How To Level A Bathroom Floor In An Old House

Some homeowners when confronted with staggering bills for floor repairs come to terms with their floors.

How to level a bathroom floor in an old house.

We recently bought a 100 year old house in massive disrepair. Needless to say the sub floor is rotted and getting the plumbing installed is one of the first things on our list. Place one end of a level on the high spot and the opposite end to a predetermined level area on the floor. The process of fixing both an out of level and an out of plane floor is simply known as leveling a floor.

Lay a long level downhill on the floor with one end of the level on the level part of the floor and the other end at the lowest point. Step 1 establish the area of floor to be leveled and position yourself in the crawlspace beneath that point with a light source builders level hydraulic jack hammer nylon string nails and plywood block. Raise the lower end of the level until the bubble is centered then measure the distance from the bottom of the level to the floor to find the depth of the dip. Once the compound reaches a creamy consistency pour a thin layer into the sunken sections then smooth out inconsistencies with a hand trowel.

The easiest way is to use a self leveling compound also called liquid floor underlayment or floor resurfacer within sections of level cut rails. Determine how far the middle of the house needs to be lifted. This determines the length of the new post. Then mix leveling compound according to the instructions on the package in a large bucket.

The new post should equal the length of the old post less the measurement taken with the level. I am intrigued about this idea of leveling only the floor under the bathtub. Happily enough leveling uneven concrete slabs has an easy fix that won t sacrifice your headroom. Even historic houses have saggy sloping floors.

You may find this task easier if you hold the string off the sagging floor joists by attaching blocks of the same thickness at opposite sides of the basement. The first step to making the most of any basement is to achieve a level floor. Then measure the distance between the bottom of the level and the level area of flooring. Old houses often have floors that are less than perfect.

Minor workarounds are possible such as leveling individual elements within the floor tables armoires cabinets etc. You can level an area of floor using the crawlspace beneath the house. And even over ceramic tile floors eliminating the task of tearing out the old tiles. To level a floor start by removing the existing flooring.