What you need to know about flooring…

Whenever we are out doing home inspections in Ballston spa or Saratoga Springs, we invest a lot of our time inspecting the floors a home because it provides us clues if there are any concerns with the structure of the home or if there are any pest infestations that could be causing damage with the wood framing in the walls.

Flooring is extremely important and it is vital that the foundation in place supports everything about it. Your floors transfer all kinds of weight to your footings and, your foundation and at the end of the day to the ground.

It is important to understand that there are both vertical loads and horizontal loads that are placed on your flooring. Most people only think about the vertical loads of the weight of say refrigerator on the kitchen floor.

A well-built floor will have strength but it will also be defined by its stiffness. What we mean by strength is how much weight or load can be placed on the flooring before it has the potential to break.  Stiffness means that the flooring has to limit any deflection that might be taking place when all the structural components are responding to live loads.

All floors need to have some form of deflection but if they have too much, there will be damage to the interior finishes of your home.  Flooring is designed to bend and are typically much stronger than they really have to be. Is extremely rare for any flooring to fail unless affected by water damage, insects were poor and shoddy work.

Is true that the perimeter foundation walls are they home carry a significant amount of vertical load.  But they tend to forget that the center of the house also carries a heavy load, often times proportionately more from the outside perimeter. This is why you often hear he sensual bearing beam is in place to carry the extra load.

When we are completing home inspections, we are looking for any bowling or bending in the floors or ceilings to see if any structural supports might be experiencing too much load, either vertically or horizontally.

If you are local to the Albany area and considering buying or selling a home, be sure to contact a certified home Inspector that is certified and proven to do an extremely thorough job.  Bald Eagle Inspection Services provides a full suite of Saratoga Springs home inspection services and mold assessment services.

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