Its probably not foundation settlement but wood shrinkage. Steel and engineered wood beams, trusses and joists do not shrink like dimension lumber (2x10's). If the two were used together in the same floor or if the steel was not set 1/4"+ below the tops of the 2x10 joists, some warping of the floor is likely especially if the lumber was not kiln-dried or it was stored outside or exposed to rain.

Dimension lumber is also not as straight as engineered lumber so its possible the 2x10 joists were not placed with the crowned edge up or, if they were, they have not had time to settle yet.

Thanks, But the 2x10 joists are sitting on top of the steel beam. So it's not the case that the joists shrunk and the beam didn't. To be shrinkage, all of the joists in a 20' long section would have had to shrunk uniformly and more on one end then the other. This applies to the joists going in both direction from the beam.

So what is an acceptable slope to a floor in new construction?

As JDS described, I see this kind of slope frequently in multi-floor townhouses. In one I repoed, there was a high point in the middle of the open plan second floor where the steel likely was and the finished parquet flooring sloped uniformly away on both sides. I thought about correcting it, but it's so common there were no buyer objections.

But as you've already found a poorly-prepared sub-floor in one area, that may be the cause.

As for the "standard", the closest I could find in the Construction Performance Guidelines I built under is:

So here you might be out of luck. But that's not binding in your location.

Are the horizontal steel support beams supported by adjustable steel lally columns?

If so, can you adjust the lally columns down a bit (maybe 1/4" - 1/2"), thereby lowering the steel support beam and evening out the floors?

There is no adjustable lally column. It's resting on piers. There may be some shims that could be removed but then the second story would be thrown off. The second story if fine above this spot so I believe this was an initial build error and not settling or shrinkage. Does that make sense?

If I had hardwood (vs engineered hardwood), would it be practical to sand out the slope? It would probably be around a 1/4" above the beam?

Are the joists supported by steel beams at each end? If supported at the other end on a wood sill plate that could cause some differential shrinkage especially if it is doubled.

I would also investigate the crown of the 2x10's.

I live in a 130 year old house doe 34 years and no floor is as level as yours. It has not bothered anyone but we don't do much ball rolling. The rocking furniture seems unrelated to the joists. What is the sub-flooring and how was it installed?

"If I had hardwood (vs engineered hardwood), would it be practical to sand out the slope? It would probably be around a 1/4" above the beam?"

I think this is, by far, the best and simplest solution. You should be able to sand down a 1/4" crown out of true 3/4" hardwood flooring.

To JDS: The rocking furniture is unrelated to the sloping floor. It's problem #2. The GC did pull up the floor in one spot where the floor was uneven. It revealed an edge of the subfloor (AdvanTech) that had a high edge. Scraping the subfloor and replacing the hardwood fixed that spot. I suspect that there was very poor subfloor prep before the flooring was installed. The GC just wants to address the most egregious spots. I want him to address all of the spots but don't know at what point I'm being too picky.

Regarding the sloping floor. If I bought a 130 year old house, I wouldn't have an expectation of level floors. However, this is a brand new house and I expected then to start out level.

Hi all,

I have a similar issue. I bought a brand new house and wanted to replace the carpet with laminate floor. The installer observed almost 3/4 inches level issues in multiple places in the second floor. My question is what is the acceptable level difference on a new construction in the second floor. Is there a code for it. The builder is not reimbursing me for fixing the level. It is quite expensive as the entire 2nd floor had this issue. The floor was wavy through out the second floor.

" My question is what is the acceptable level difference on a new construction in the second floor. "

" Is there a code for it. "

The acceptable level is pretty much whatever is there and you take possession of unfortunately. 3/4" of an inch of what sort of area or distance? This is not surprising with developer/tract type homes. And no there is no buidling code for this.