How can I tell if my girder is sagging or a pier is sinking?

A sinking pier usually causes a sharp low spot right above it. A sagging girder makes a long, gradual curve between two piers. We measure floor heights in a grid to tell which one you have, and many older Duncan homes have a bit of both.

Is it safe to add a heavy bathtub to an old Duncan house?

It can be, but check the framing first. Joists under the tub may need sistering, and the girder below may need another support post. Adding weight without reinforcement is a common reason older floors start to sag.

Do you replace the entire girder or just part of it?

Usually just the damaged or bowed section. Replacing the whole girder is rarely needed. We splice new lumber over solid bearing points so the old and new sections share the load.

What is a sill plate and why does it rot?

It is the wood board that sits on top of the perimeter wall and carries the outside walls. It rots when soil, mulch or flower beds are piled up against siding, keeping the wood wet. Lowering the soil line helps protect a new sill.

Can old brick piers be reused?

If they are plumb, the mortar is sound and the footing has not tipped, yes. Brick piers that are leaning or crumbling are replaced with new piers on footings or adjustable steel posts.

Can a sagging girder be jacked straight in one day?

Not safely in most old houses. Lumber that has bowed for decades needs to be eased up gradually, and sometimes it will never fully straighten. In that case we add a support or replace the section instead of forcing it.

Pier and Beam Foundation Repair Duncan, OK

Duncan grew around the oil service trade, and Erle Halliburton started his well cementing business here in 1919. The houses built for that workforce were usually framed with wood floors over a crawl space. Underneath, the main girder is often several boards nailed together side by side, sitting on brick or concrete piers that a crew laid out by eye a hundred years ago.

Those girders were sized for the house as it was built. Since then many Duncan homes have gained a second bathroom, a cast iron tub, a heavier kitchen or a room carved out of a porch. Extra weight on a girder that was never sized for it causes it to bow between piers, and the floor above follows that curve.

Oklahoma Red Clay and Your Crawl Space: What Homeowners Should Know for Duncan, OK homes — Related guide: Oklahoma Red Clay and Your Crawl Space: What Homeowners Should Know

We inspect Duncan homes on scheduled trips from our south Oklahoma City shop. The visit is free. We measure floor elevations room by room, probe the girder and joists for rot, and check each pier for tilt. Mark Bennett reviews the findings, and you get a written quote that separates must-do structural work from items that can wait.

What Pulls Duncan Floors Out of Level

Stephens County sits in the drier half of the state, and the clay here dries deeply during hot summers. Piers near the outside of the house lose soil support first, while the center of the crawl space stays more stable. The result is a house that slopes outward, sometimes with a ridge running down the middle where the girder still sits on solid piers.

Wood fatigue matters just as much. A built-up girder of old lumber can take a permanent set after decades of load, especially where a pier was removed for a furnace duct or a plumbing run. When we find a girder with a long, smooth curve rather than a sharp drop at one pier, shimming alone will not straighten it. The girder needs added support or a section replaced.

Warning Signs in Duncan Homes

A gentle dip across the middle of the living room that you can see when light falls across the floor.
Plaster cracks over doorways in an older Duncan home that come back after patching.
Kitchen cabinets pulling away from the wall or countertops that no longer sit flat.
Floors that bounce or creak when someone walks past the refrigerator or bathtub.
Exterior doors that need a hard push or leave a wedge of light at the top.
Gaps where an added room or enclosed porch meets the original house.

Repair Options We Use in Duncan

Beam or girder section replacement

When a built-up girder has sagged permanently or has rot at a bearing point, we replace that section with new lumber sized for today's loads. This suits older Duncan homes where the original girder has visibly bowed.

Adjustable steel support posts

Steel posts on solid footings add support points under a long girder span so the beam no longer bridges a gap. They work well where an old pier was removed years ago for ductwork.

Sistering floor joists

Under heavy bathrooms and kitchens, a new joist fastened alongside a cracked or notched one restores stiffness. It is a common fix where old plumbing work cut deep into the original framing.

Sill plate replacement

The wood sill that sits on the perimeter wall can rot where soil or mulch has been piled against the house. Replacing those sections gives the outside walls a sound base again.

Built-Up Girders in Older Duncan Homes

A built-up girder is just several pieces of dimensional lumber nailed together to act as one beam. In good condition it works fine. In many Duncan houses, though, the boards have separated, the nails have rusted, or a joint between two lengths of lumber lands between piers instead of directly over one. Each of those details lets the girder sag more than it should.

During the inspection we trace the full length of the girder, mark where joints fall and note where piers are missing or tilted. That map drives the quote. Sometimes adding two steel posts under weak joints is enough. Other times a ten or twelve foot section needs to come out. Our pier and beam foundation repair page explains the process in more detail.

Pier and Beam Repair Cost in Duncan

For Duncan homes, a beam or girder section replacement usually costs $2,500 to $8,000. Sistering a single floor joist runs $300 to $900, and sill plate repair is about $100 to $300 per linear foot. Adjustable steel support posts are $300 to $900 each. Most full pier and beam leveling projects fall between $2,500 and $10,000. Your free written quote lists each line so you can see where the money goes.

Moisture under the house too? See crawl space repair in Duncan.

Pier and Beam Foundation Repair in Duncan, OK