I have hardwood floors in all of or downstairs areas.

There are three areas of the house, (kitchen, den, foyer) that have dips between the main load bearing walls. In the dining area, this results in the surface in the middle of the dining room floor being 1/4 inch lower than the outer edge near the base of the cabinets.

The builder had the framing specialist come in to look at this and he recommended jacking up the floor joists with another beam until they are approximately even, screwing this board to the bottom of the floor joist, and then lowering the jack so that the joists that are sitting low will be pulled up by the boards that are sitting high.

Seem like this would create stress on the upper subfloor as the joists are being pulled in opposite directions eventually causing the subfloor to loosen. The framer believes this is a good solution since some of the joists may have been laid with their crowns facing down rather than up as they should be.

Would it not be better to support all the joists with an additional beam to place the stress on the ground rather than on the floor structure?

We just built the house in November and are also having some of the same hardwood separation problems discussed earlier; some boards have gaps between them and some are now higher than others.

Any suggestions,

Thanks

Your builder and his framing contractor are there and can see what is going on; we're not. Also, we are flooring installers, not general contractors. And while some of us do have an understanding of general construction, it is not our specialty. I suggest following the recommendations of your builder, if you trust him. If not, then hire an independant inspector/engineer to look at the situation and advise you. Your hardwood flooring movement may be caused by many different factors such as normal expansion and contraction, excessive moisture or humidity, improper acclimation, improper installation, house settlement, and so on. Suggest fixing the floor level problem then concern yourself with the wood flooring. Good luck!

might be time for an engineer to look at this situation. The cost of the engineer could easily save you Thousands.