Crawlspace post shift / tilt

[PandaBear]

Recently I bought a home (condo / townhouse) with crawlspace foundation. The seller's inspection report said one of the wood post is slightly tilted / shifted yet it does not give any dollar quote on how much it cost to fix nor the seller fix this.

The seller agent get one of her contacts to do an "oral quote" said it would be $1400 to straighten it up. The buyer agent said he had something similar done before on one of his property and it cost $150-300 basically to just jack the frame up slightly and straighten the post before lowing the jack. He gave me a contact but the guy is not responding.

One foundation guy on yelp told me it is too small of a job for him to come for because the minimum he does is $1800, and any handy man can straighten it up for me. Another foundation guy said the same about the job being too small and "cosmetic only" because 90% of the weight is in the perimeter concrete and the posts only support 10% total (and I only have 1 post shifted / tilted).


What is the likely scenario here and how much is this kind of job usually?

 

[edwardh1]

picture?

 

[andyd]

My 150 yr old farmhouse has had much of the ground floor joists and the girt supporting them replaced. Get yourself a 20 ton bottle jack, a level and a 12 lb hammer. DIY

 

[dlundblad]

Prices will be all over the place. Are you in the position of doing this yourself?

I would personally go down there and make a small concrete slab. It tilted for a reason and simply straitening up the post will just be a band aid.

Of course this would entail digging pretty deep in an area that you cant even stand up in. Get a pickax and a shovel that you can cut half the handle off of. It will suck.

 

[PandaBear]

The post IS on a concrete slab and the wood looks very new. I bet it is newly installed when they replaced a lot of wood back then with water damage and they installed it slightly tilted.

 

[Kawiguy454]

A picture will save 1000 words and 100 guesses.

My first inclination is DIY with a jack and a lil common sense as suggested already.

 

[IndyIan]

Is it secured top and bottom? And how tilted is it? Seems odd someone wouldn't hit it 2 more times with a hammer to straighten it when it was installed?
Any of your friends kind of handy?, they could probably tell you what's going on, and they might be able to fix it with a quick trip to HD for a 6x6.

 

[dlundblad]

Originally Posted By: Kawiguy454
A picture will save 1000 words and 100 guesses.



No kidding.

"I need an oil filter, but I dont know what its for." Tell that to a parts counter guy..

 

[ronbo]

You can used an adjustable small metal jack post
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Tiger-Brand-Super-S-Series-3-ft-Jack-Post-J-S-36/100041510

from the comment section of the above link
"I installed two of these in my crawl space to correct sagging beams. I set down a solid piece of concrete (4"x8"x16") flat, with a 4"x4"x16" piece of treated wood flat on the concrete. Then I installed the jack the screw end down"

NOTE: they sell small shovels if you need one about 18" long at Sears and HD and Lowes.

 

[Lapham3]

I'm chuckling reading this as our 'shack in the woods' has some center support on the old tree stumps when cut during the 1929 construction-all is still fine.
I'd do your job myself-good luck.

 

[PandaBear]

For those of you who DIY on this with a jack. How do you know how much to torque / lift it?

I'll take a photo off my inspection report tonight.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: IndyIan
Is it secured top and bottom? And how tilted is it? Seems odd someone wouldn't hit it 2 more times with a hammer to straighten it when it was installed?
Any of your friends kind of handy?, they could probably tell you what's going on, and they might be able to fix it with a quick trip to HD for a 6x6.


Based on the inspection report photo it is not secured top or bottom, just "gravity secured" from the frame above and the concrete pad below. It is tilted probably around 2-4 degree from being perfectly vertical based on my eyeballs. My gut feeling is someone installed it that way because they cut the existing 6x6 too short, and tilting it makes the height perfect.

 

[BRZED]

I would think a 5 ton screw jack will do.

 

[Clevy]

Originally Posted By: andyd
My 150 yr old farmhouse has had much of the ground floor joists and the girt supporting them replaced. Get yourself a 20 ton bottle jack, a level and a 12 lb hammer. DIY


This is the right answer.


Make sure the top is secured very well. Jack up the beam using a 4x4 orn6x6,with a steel shim on the bottom so the jack doesn't just push the sleeve into the wood.
Take some of the tension off and bash the post plumb
I'd do it for a bbq supper. If it takes an hour I'll be surprised.

 

[dishdude]

Being in No Cal, earthquake anchor plates might be a consideration also.

 

[PandaBear]

 

[PandaBear]

I think I misread the report.

It seems like there were 2 posts that weren't done right, a tiled post and concrete pier block that needed to be attached and straighten up, and an improper supporting of floor joist missing concrete pier pad and footing.

So it looks like it is the floor joist that needs to be done right and a concrete pier pad and footing poured first, not a "hammer the tiled post" that I was thinking about.