How to level a floor? The money pit strikes again

[Charles McKinley]

Hi All,

A friend of mine has a house that is 95 years old and the last couple owners were not real bright.

A new floor needs put in the kitchen but it slopes in two directions (not sure how much). The construction is joist covered by 2X material covered by ply with linoleum.

Questions:

Does the linoleum have to come off or can it just be covered?

Should the old ply come out too?

How would you level it?
My thoughts are to use thin sleepers then sub-floor sheeting over it.

The press is on to redo it now as a pipe leaked under the sink and damaged the press board cupboards and covered the floor with water (I have not seen it since the water damage this week.). I think linoleum tiles will be put down for the new floor. Cost is a big consideration for this project and I will probably donate my labor for it.

Thank you in advance,

[tod evans]

strip it to the joist to do it right/once. .02 tod

[Joe Pelonio]

I hate to open a can of worms, but being that old, you might want to check and see if the sloping is bad original construction or remodel job, normal 95 years of settling, or something nasty like crumbling foundations.
You don't want to do all that work and have it move again soon. If it's just the settling it may take another 95 to settle that much again, but sometimes water infiltration over that much time can rot the foundation, and back then it may have been brick, or clay blocks.

[Charles McKinley]

I took the laser level down and deamed the floor close enough for a house of its age. There is a slight slope towards the middle of the house But not enough to be concerned with. Part of the reason they thought it was worse is the legs on the table are not right (donated dumpster diving find from her sister.) The foundation is in good condition. It is sandstone about 18 inches thick. The beam and supports running the middle of the house are also in good condition.

We started laying down backer board Saturday and they should finish tiling tonight.

Thanks again

[Jim Becker]

What Joe said. You can't level until you understand why it is out of kilter now. It's not unusual in older homes for there to be a variety of issues that contribute to this problem and some of them are serious. It would be a shame to invest a lot in a new floor and then have to replace it again when other problems superior to it crop up. Start at the foundation and work from there...you may need professional advice, too.