NUMBER 1 IMPORTANT factor before repairing or adding an addition

Rule # 1

Your building/home must be level! If it is not level everything you do now will be out of level. If you try to put new siding on do you put it on level or on with the slope of the house? If you put the siding on level and later decide you want to level the house then your new siding will be out of level. This applies to doors, windows, evestroughes or gutters, decks and the list goes on.

It was probably one of the most shocking things to me during my construction years to actually see how many buildings have shifted. As much as 3 to 5 inches is not uncommon. The number one reason for buildings moving is that people/builders seem to forget how much weight a building weighs when finished being built and how much pressure it will put on each square foot of ground. If a building is started on solid undisturbed ground with good footings the better chance it has of being level today. Some whole subdivisions are built on filled in swamps or the side of hills that may be unstable and move over time... Some contractors are more concerned with making fast money than quality craftsmanship. The rule of thumb is don't trust what anyone has to say about levelness because the odds are nobody really knows what kind of ground is under your home. Always check for building levelness before doing any construction project. A new house will be hard to judge because mother nature has not had its say yet.

If you want to be sure your house is level get a electronic self leveling instrument for checking levelness. This tool will have infrared beams shooting out horizontally exactly level from the spot you place the instrument. If there is to many walls in the way you may have to go in the crawl space but try to take all measurements from the same place or make a mark and move that mark so you are taking all measurements of the same height. So from the floor to the beam it may be 4 inches on one wall so across the house the same measurement should also be 4 inches. Your most accurate points of measurement will be along the outside walls and at the points where posts are supporting the beams. Most rental stores even lumber yards like Home Depot have these instruments to rent and will gladly show you how to operate them.

Leveling a house may be cheap or expensive depending on what has to done. This may be the time to call a qualified carpenter for further evaluation to give you some suggestions and a estimate of time and cost to do the required work. ALWAYS get at least 3 different opinions from qualified tradesmen that will still be in business years from now so that there work guarantee means something.