Raising the bathroom

[Chris]

Greetings.....I have a bathrom that slopes down over a inch or so at one end, the foundation has sunk that much over the last almost 50 years. Too costly too raise foundation so I want to put in another floor on top of the old one and bring it back to level. The main thing is raising the bathtub and toilet. Question: How is the bathtub fixed to the floor?...I have a large crawlspace below the bathroom but I don't see any ancores or fastners, is it held by gravity? I really just need to raise one end of tub to level out with the new floor....which would just be some well ancored plywood. Basiclly just getting everything in bathroom to be bubble level again. Thanks,

[jim]

All that holds it in is the drywall and possibly some clips along the wall suggest youcut the drywall 18 to 24 inches up all the way around , Take the drain piece out of the bottom and remove the overflow plate then turn it on its front then on its end then walk it out.

[hallerb]

i would get the bathroom checked for structural soundness, termites may have eayten away the sill, stuff like that should be fixed before cosmetics are fixed,

do you know exactly why the area dropped and that its done moving?

[Nate Nagel]

if you have a crawl space why don't you jack it up rather than putting a new floor in?

nate

[ransley]

e quoted text -

You are going about it wrong, fix your foundation and try to raise it

1" in 10 ft or so is bad, to level a tub you usualy have to remove it.

[lp13-30]

Hallerb and the others are correct. I realize that you probably haven't had the house for the 50 years, but do you know if the house settled

1/50" per year, or if it was level for 49 1/2 yrs and settled an inch suddenly. What you are wanting to do is certainly possible, but will likely be a lot of work and end up looking like a patch job, and if the house settles more after you finish, you will not have accomplished much. More info and details will get you more advice on solutions. Larry

[Chris]

Thanks for the advice so far. Yeah, this is a weird deal...The house was built on a hillside, the very back of house has the sloping effect, you can diffently see and feel the slope in bathroom when you walk in it...It's not a big bathroom, it's

7.5' x 7.5' small. This house has floor issues as well...next week a floor company is installing: Install Kneebracing Install 6 concert pads Install 1 concert pier Install 5 adjustable piers Straighten existing beam. (Toltal: $1,600.00 That should level the floors in house expect the bathroom. The floor man looked at bathroom and said it would not be cost effective to fix that. I imagine it would take a company like Powerlift and we're talking thousands of dollars! So yes..this may end up a patch job but can't afford any major foundation work. I don't know how long it took for the house to settle that much...figure it has taken many years.

So if I can drop in a false floor...it would be easier and inexpensive. Just have to raise tub and toilet and a small cab/sink up 3/4". I have a link with a picture of the house...I think once you see the house you'll understand better the situation.

Yahoo! 360=B0 - easy_living's Blog Address:

?cq=3D1

Scroll down about half way and you'll see a pic of home. My laptop is down so this is the only pic I have online at this time. The bathroom is at the end (highest point) of house but on other side. Now there's a foundation you don't see everyday, so you can imagine the problem solving I've encountered since moving in.

But anyway...all that's left to fix really is the bathroom. I figure drop a false floor in there and call it good...for now. Thanks for commenting.

[hillel]

I have a bathroom in a very similar situation. The back end under the sink and toilet has sloped down about an inch. The wall has not sloped with the floor, so luckily it is just the floor that needs raising. The bathroom is over a crawlspace off the side of a full basement and between the attached garage and a slab addition.

Are you sure that it is the ground settling and nothing else in the crawlspace that is the cause of the bathroom floor being sloped?

In my case, it turns out that the walls of the crawlspace, which are the foundation for the bathroom, were done as two rows of concrete blocks topped by four rows of brick, with a narrow ledge offset on the second row of bricks that holds the ends of the bathroom floor joists. The mortar has pretty much squeezed out from the bricks in one wall, causing the slope in the floor. Everything else seems OK, just one side needs to be held back up by something other than the original crawlspace wall. I will be jacking that end up with a couple of Ellis timber jacks.

Take a look at

for the screw jacks.

If you are having the rest of the house leveled professionally, then not actually fixing the bathroom floor could leave it even more messed up.

---Hillel