Supplemental Beams & Jacks in St. Simons Island, GA
St. Simons floors, solid underfoot again.
That bounce in the living room floor is the framing under the island house telling you a post or a beam has given up. New steel support takes it out.
Supplemental Beams & Jacks in St. Simons Island
Why St. Simons Island homes need this, and how we do it
Island homes were often built with wood posts set right on the sand, carrying interior girders over long joist spans. Sand carries load poorly and the salt air keeps the crawl space damp, so those posts rot at the base and settle, and the girder above them starts to sag. You feel it first as a soft, springy spot near the middle of a room.
We fix it with new steel. Adjustable jack posts go in on proper concrete footings so they bear on something solid, and a supplemental steel or engineered beam picks up the long spans the original framing could not hold. Where a girder or a post has rotted, it gets replaced with new steel. The lift is controlled and gradual so the finishes above stay intact.
When it is done the deflection is gone, the squeak quiets down, and the floor stops moving underfoot. On the island we usually pair the support work with drying the crawl space, so the wood we just reinforced is not sitting in the same humidity that rotted the last posts.
What’s included
The whole load path - not just the soft spot
Every supplemental beams & jacks we do in St. Simons Island, GA follows the same checklist. We support the framing that failed and the framing that is about to. A typical beam and jack scope includes:
- Elevation readings across the floor to find the real low point
- New poured concrete footings sized to the load and the soil
- Adjustable steel jacks set plumb and shimmed to bear evenly
- Supplemental beam under long or undersized joist spans
- Rotted or split posts, girders and joists replaced or sistered
- A slow, staged lift so plaster, tile and trim are not shocked
- Photo documentation before, during and after
What we won’t do
We will not stack blocks or shim on bare dirt, we will not crank a jack fast enough to crack your ceilings, and we will not put new steel under wet, rotting framing without telling you the moisture has to be dealt with as well.
What to expect
Four steps, start to finish
Free inspection
We read elevations across the floor, check every post and girder, and find where the support actually failed.
Written plan & price
You get the jack count, the beam length and any framing replacement itemized at one fixed price, with financing options.
Install, usually one day
Our crew digs and pours the footings, sets the steel, and brings the floor up in measured stages.
Walkthrough & warranty
We show you the after photos, re-read the elevations with you, and hand over the workmanship warranty in writing.
Supplemental Beams & Jacks in St. Simons Island
Questions St. Simons Island homeowners ask us
My living room floor bounces when the kids run across it, is that a problem out here on the island?
It usually means the wood posts holding your floor up have settled or started rotting in the sandy soil. We add new steel jacks on poured concrete footings and slide a supplemental beam under the span, working from underneath so it feels solid again, often in a single day.
We're right near the water and I think the salt got to my floor posts, can you tell?
Salt air rots the base of wood posts fast on St. Simons, so a quick look underneath will show us if that's what's happening. We replace the bad posts with steel jacks set on concrete footings and add a beam under the long span, all from the crawlspace.
The floor in my island cottage sags in the middle of the big open room, why is that?
Long open spans out here often outrun the support underneath, so the floor slowly dips toward the center. We set a supplemental steel beam and adjustable jacks on new footings mid-span to take up that sag, usually a one-day job from below.
Can y'all shore up my springy floors without me having to move out of the house?
Absolutely, nearly all of this work happens in the crawlspace under your St. Simons home, so you can stay put. We come in with steel jacks, pour footings, and add a beam under the bouncy area, and most jobs wrap up the same day.
Is a soft, springy floor near the beach something I need to worry about long term?
It's worth checking, since springy floors near the coast usually trace back to rotting wood posts or a span with too little support. We'll give you a free inspection with a written report, then set steel jacks on footings and a beam to firm it up if needed.
“Our floors had gotten soft and the whole downstairs smelled musty. They inspected the crawl space, showed us photos of the rot and moisture, and fully encapsulated it. The smell is gone, the floors feel solid, and our humidity finally stays under control.”
Free inspection · No obligation
Find out what's really happening under your St. Simons Island home
We measure, photograph and explain what we find - then give you one fixed written price. No pressure, and no obligation to book anything.
- Free inspection with a written report
- Fixed price before any work starts
- Our own trained crews - never subcontractors