning or lack of drainage system;
• Flooding;
• Destruction of the lower crowns;
• Shrinkage of logs and timber in the walls of a new house.

What to do?

If a new wooden house has failed, there is no reason to worry: most likely, the observed phenomenon is not critical, and it is enough to wait some more time until all the material has dried, and then caulk the resulting cracks and seal them with sealant (with the exception of cases of violations during foundation laying). In other cases, you will have to work more seriously.

Flooding is when groundwater rise and begin to destroy the foundation, or when, as a result of a flood, reservoirs and rivers overflow their banks. If the situation repeats from year to year, it is necessary to build an embankment (dam) that will not allow high water approach houses, as well as strengthen the coastal strip. Then the house must be raised and the height of the corners leveled with durable additional elements.

Similar work on leveling the corners will have to be done if the distortion occurred due to the characteristics of the soil (raising and lowering the corners until the change in the landscape is compensated), as well as if the owners were absent from the house for a long time. Subsequent repairs from the inside and outside will restore the microclimate and the house will serve for another ten or two years.

Destruction of the lower crowns is unlikely to happen to a new house, although it can happen when choosing low-quality materials. Usually during operation, the lower 2 crowns require protection from dampness and cold coming from the ground. The lower rows of logs or beams need to be coated 1-2 times a year with special water-repellent compounds, as well as antiseptics to protect against rot, mold, and insects.

In this case, a lopsided house is leveled by replacing the crowns that have become unusable. Using levers (usually also logs or jacks), the house is lifted by prying on the whole crowns on one side, temporary supports are laid underneath, and then the operation is carefully repeated with the remaining walls. Rotten rows of wood must be replaced with new ones. Then delicately lower the walls onto a new, now intact, foundation. Such work is extremely difficult, and one person cannot do it. And in general, it is better to entrust any operations to move the frame of the house to professionals, so as not to cause even more destruction

If the clarification of the reasons showed violations in drainage system, due to which moisture began to accumulate at the foot of the house, you will have to restore it first.

Is the house leaning due to the destruction of the foundation? Just as a house is moved onto temporary supports to replace the crowns, it will also need to be lifted and moved to repair the foundation.

You're right about the trench. Just check in which direction the water is then discharged from it. And most importantly, how quickly. If the water doesn't leave there right away. However, a trench can play a negative role - water collects in it from the surrounding area, stands, is absorbed and flows under the house already inside the soil.

Apparently you have frame house. The frame is quite flexible and forgives large drawdowns and distortions. True, the panels may come apart in the corners. But when returning to their original position, they should close almost completely.

It is better, of course, to raise the corner that is falling down. In order not to wait for the floors to rise strongly, the cladding to come apart, etc. But if drawdowns continue, then you don’t want to give away 10k every two years. Therefore, the alternative is to raise the house yourself using wedges.

Wedges are best made from the cheapest wood. The main thing is that it is not rotten. As a rule, such wood is soft (not construction wood). I don’t know what kind of wood you sell, so I can’t tell you. The wedge is made flat. There is no need to make the wedge very sharp. Look at the attached picture, I think it will be clearer. The picture shows a lining - it is temporary, not the permanent one shown below, and is only needed at corners and intersections of walls, as a safety net.

The operating procedure is as follows:

1) It is necessary to gain access under all external walls (from the side where the subsidence is) and under all internal walls at least from 1 side. Those. make room for work.

2) Take the first wedges, which are 10-15mm thicker than the gaps. Drive in 3 wedges at each corner with a pitch of 500-1000mm (the first one is in the corner, and 2 and 3 on one and the other side of the corner, respectively. Do the same for interior walls. As a matter of fact, on the house plan that you showed, all the necessary places are marked with red arrows. Hammer the wedges evenly. Those. there is no need to hit each wedge all the way. They knocked down 1 halfway, then 2, etc. Finish off the second pass.

3) Prepare new wedges (preferably in advance, of course), which are 15mm thicker than the previous ones and drive them in next to the previous ones. This way you gradually level the entire wall to the desired level.

4) It is necessary to raise all the walls a little more than necessary - by 2-3mm. This is necessary in order to lay the main (permanent) gaskets. The main gaskets are already made from construction wood (pine, for example) impregnated with antiseptics. Place the gaskets and carefully knock out the wedges. So that the house trim beam fits tightly onto the gaskets.

What you need to properly prepare gaskets and wedges. Firstly, determine as accurately as possible how much each part of the house has subsided (your subsidence seems to be uneven). Prepare your own wedges for each corner and wall. Place them next to the place where you will put them. If you lump them together, you'll make a mess later. During work, it is necessary to constantly monitor building level position of the strapping beams so as not to skew them in the other direction :). It would be a good idea to have someone inside the house check how the floors are leveled and whether any cracks appear.

Work can be stopped and continued as you wish. But the wedges under all the walls should be approximately the same.

If something is not clear, please clarify.

Quite often, owners of old wooden buildings are faced with the question of how to achieve their rise. Log house can last much longer if its base is properly “reanimated”. Hydrological processes occurring in the depths of the soil cause subsidence of the foundation of a wooden structure. Exposure to water also provokes various biological processes that destroy the structure of building materials. The result is the formation of cracks and the gradual expansion of existing ones. During operation, the log house loses its caulking, which negatively affects the thermal insulation; in addition, the house begins to settle over time.

After lifting the log house, the lower crown or foundation is changed.

You can control the intensity with which these processes occur by using paper beacons, which should be glued to the cracks.

Violation of their integrity indicates destruction of the foundation of the house, which must be repaired, otherwise the destruction will progress.

Tools and materials

Replacing logs in a log house: a) Yes; b) became.

• asbestos-cement pipes;
• brick;
• metal staples;
• sledgehammer;
• crowbars;
• chainsaw;
• wedges;
• jacks;
• sheet metal;
• hydraulic level;
• metal plate;
• sand;
• fittings;
• cement;
• shovel;
• roofing felt

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Features of lifting a wooden house

Pouring a new foundation for the log house.

If the destruction affected only the base log house which has sunk into the soil, while the rest of it remains in excellent or satisfactory condition, it is necessary to lift and subsequently replace the foundation. It is important not only to repair the foundation of a log house, but also to avoid destruction of the building.

The initial step will be to determine the height to which the house will be raised. As a rule, this figure is no more than 2 m. In order to obtain accurate data when measuring, you should use a hydraulic level, which can successfully replace a tape measure. Based on this, you first need to prepare reliable wooden posts, which must have the required height; they should be placed at the corners.

It is also necessary to determine the mass of the house, knowing such data as the thickness and dimensions of the walls, as well as the density of the wood, which is approximately 800 kg/m³. This will be necessary for the correct selection of the type of jacks.

The old house should be cleared of furniture and belongings, the doors should be removed, the floor should be dismantled, all these actions will help lighten the structure. If the house has any structures that could interfere with the lifting process, you should also get rid of them for a while, including the following elements: beams from the stove, porch, roof pipe.

Scheme of pouring the foundation for a house along the perimeter and with a concrete lintel in the middle.

In addition to wooden posts, care should be taken to have additional equipment, such as: a sledgehammer, a chainsaw, crowbars, wedges made of wood, jacks with a long rod. Jacks, as practice shows, must have a load capacity of at least 10 tons. During the work, you will need jack supports, which should be made using thick sheet metal; it can be replaced by sheets of plywood. As a result, the resulting lining nickels should have dimensions equal to 500x500 mm.

Before starting work, the frame of the house should be analyzed so that, if necessary, the joints of the logs can be strengthened or fragments of logs that have become unusable can be repaired. Using metal brackets, it is necessary to fix the first 3 bottom rows that make up the frame. Before installing the jack, you should determine the most convenient angle for this. After placing the jack under the house, you can begin to carefully lift it. As soon as you have managed to raise the frame to the point where the corner is torn off from the base, you should install wedges that will act as insurance in case the jack cannot cope with the load.

Once it becomes possible to position the jacks at the remaining angles, you can install them on the pads and then begin lifting. Having shifted the angle by 1.5 cm, you can move on to the next one. Lifting should be carried out with extreme caution to avoid distortions that could lead to collapse. It is necessary to install temporary supports near the jacks using bricks, which will provide additional insurance.

Replacement of the beams of the lower crown of the log house.

Once the opportunity arises, you need to place beams under the lower crowns, rearranging the jacks so that they rest against the beams. A metal plate should be placed between the beam and the jack, and then continue lifting until the desired height is reached. During the work process, supports should be built using Construction Materials, and then placing them under the middle of the spans.

If out of order brick foundation has sufficient height, bricks should be removed in certain places, placing beams in the resulting holes. Then you need to install jacks under the beams to continue raising the house using the method described above.

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House foundation repair

After the house has been lifted and secured, you can begin to repair the foundation on which the frame is installed. In this case, it is necessary to follow a certain procedure. Replacing the foundation under the house starts with dismantling the old foundation. Brickwork must be completely disassembled. And the trench should be deepened to create a new foundation.

Replacing the old foundation with screw piles.

The bottom of the trench should be filled with sand, the thickness of the embankment should be 150 mm. The base on which the log house will be installed must have reinforced foundation, for its arrangement it is necessary to install formwork. Next stage- filling the trench concrete mixture. During the process of gaining strength with concrete, it is unacceptable to load it, which should be adhered to for 28 days. After this period, the formwork can be dismantled.

The log house is exposed to water, which is why its base must be waterproofed, for which roofing felt sheets should be used. The new base must certainly be treated with bitumen; these actions represent vertical waterproofing, which serves to protect against the effects of groundwater.

Opposite sides of the foundation should be provided with openings to allow ventilation underground space. The holes can be arranged by laying asbestos-cement pipes at a certain height during the process of pouring the base.