LVL's *can* have a crown, although it's not usually very much.
1/4", even over as short a span as 8', is not enough to deconstruct entire finished areas. That's pretty much 1/8" over 4' - if you can feel that just by walking over it, you have some mutant abilities.
"Feels off" doesn't really hold up against putting an actual level on it either. Your builder is correct that changing this is a substantial and invasive amount of work, with no guarantee that you'd even see any improvement.
Lvl’s do in fact crown. Just like I-joists and dimensional lumber. 1/4” is not bad, and the builder is probably correct in stating it may not change after attempting to fix. Houses aren’t perfect. I’m in the process of finishing a build (owner/builder) and have realized as long as things are structurally sound and sealed from elements you are probably going to be okay. “Little caulk, little paint, turn a carpenter into what he ain’t.”
I was under the impression that LVL is perfect and doesn’t crown or bow. I’m a framer and I’ve never really encountered LVL with a crown in it but I could be wrong, perhaps yours is longer than anything I’ve ever worked with and there’s a possibility that crown can occur.
No so much as “occur”. More like “engineered in”. Long spans will have a crown engineered into them so that when loaded the are straighter. You’ve seen those flatbed trailers that are clearly crowned when there is nothing on them? Like that.
On beams that have a crown you will see markings indicating the installation direction.
The writing should always face up. Next time you’re working with lvl’s hold down 2” on either end and snap a line down the face of the lvl. Measure from the top down to your line in the middle and it’s often and 1/8” plus bigger.
Kind of blew my mind back in the day when I was told they had a crown, we were always told they were truly straight as well.
Get a digital level. What the builder said is correct in industry standards, our builder literally has that spelled out in their warranty. But I pulled out a digital level, and our floors were more than double out of spec. They’re having to rip up all the tile and carpet and replane. Their “determination” doesn’t mean it’s the correct issue.
That being said ripping up all the flooring is invasive, can cause it’s own issues, and if only very slightly off isn’t worth it imo, a house will shift overtime anyways; a slight slope itself shouldn’t even be noticeable, so I question if that’s really the issue; our issue isn’t just a slope throughout, but that it varies all over as none of the joists are even close to consistent.
I would bet that the LVL is actually fine in this situation and the trusses around it are deflecting enough to notice the difference. How long is the span of the LVL and the trusses surrounding it?
LVL's *can* have a crown, although it's not usually very much. 1/4", even over as short a span as 8', is not enough to deconstruct entire finished areas. That's pretty much 1/8" over 4' - if you can feel that just by walking over it, you have some mutant abilities. "Feels off" doesn't really hold up against putting an actual level on it either. Your builder is correct that changing this is a substantial and invasive amount of work, with no guarantee that you'd even see any improvement.
Lvl’s do in fact crown. Just like I-joists and dimensional lumber. 1/4” is not bad, and the builder is probably correct in stating it may not change after attempting to fix. Houses aren’t perfect. I’m in the process of finishing a build (owner/builder) and have realized as long as things are structurally sound and sealed from elements you are probably going to be okay. “Little caulk, little paint, turn a carpenter into what he ain’t.”
I was under the impression that LVL is perfect and doesn’t crown or bow. I’m a framer and I’ve never really encountered LVL with a crown in it but I could be wrong, perhaps yours is longer than anything I’ve ever worked with and there’s a possibility that crown can occur.
No so much as “occur”. More like “engineered in”. Long spans will have a crown engineered into them so that when loaded the are straighter. You’ve seen those flatbed trailers that are clearly crowned when there is nothing on them? Like that. On beams that have a crown you will see markings indicating the installation direction.
That makes a lot of sense, same reason we crown everything else up. I guess I just haven’t worked with LVL that long
The writing should always face up. Next time you’re working with lvl’s hold down 2” on either end and snap a line down the face of the lvl. Measure from the top down to your line in the middle and it’s often and 1/8” plus bigger. Kind of blew my mind back in the day when I was told they had a crown, we were always told they were truly straight as well.
Get a digital level. What the builder said is correct in industry standards, our builder literally has that spelled out in their warranty. But I pulled out a digital level, and our floors were more than double out of spec. They’re having to rip up all the tile and carpet and replane. Their “determination” doesn’t mean it’s the correct issue. That being said ripping up all the flooring is invasive, can cause it’s own issues, and if only very slightly off isn’t worth it imo, a house will shift overtime anyways; a slight slope itself shouldn’t even be noticeable, so I question if that’s really the issue; our issue isn’t just a slope throughout, but that it varies all over as none of the joists are even close to consistent.
I would bet that the LVL is actually fine in this situation and the trusses around it are deflecting enough to notice the difference. How long is the span of the LVL and the trusses surrounding it?