Found 14 results for the keyword(s) ‘Floors, Structure’

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  How to stabilize a floor made out of only 2x4's.

  Pat has an 80 year old house and the previous owner built an addition onto it. The floor is tiled and when Pat looked underneath the floor to find out why it was so bouncy, she discovered (see the photo) that the floor joists were 2x4's turned flat! That's not a floor, that's a trampoline, and on...
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  My 20 x 20 ceiling is dipping down dangeriously.

  One viewer who caught my camera in a renovation store asked what to do about the 20 x 20 ceiling in his condo that was dipping down in the centre. A serious visible dip must be caused by someone having removed a support wall from the original construction. Each floor is designed to remain flat a...
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  Insulating un-insulated outside wall corners

  Often in constructing a house, the sequence of putting up walls, applying outside sheathing and installing insulation batts can leave the outside corner as a hollow spot with no insulation. The carpentry work was done and the hollow corner closed and hidden before the guys with the fiberglass eve...
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  Notches in Floor Joists

  It is best not to cut holes in floor joists, but when you must there are some important rules to follow. Never cut into the top of the bottom of the joist. If you do the entire joist is now no stronger than the wood that is left. Always cut holes in the centre of the joist, closer to the suppor...
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  Why do floors spring like a trampoline - and how to stop it?

  Floors spring or vibrate when they are not rigid enough for the distance they have to span between their supports. You can always put another post in the basement under the center of the area giving you problems. That solves the problems easily on the top, but often creates an unwanted obstruc...
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  How can I prevent my tile grout from cracking?

  Barry from Calgary, Alberta writes: "I have a problem with cracking grout on an aboveground installation. I suspect the cause is excessive deflection of the floor joists. I'm wondering if there's any additive that can be added to the grout that will prevent this from happening again when I re-gro...
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  Important precautions for installing large tiles

  The world of tiles is changing rapidly.  Twenty years ago we generally had a range of tile sizes from 1 ft x 1 ft down to tiny mosaic tiles.  This made tiling relatively simple because slight changes in the flatness of the surface could be adjusted for at the next grout line.  In fact that is...
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  How do you silence a squeaking floor?

  Here's an animation that helps to show you why floors squeak and what you might be able to do to solve the problem.
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  How can I stop the vibration from my front loading washing machine?

  All washing machines vibrate when they go into the spin cycles. Top loading machines have the tubs suspended on springs that create a primary bad vibration as they build up to speed. If the load is too unbalanced, they bang around and the machine stops. If the load is only a bit unbalanced, th...
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  Can I lower the floor of the basement?

  Tom from Thomasburg, Ontario writes: "I'm thinking about buying a house, however the basement has low ceilings. Is it possible to bust out the cement floor instead of jacking up the house?"Yes you can dig down, but you need to be aware of just how the soil under the house supports the house. Al...