Uneven Floors

An uneven floor occurs when a house in Ottawa settles, and this is a result of the soil beneath the foundation being loose or unable to support the weight any longer. This can take place when an excessive amount of moisture is absorbed and held by the soil, making it weak and then causing it to shift or collapse under the weight of the structure built upon it. This is a natural process over a length of time due to the fluctuations in weather patterns that trigger heavy rains and freezing temperatures.

In most cases, foundation damage in Ottawa is seen as an uneven floor manifests in a basement, first and second in a house with a crawl space. This is because of the footer shifting and resulting in a floor separating from the base foot of the wall, which may appear to have cracks in it as well. This same phenomenon can happen with a basement, when an outer wall shifts and cracks.

When an Ottawa house with a basement floor that cracks, there are a few different methods that can return the floor back to a level condition. These methods are slab jacking, which is accomplished using pier system, and using expanding foam. For crawlspace issues a typical fix may be installing new support beams.

Using a Pier system for Slab Jacking

A non-invasive repair method is to use slab jacking or a pier system, depending whether or not it is a foundation footer that is cracked, or a cracked slab that has a severe tilt. Here in Ottawa slab jacking is done by drilling a hole in the portion of the slab that has shifted, allowing a pier to penetrate the soil beneath it deep enough to hit solid bedrock for proper support. Next, a heavy duty metal bracket is attached to the slab this enables the slab to be re-leveled back to its original position.