My mother is buying a new house and the floor in one of the upstairs bedrooms has a big dip. When two or more people stand in the center of the room the floor probably sags more than inch. The home inspector said that a sub floor would strengthen it considerably, but I'm not really sure that will totally fix the problem. What would be the best method to straighten the floor and stop the sagging? Would adding sister joists be worth it?
When I read "bedroom" "upstairs", that tells me both the floor and the ceiling below are finished surface, so what ever has to be done is going to be messy, time consuming and $$$.
If the defection increases with live load, tells me the joists are not adequate, additional layer of sub floor may help, but it would be my opinion it Will do more harm than good (hopefully this room is far larger than the rest of the upstairs rooms). To sister these joists, you will have to remove the ceiling below, and gain access to the top plates to the bearing walls. Chances are, there will be wires, plumbing, etc in then way so you have to deal with them. Further complications arise when you consider the center of the floor is now lower than outer edges so that has to be leveled one joist at a time and the sisters have to extend well back onto the top plates to do any good. Once you get the sisters in place they should be glued and screwed into place (including a bead of glue on the top to grab the sub floor and not squeak in the future)
This is not a small job, good luck!
Fixed Mortgage Rates Rise
Copyright (c) 2009 Edward Ferrara
April 9th -Mortgage rates, primarily fixed rates rose for the first time since a month ago when the fed bought up a massive amount of long term treasuries to push rates down. Mortgage Rates had been at a 50 year low since last week. That led to a spike in mortgage applications. The Fed has been pushing hard to help boost new home sales and the economy in general. Their boost to lending "should make new consumer, business, and mortgage loans more available, at lower cost," Bernanke said in Pheonix, AZ on March 20th while attending a banking conference. The Fed plans to buy up to 300 billion dollars of these long term treasuries, an all time high. Though new home purchases suprisingly rose February the median sales price dipped 18% across the US, that's a record. Former mortgage broker and rate expert Bill Gates says this, "now is a great time to take advantage of the rates. Some big banks should be announcing unexpected profits and investors will take their money out of the safe havens and put it back into the market driving treasuries which move in the opposite direction of mortgage rates down and mortgage rates up." It's not easy to refinance now and the process can take longer than 30 days which is a standard lock period; therefore, it's a great idea to get working with your bank of choice now so that they can get a head start on underwriting. What happens a lot of times if a lender does not get a loan underwritten within the 30 days they charge the customer points to extend the rate lock. That causes all types of problems. I suggest floating the rate to begin and once the loan has been approved by an underwriter lock it at that time. That will put the odds in your favor that your loan will be funded before the 30 day rate lock expires. Appraisals have been an issue in most areas across the US due to the horrible housing market. If you can find a bank willing to pay for your appraisal that's the way to go. That way you avoid paying upwards of $350 for an appraisal that is no good as far as your mortgage lender is concerened".
Mortgage Rates had been at a 50 year low since last week. That led to a spike in mortgage applications. The Fed has been pushing hard to help boost new home sales and the economy in general. Their boost to lending "should make new consumer, business, and mortgage loans more available, at lower cost," Bernanke said in Pheonix, AZ on March 20th while attending a banking conference. The Fed plans to buy up to 300 billion dollars of these long term treasuries, an all time high. Though home purchases, new homes mostly rose in February the median sales price was way down. Former mortgage broker and rate expert Bill Gates says this, "now is a great time to take advantage of the rates. Some big banks should be announcing unexpected profits and investors will take their money out of the safe havens and put it back into the market driving treasuries which move in the opposite direction of mortgage rates down and mortgage rates up." It's not easy to refinance now and the process can take longer than 30 days which is a standard lock period; therefore, it's a great idea to get working with your bank of choice now so that they can get a head start on underwriting. What happens a lot of times if a lender does not get a loan underwritten within the 30 days they charge the customer points to extend the rate lock. That causes all types of problems. I suggest floating the rate to begin and once the loan has been approved by an underwriter lock it at that time. That will put the odds in your favor that your loan will be funded before the 30 day rate lock expires. Appraisals have been an issue in most areas across the US due to the horrible housing market. If you can find a bank willing to pay for your appraisal that's the way to go. That way you avoid paying upwards of $350 for an appraisal that is no good as far as your mortgage lender is concerened".
If rates rise it will not be by much. Rate will not eclipse the 6 percent level for a long time. Too many US dollars are tied up in treasuries.
