How Do I Fix a Bouncy Floor?

When it comes to fixing a bouncy floor, you’re doing more than just making your home safe to live in again. You’re also taking steps to ensure that any leak in your home has been patched, and that said leak is unlikely to break open after the next heavy rain. 

Effectively, it is in your best interest to reach out to a professional contractor for a home inspection. This way, you can determine where the moisture in your home is coming from and what solutions you might have to take advantage of to patch up either a crack or a leak. 

Your Available Solutions 

Only once that leak has been attended to should you try to fix your bouncy floors. Your options, at this stage, are ample, and you can again work with a professional to determine which of those available to you may best suit your needs. 

The best ways to fix a bouncy, wood-rotted floor include: 

• Installing bridging. When your floor starts to sag, they benefit from additional supports. One of the easiest ways to provide your floor with that kind of support is to install new bridging, or an X-bracing. X-braces take the weight of your floor off the joists in your home that may have suffered from wood rot. While your floor won’t return to its original stiffness with these braces in place, you can make your home safer to traverse. 
• Layering new plywood. If you’re looking for a more comprehensive solution, you can opt to install a new plywood layer underneath a sagging floor. This task can be arduous if you try and take it on without assistance. By installing a new plywood base, however, you can restore the stiffness your floor had before it suffered from rot, though the boards themselves may still squeak. 
• Installing a new support beam. If you want to give your joists a little extra kick, you can opt to install an additional support beam or wall underneath a sagging floor. Again, doing so will not return your floor to its original state of stiffness. However, by providing your floor with another support, you can take the weight of it off of suffering joists. 
• Install a specialized stabilizer. To shore up sagging floors and help return them to level, you can have professionals install support jacks. Typical light-duty support jacks can easily fail, however, so it is best to have the IntelliJack™ installed to properly and permanently reinforce your floors. This system is much more reliable and stronger than conventional jacks. 

Note that while you can take on some of these projects on your own, it is often in your best interest to let a professional take on the work for you. This way, you don’t have to invest in new tools or the equipment you might otherwise need for a successful installation.