We just bought a house that is a 1999 and are planning on ripping out the linoleum and install Brazilian cherry hardwood floors. Our problem is we noticed there are two pretty significant spots where the floor dips. One is right by the kitchen island and the floor joists under that spot seemed to be bad and instead of being one big joist, it is cut, patched and then has another board attached to it. I'm not sure if this is causing this or not. The other thing is we are installing granite countertops too, so this is just going to get heavier in this spot. The other dip is where a big table was sitting, but there is no issue with those joists. The dips seem to go down about a half inch over a ~3.5 ft x ~3.5 ft area. One flooring guy said we can just layer some shingles or something to even it out, but that makes me nervous. With the extra weight for granite and thousands of dollars on new floors, I would prefer not to rip them up. Any suggestions on what to do? Thanks!

Without seeing the beams and support girder would not be able to give info on how to correct problem. The support girder should have support columns a set distance apart and wherever girder is joined to increase length.

What do u mean by floor joist look bad?

Chuck

spot seemed to be bad and instead of being one big joist, it is cut, patched and then has another board attached to it.

To me that sounds like someone screwed up and cut a floor joist, then tried to patch it.

You should be able to jack that joist up and then slip another joist along side it.

The shingles bit might be O.K. but you don't know it the floor will sag any more over time.

Hi there...

To reinforce the floor joists you may be interested in a concept called "bridging"

There is a nice article here that talks about brdging, and reinforcing your floor joists (http://www.flooringprocess.com/flooring-installation-preparation.php)