Oregon Home | 53 bouncy and sloped floors.” But if you catch a glimpse of these kinds of scary posts or notice the sticky doors or sloping floors that Barber describes, have no fear: SmartJacks are here. In use for many years now, SmartJacks are adjustable, engineered, galvanized-steel posts that are positioned underneath a home to help support areas that may be sagging or otherwise compromised. Rated to carry up to 30,000 pounds, they’re often installed to replace a home’s original supports, which may have rotted or sunk over the years as the Northwest’s rain-filled soils have settled and shifted. “When the home’s wooden posts begin to go out and not do their job, the home’s structural integrity is undermined,” Barber says. “To protect the home and the family from these issues, action needs to be taken. The sooner it is addressed, the better.” In addition to water damaging a home’s wooden support posts, Barber says there’s another big reason to call in the SmartJacks: excess weight. “A lot of older houses were not designed to carry they loads they do, so you get sagging floors,” he says. “Maybe someone has added heavy furniture or a piano that the home just wasn’t designed for. Not a pretty sight. “Water issues can lead to damage for the wooden posts that support your home,” says Colton Barber, production manager for John’s Waterproofing, a specialist in basement waterproofing, crawl-space encapsulating and similar services for nearly 50 years. “This can look like posts that are rotting away, mushy and floating above their footings. These issues will manifest in the home’s livable spaces with doors that stick in their frame and SmartJacks (below) are superior to traditional wooden support posts (left), which can rot or sink over time, like this one.
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