This Old House: Leveling Out

When we bought our house, it was evidenced in our inspection report that the foundation needed to be shimmed. The listing agent said the sellers did not ever do this because they didn't want to deal with the aesthetic damage that might result (namely cracks in the sheetrock). So, I negotiated the needed repair into our sales price, but we did not take care of it until we had to: today, just more than a year after we took possession of our home.

Our front door was sticking ever so slightly when we moved in, so my carpenter sanded the bottom of it. But it progressively worsened. A crack appeared in the corner of the door frame toward the ceiling and worsened every time we had to forcefully open or close the door. By the end of the summer, our door was inoperable.

Per a contractor's suggestion, we had a "door pro" help us to get it functioning again. He shaved the bottom of the door at an angle, realigned the hinges and added some pretty serious weather stripping. As he shaved it, I fearfully watched every millimeter of that original 1920 door come off. He almost quit due to my micromanagement, but he completed the job thanks to my begging.

I added gutter to the front of the house where water pooled in heavy rains. It could be argued that this water was causing some of the front door issues. This should, in fact, help us going forward.

Well, about a month after the "door pro" fixed the door, it was sticking again. And soon after that, it was inoperable...basically all winter long. Theories existed that the wood was expanding and contracting with the weather. Perhaps some, but the root of the issue--I finally found out--was the foundation. 

I had three foundation companies who specialize in pier and beam foundations come out, all highly recommended by other agents in my office. I ended up going with the quickest to respond, Golden Construction, a family-run business where all in the fam seem to know a lot about foundation, old houses, construction and even politics.

Lois Golden and son, JJ, of Golden Construction Company stand at our storied front door with their level.

 

I learned a lot from them, including the fact that a pier and beam house needs to be adjusted every once in a while, whereas a house on a slab shouldn't. The warranty on foundation adjustment for pier and beam is only good for a few years, whereas the slab warranties are usually transferable and sometimes good for life. In fact, Golden had a whole file on my house--records of times they had come out to give a bid and records of the work they'd actually done. They knew more about my house than I did! They explained that Houston experienced a major drought last summer, causing movement in most all pier and beam homes.

I am glad to report that we are back on level ground. Granted there are a couple cracks that need patching and touch-up paint, but our furniture is no longer shaking and the front door works. The groundhog will tell us for sure tomorrow, but my guess is we will soon be able to enjoy the Troutman rocking chairs we received for Christmas. If business this past week is any indication, I'd say the promise of spring is just around the corner because the spring selling season has definitely sprung!