Anyone experienced sagging floor fix?

[Jaekwan Lee]

Hi, I just got into a fourplex property and found living room has a sagging floor. I am not confident how much it would cost and wonder if it is wise to pass this property to fix if I am not familiar with this issue. What do you think?

[Steve K.]

I have a triplex built in 1910 that came with saggy floors. I jacked it up with a bottle jack, sistered up the old 2x6 floor joists with new 2x8's and problem solved for a few hundred bucks. It could be an easy fix like this or a bigger problem depending on the factors at play (are the joists accessible, will it mess anything else up if you just jack it up and reinforce, is there water damage or structural damage to the foundation causing the sag instead of just old joists, anything else going on like a supporting wall or posts under the floor, wiring or plumbing runs involved etc.). If you don't know what you're looking at, have a competent contractor or even better a competent structural engineer take a look at it for you.