There could be a small amount of bounce in your floors given the flooring and or subfloor materials beneath them, but if that bounce has suddenly become much more noticeable, there are likely some more substantial issues at play. With that being said, it’s important to know what causes the issue and how to resolve it.
What Causes Bouncy Floors?
The extra bounce in your home’s floors can very likely be traced to problems within your home’s crawl space. As the wood members beneath your home absorb moisture, it expands. Likewise, it will shrink as that moisture evaporates. These changes cause the beams, support columns, and joists beneath your floors to shift.
In addition to wood moisture, pooling water in your crawl space can also pose problems. The support columns, or girders, and joists under your floors are made of wood, and any standing water within the crawl space increases its humidity levels, thus causing the wood to warp or rot and weaken the support system for your floors as a result.
Unless you already have a crawl space dehumidifier installed, that excess moisture can also lead to mold growth, which, when it appears on the beams and joists beneath your home’s floors, will contaminate your indoor air while eroding the wood beneath your house even further. Subscribing to a crawl space maintenance plan can help you catch moisture issues before the damage gets this severe.
How Does This Problem Affect Your Home’s Market Value?
If humidity and moisture have already decayed your home’s wooden support system, prospective buyers will feel that extra bounce as they walk through your home. Even if they don’t, a professional home inspection will surely uncover your crawl space’s issues. Once the inspector reports the issue, buyers’ interests may change.
As a result, you may have to offer to fix the problem or accept a lower sale price. Either option will lead to a loss of potential profit on the sale of your home. In that way, installing a crawl space dehumidifier earlier can help you protect the future resale value of your property. Though installing one is more effective as a preventive measure, it can still address moisture problems that have already developed.
How Do You Fix and Prevent Bouncy Floors?
Before you attempt to resolve the issue of bouncy floors in your home you should install a commercial grade crawl space dehumidifier. Otherwise, any repairs you undertake won’t stay effective for long and as the humidity level rises, the wood structure under your home will suffer greater damage. Once you address the humidity issue, you can proceed with structural repairs, such as:
Drop Girders
As you can discover with a quick read through a sagging floors blog, damage to the support beams under your floor requires additional support, namely drop girders, which will apply additional pressure against the beams. Typically, there are flush girders, or drop girders in the home already, but there are times that homes need more installed, or supplemental drop girders installed if too much moisture or setting occurs.
Vapor Barrier
A vapor barrier can solve a number of problems in your crawl space. For one, it’s code in new homes and always is called out on home inspections. in your crawl space. Additionally, it will form a protective shield between the moisture in the soil and the wood structure of your home. Finally, the polyethylene barrier should be treated with an antibacterial agent, which works to keep the air in your crawl space free from harmful microbes.
Vent Doors
The vents that run through a crawl space should provide consistent airflow to keep humidity from accumulating but unfortunately, these vents can actually increase moisture and humidity in your crawl space. Installing vent doors gives you better control over the airflow in this area, helping you minimize humidity.
Sump Pump
Installing and using a sump pump is a good idea if pooling water is a frequent problem. The pump will remove standing water before it leads to structural issues beneath your house.
Don’t Neglect Your Crawl Space
Even if you don’t think moisture is a problem for your home’s foundation, installing a crawl space dehumidifier now can still help you prevent any future issues. When you contact a foundation repair contractor, they can tell you more about installing such a device.
