We are installing hardwood and have come across serveral problems that have been easily solved. We are now preparing the last room for installation and have a problem we are not sure what to do about.

It appears that 2 of the floor joists are higer than the rest in that room. WE looked underneath and it doesn't appear that the subfloor is sagging. It just appears the joists are uneven.

We could build the room up to the top height but want the room to be level with the adjacent hallway. The joists in question are about 5 feet into the room from the hallway (the first one five feet and the next 16" away). The other end of the room then also slopes downward.

From the hallway to the joists is about an 1 1/2 inch gap at the deepest point. Short of pulling up the subfloor and sanding the joists, how can this issue be solved?

WE are thinking about laying plywood of different thickness to make a more gradual incline. What level of incline is acceptable?

Shave it off... Good thing we started getting things ready 2 weeks ago. Only 2 more days left of living on a subfloor...Yeah!

If it cannot be sanded down from the surface, cutting out the subfloor and planing down the joists would be my recommendation. Not the easiest fix but the best.

Yes, we will have to remove the subfloor to do it. It will be a pain but we are more comfortable with this solution than the others we thought of...

You can slice those high joists in a few places from underneath and have a fat freind jump on the floor and then scab a new joist onto the cut ones. You might still have to pull the nails out of the decking with a catclaw to get the joist to sag.

Interestingly enough, this is what our 83 year old, retired construction guy suggested we do. We just didn't know (including him) if it would bring the joist down quickly or over time *but had not thought to have someone jump on them).

To hear the news folks tell it, fat folks are everywhere. Find a biggun and pay him 20 bucks to do a couple of jumping jacks.

In all seriousness,if your problem really is a couple of high joists(and not a beam!) it is the easiest fix. Don't forget to scab on.

What if you don't have a basement underneath and only an 18" crawlspace? Still have to cut out the subfloor to get to an area big enough to work in. Here in CA, there ain't no basements. When fixing subfloors, we just cut 'em open, perform the surgery and close 'em back up. Hey, and ya don't need to find a fat guy to do it either . Takes about 1&1/2 to 2 hrs. aqpprox.

This may be a repeat

We do have a basement but are doing subfloor surgery instead. We have 3 joists that are affected and one is about 1 1/2 inch higher than the level part of the floor. Would slicing the joists take care of this much of a height difference?

We cut up the subfloor last night to expose the joists. It looks like a bridged effects where the flor gradually slopes up and then down again. over about 5 joists. The 1 and 5 being fairly level with the rest of the floor. The 2nd and 4th about 3/4 inch higher than those and the 3rd joist a full 1 1/2 inches higher that the main floor including the hallway which leads into this living area.

These joists also slope downward toward their ends so at the middle it might need 1 1/2 inches off but less as it goes toward the ends.

This house is 35 years old. We tore up everything on the main floor which is about 900 square feet. This is the only room that has had this problem. The rest of the floor throughout seems even (once we got off the tile, fiberboard,particle board etc). THis room had carpet and I had notices the incline before but dh was thinking maybe the padding was bunched up there. He wishes!

Lastly, what is an acceptale incline for hardwood? I think i'd read a 1/8 inch difference? At what point can you use shingles or heavey weight tar paper to level things off?

Actually, the highest joists is 1 inch too high vs 1 1/2inch like I thought. The other 2 joists are about 1/2 inch higher than the rest of the floor.

It sounds like when the house was built, the carpenters "crowned" those joists, as they should. However, that doesn't always correct the problem and the homeowner is left with what you now have. The proper way to repair is what you're doing. Use a level or a laser to mark the overage on each joist, clearly mark where you need to remove the wood. Pull all the nails out of the joist where your are going to be removing stock. Using a power planer is fastest and have a few extra blades. If you have cut out the subfloor decently, you can use the same subflooring to put back. You will need to add additional blocking around the patched subfloor area to support the panel. Use glue and nails or screws to reattatch subfloor. Don't forget to renail around the cut out area as well; a common oversight. Good luck.

Remove the crown in your high joists and then scab onto them with new wood. This is the most sound way to do it. It is also easier to do. You don't need any special tools. Just a ratchet wrench and a few lag bolts. An angle drill would make it easier. That way you could drill holes and use machine bolts instead of lags.

Every bit of material you remove from a joist weakens it. We are only dealing with an inch,though.

Yeah! We did it! Finally got it done. The floor is being laid today and tommorrow. Thanks!!