My wife and I have been looking at houses for quite a while now. We live in northern NY. Many of the houses in this area are older houses and most have foundation issues.

Tonight we looked at a place built in the 70's. Boy does it show, right down to the island with the lamp post sticking out the top!

We feel the house is a good size and has a lot of potential. However I noticed that the floors were a bit uneven in spots and when we went into the basement I saw that the floor had some work done on it to jack it up.

I found that they supported the center of the house with a large steel I beam. This runs the length of the house and appears to be supported solely by floor jacks as seen below.




Now I don't expect anyone to be able to tell me everything there is to know about this repair. However if you can tell me if you see any glaringly obvious errors it would be a great help.

Thanks

The only comment I can make is that jacking posts are not acceptable as permanent supports for beams. At the very least, the jacks should be welded when they are in the correct adjustment, so it is no longer possible to adjust them.

We can only presume that there are proper concrete footings for the posts under the floor. The floor slab itself is insufficient for load bearing, unless it's directly on bedrock or something similar.

When I saw the jack stands I was hoping there was more than that holding the I beam up as I really liked the place.

You've confirmed my suspicions and possibly pointed me to the cause of the cracks in the basement floors as well.

Thanks.

Aha. If the cracks seem to be radiating out from the bottoms of the posts, it's possible there are no footings under there. Depending on the column spacing. the footings would likely be either 2' x 2' or 3' x 3' in size, or thereabouts.

It isn't a huge deal to cut into the floor, pour properly-designed footings, and then place permanent steel posts under the beam. A comptetent architect or structural engineer can analyze the beam and tell you what the maximum space between columns can be, and within that limitation, you can place the columns and footings anywhere it's convenient. That's a pretty healthy steel beam, so the spacing can probably be pretty wide.

If you can afford a couple of thousand dollars for this work, and otherwise like the house, there is no reason to let these problems stop you from buying it. Perhaps you can negotiate the price down enough to pay at least part of it. Have a qualified design professional look at it.

Yup, Some questions I would be asking.
How about the permits to do what they did?
While the screw jacks look rusted they must have been there for a fairly long while.
Screw jacks are not allowed for final support.
The top of the jacks at the very least should have been welded or connected with a top plate to prevent them from moving should something strke them.
The rust indicates that you should be looking for increased basement moisture.
Look under the stairs to see if there is any water stains on the bottom steps.
Are the jacks placed on the cement floor or are they on their own footings. Many folks forget that slabs are not structural and footings are required.
All of this can be fixed without to much work.

As a home inspector I would suggest that the owner provide docs of permits for this work.
And I am sure they will say it was like that when they bought it assuming they are not the origional owners, but thats their problem. Not yours.
And I would suggest that a structual engineer evaluate and suggest methods to correct columns.