New Kitchen Creating Sag in Main Floor, North Andover, MA

Thursday, March 3rd, 2022 by Travis Kellogg

Challenge

A home in North Andover, Massachusetts that was built in 1963 had been purchased in 1996 had some concerns with some slight settlement. When current homeowners purchased the home they installed wooden columns underneath the kitchen to support the weight of a small island they had installed. Nearly 28 years later, the homeowners were upgrading their kitchen. They decided to install a new, bigger island, as well as new tile, and new cabinets. These upgrades added additional weight on top of the wooden supports in the basement. One day the homeowner was putting some items into the basement and noticed the wooden supports (2 4x6x8 and 2 2x6x8 nailed together) under the kitchen had started to bow considerably. The homeowner decided to call EFS for a free inspection.

The homeowner wanted to permanently support the weight of the kitchen above and not have to worry about any possible damage to their home.

Solution

Design Specialist Chris Greenwood did a full interior and exterior inspection of the home and walked the entire perimeter of the home. During Chris' exterior inspection, the home showed some signs of settlement but no further movement since the house was purchased in 1996. Chris had mentioned to the homeowner that settlement could have a drastic effect on the foundation of the home.

In Chris' interior inspection, one thing concerning to him was the bowing supports in the basement, the very area beneath the kitchen. In talking to the homeowner before the home inspection he learned the homeowners had just finished upgrading their kitchen. Knowing the homeowners installed new tile and a kitchen island Chris inspected the integrity of the supports under the kitchen. He found the additional weight of the kitchen had caused these wooden supports to start bowing.

Chris' recommendation for the homeowners was to fix the settlement along the perimeter of the foundation walls, as well as install SmartJacks where the wooden supports are located now to stabilize the kitchen floor. The homeowners choose to focus on the supports in the basement as this was their main concern at the time.

Crew Lead Nick Carelli and his team reviewed Chris's design and planned their project. The goal was to install 2 SmartJacks with a supplemental beam bridging the SmarkJacks to add support to the kitchen above.

Nick's team started by chipping out two sections of the concrete slab to fit the SmartJack footings, a large 16" x 36" steel base. Beneath the new footings, an 18" hole was dug and filled with engineered fill, which effectively distributes the weight of the system above, rather than centralizing all the weight down in a single point.

Next, the team temporarily secured a 9' supplemental beam up against the rafters. This was done so they could measure how long each SmartJack needed to be. Once measured, the team cut the SmartJacks to the desired measurements and installed a fitting to the top of the posts. A U bracket is used to attach the SmartJack to the supplemental beam. Once the team made sure everything was level and stable, they secured the SmartJacks to the supplemental beam with self-tapping screws. After everything was secured, the final step was to pour concrete over the footings and tie the new support system into the existing basement slab.

With the system complete, the floor beneath the kitchen is now permanently stabilized and the homeowners have peace of mind.