Uneven upstair room and floor leveler?

Question

Hello BP family

Recently bought a quadplex. And one of the units I went into has an issue on the second floor where one of the room hardwood floor is wavy and I can feel like a speed bump in one spot in the room, is that like a foundation beam? Visually it is kinda hard to see. The bottom floor looks and feels good no alarms of major foundation damage or anything. Doors and window close fine. That room has raised hardwood, AC went out in the summer and was vacant. So I am thinking that the hardwood is buckled due to lack of expansion. So I plan to replace the wood anyways, but the floor may be uneven.

I plan to install vinly again. Bt would the speed bump be an issue? Or can I level the wood somehow? Also, since it is on the second floor is a self leveler concrete very bad or can damage the property since its heavy and will be upstairs?

Anyone have experience with using shingles for levelers, i heard about this options and it looks like a good alternative? Thank you

The house is built on a slab and the bottom floor is even. Just the upstairs kinda concerns me.

Robert Hernandez · Answer

@John Warren That is a great point, it isn't terrible and not everywhere. But definitely noticeable i'm going to try level it somehow or add vinyl plank on top. As long as it is rentable and in good condition.

@Anthony Rosa I don't know why I didn't think about that. Only some of the wood is cupped and swollen so I can try that. Thanks for the advice!

Anthony Rosa · Answer

@Robert Hernandez - Something similar happened to a friend of mine with hardwood laminate flooring.  He wanted to keep the floor so he neatly & evenly cut out an area a little larger than the bump and re-installed new pieces of hardwood laminate.  You could probably do the same to the vinyl with a sharp utility knife.

John Warren · Answer

@Robert Hernandez it definitely depends on how warped the floors are. If they are just a little buckled maybe you can fill them with some self leveling compound first. If they aren't terrible you can go over the top for sure with vinyl plank. I have one unit in a Berwyn property where the 1930's floors are a bit wavy due to some older structural issues and the vinyl plank has been fine. You can definitely feel a bit of "roll" to the floors, but it is definitely rent-able.

Russ B. · Answer

In my case, I've only done simple stuff - houses that had sagged in obvious places due to way too much weight being concentrated onto one or two floor joists. In these cases, just a floor jack or two was all it took to start reversing the process.

This won't necessarily get you all the way back to new-house straight, especially if the house sagged a lot over many years, but it can make a big improvement for little work.

I did once see a friend level a floor in his house by taking out the subfloor (down to the joists) and sistering them all with ones that formed a level plane for the floor. It looked like a lot of work, but it turned a horribly sloping floor into one that was perfectly straight and level.

Robert Hernandez · Answer

@Russ B. It appears that the house is just stelled and that may be it. The house is pretty old.

In cases like this do you tackle it and fix it or just level it out. What have you done before?

Robert Hernandez · Answer

@John Warren Sorry, the wood floor is Vinyl not actual hard wood. It seems when it was installed there wasn't expansion joints so when the Unit went Vacant without AC the wood is all warped and cupped. So I'm not sure if I can salvage it. But, the floor is uneven and you can feel it. But, that could be because the wood is warped.

When you say "In instances where the hard woods are not salvageable, I have used vinyl plank to go over the top. You can still feel bumps and uneven spots, but the floors look great.

You keep the hardwood in place, did you level it before that or add like tar paper or anything?

Russ B. · Answer

Not knowing the layout of the building, it's hard to tell you where to look, but the short version is that something sagged or settled. The "speedbump" in the second floor is probably a wall on the first floor.

Sometimes, this happens when you have a wall (especially one that's also holding up the ceilings, roof, etc.) with nothing under it - or with something inadequate like a doubled-up floor joist. The effect is that you have a lot of weight (maybe a couple tons) effectively sitting in the middle of the floor. Oftentimes, the problem shows up at the top corner of a stairway, since there's a lot less floor there to carry weight to the walls. I've seen this in a ton of old houses, and it's often simple to fix (or at least improve) by using floor jacks / adding some support right at that one spot.

Another possible explanation is that the outer "shell" of the building has settled into the ground a little bit since it was built (this is totally normal), but the slab hasn't moved. The effect is that the walls on the first floor are now pushing the second floor up in spots. This one obviously has no easy fix.

John Warren · Answer

@Robert Hernandez can you refinish the hard wood floors instead of leveling? Even if the hard wood floors are a bit beat up, they tend to look nicer than the fake stuff. In addition, they are way cheaper to refinish as compared to putting in new flooring. I have several vintage buildings here locally in Berwyn and Cicero, and in both cases I have opted to refinish hard woods in most cases as opposed to installing new floors over the top.

In instances where the hard woods are not salvageable, I have used vinyl plank to go over the top. You can still feel bumps and uneven spots, but the floors look great.