Concerns over wood columns supporting beams and floor joists

[Lemgi]

Hello. There's sloping at the rear of a house on the ground floor, where the kitchen is. The sloping carries on to the veranda that apparently was built in the 50s/60s.

There's a crawl space under which I went into to inspect and I noticed the floor beams don't have proper column supports. It looks like the builder put wood in as makeshift columns, surely this would not be considered standard practice?? These are the only column support for the entire kitchen, which is roughly 6.4x3.6 meters in size. There's a bedroom on the first floor directly above the kitchen.

Also, I noticed in the crawl space that one joist sits on a brick wall, and the part it sits on seems to be moving away from the rest of the brick wall. This is exactly where the sloping starts in the kitchen floor and I've noticed a small crack in the skirting in the kitchen exactly over this beam.

Is it worth having a structural engineer assess or would adding brick/concrete columns or jack posts for further support, potentially additional beams and joists as well, be sufficient? Thanks.

 

[Stigmorgan]

I would be cautious and have a survey done, last thing you want is a collapse

 

[joshvegas]

That just looks like a stack of bricks next to a wall. Does the bedroom upstairs also slope?

I would say yes get a structural engineer to have a look. It will be easier to put right the less it has moved and now you have seen it i doubt you will unsee it. And you might aswell do it properly.

 

[Bingy man]

The fact you have posted here to gain advice tells me you are concerned . I’m not an expert in building and structural support but the cracks in conjunction with the sloping etc would suggest to me that they are related. As above 100% get a professional structural engineer and although not cheap - neither is extensive repairs to your house , insurance may not cover it if they can blame it on mine working, other factors that can invalidate your building insurance..

 

[Jacob]

Looks like somebody has put in some temporary props, to take out a dip or something? And never came back to finish the job - not least finding out how to support glass fibre quilt between joists.
You have joists, on "bearers" (beams), on props. It's simple stuff and a competent builder should be able to sort it out, most likely by putting in more and better props - brick columns on slabs, with DPM at the top end, if the ground is not too soft, or even some more bearers, if there's room to move.

 

[Jake]

You need some more air circulation down there too.

 

[niall Y]

Those supports to the floor seem to be an afterthought, possibly after it was noticed that the floor bounced when walked upon. I would replace these with a couple of square brick columns with concrete pad foundations beneath

Where the beam is coming adrift from the wall, I would temporarily support it with a mini Acrow. and then replace the single brick support with a double brick column tied into the rest of the wall, making sure it too, has a firm concrete pad beneath it.

If you have worries about the slope to the floor then it might be worth calling in a surveyor. I assume that when you purchased the place you had a survey done. In which case they should have flagged-up any concerns about the slope to the kitchen floor at that time. Old buildings do settle , though if you believe it is continuing to move it will need to be checked out.