We recently purchased a home that is about 20 years old and I have noticed that the downstairs hardwood flooring is not level in several rooms. The house sits on a crawl space and has a sump pump. In the living room there is a floor joist that bows upward in one place and in our bedroom there is a place where it slopes downward toward an interior wall. Also, in the breakfast nook and dining room which runs long the back of the house the last foot or so of flooring slopes downward about 1/4 of an inch. We had the home inspected by a reputable home inspector and he didn't seem to think it was an issue. I really didn't notice it as much at first but the more time I spend here the more it bothers me. My question is why does the floor bow upward in one place downward in other random places? Also and most importantly,what can I do about it? Should I be worried? Thanks in advance-LJ

Your floor joists can have individual bows up down or sideways. It may be totally unrelated to the sump in the crawl but it could be a moisture issue. Buy or rent a moisture meter and test a few joits, they were likely 13% when they were installed. I would not be worried unlkess you have a bad foundation full of cracks ans ettling. How to fix, this will be very tough if it is bowing in the joists. The flooring boards would have to all come out, do you want to consider this??

I would like to know the reason for the peaks and valleys so to speak. If it isn't going to get any worse,I guess I can live with the bowed joist in the living room but I would like to correct the downward slopes , however cost is an issue. Is this something that could be corrected from the under the house? Is this type of thing at all normal or should I be really concerned? With the house being recently inspected I would assume if there was a current moisture or foundation issue they would have seen it, right?

Ballenger gave some good advice as usuaul if you trust your original home inspector then there probably aren't any moisture issues . If at all possible I would check either with the meter ballenger suggested or have someone else look at it (another inspector or contractor could check it for you). The best way to determine the cause is a thorough inspection it could be just age and settling or there could be water damage its difficult for me to say without actually looking at it. My wife's mothers house has the same problem but its just age and normal settling. Like ballenger said I wouldn't worry too much unless the foundation is showing signs of cracking or settling. As far as fixing it from underneath you might be able to have some floor jacks installed to raise some of the lower areas but whether it would help or not is too hard to determine without knowing exactly what is going on. Removing the floor boards may be the only way to fix your prpblems. If cost is an issue I'm sure you don't want to go that route and installing the floor jacks isn't all that cheap either. Bottom line if no moisture problems are present and the foundation is okay and just floor joists are warping and bowing I would try to live with it. Might not hurt to have it checked again though. GOOD LUCK, AC

Thanks for the advice. I will check into renting the moisture meter and also probably get someone else to take a second look under the house, just to put my mind at ease. Thanks again.

Post back and let us know what you find. GOOD LUCK, AC

Will do.