# Forum Home Renovation Structural Renovation  Packing out joists bearers - what to do?

## PTrenovator

Our floor has a fall of up to 30mm from highest to lowest. Worst point is 10mm across a door way. I have a 4t bottle jack, TP sleeper as a base support.  My plan was to remove the tie, between bearer and stump, jack up the bearer and use FC sheeting to pack up the low points,  then tie back to stump.  Where the fall is in joist direction I'll lift the joist and pack between bearer and joist. 
Does it matter if I'm packing bewteen bearer and stump or between bearer and joist?   
Is FC sheeting ok or should I use nylon packers?  
First time I've done this so any advice welcomed

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## melton2

you can pack between any. really depends on which area you want to lift. based on your initial comment, i think you know which ones to lift... 
FC is fine. its compressed and hard.. thickness may be an issue which can only be overcome by using nylon packets.
you can try splitting the FC packer, but it will be hard to get it flat...

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## baileyboy

Not sure if its the right method but I have quite a range of gal strips and plates from other jobs. I use them when I did my house.

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## METRIX

Rather than packing out up to 30mm, You need to fix the problem with the stumps as to why they have sunk 30mm, that is a quite considerable drop. 
If it was only 4-6mm, you could use FC sheeting to pack it, but 30mm this is not the correct way to repair your problem.

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## DaveTTC

> Rather than packing out up to 30mm, You need to fix the problem with the stumps as to why they have sunk 30mm, that is a quite considerable drop. 
> If it was only 4-6mm, you could use FC sheeting to pack it, but 30mm this is not the correct way to repair your problem.

  I agree 30mm is a reasonable amount. That being said I had areas in my current home that needed to be jacked 200mm and my previous home 250mm. My current home as with the last I am re-stumping as needed.  
What is the age of your home and are the stumps or piers, timber / concrete or brick? 
There are a few reasons why a house may move
- reactive soil
- poor preparation when footings are done
- flooding and excess moisture
- deterioration of sole plates and or stumps
- under engineering (sole plate area too small for load)
- alterations to home causing structural loads to be transferred to new 'point loads' 
That being said fibre cement sheeting is fine, there are a variety of thickness materials which you can use in combination to get your desired thickness. And as ,entwined I have used sheet metal for fine tuning.  
Sounds like you have a fair idea what you are doing. Check your heights after you have lowered the bearers and repackage as needed. If the post / pier keeps sinking into the ground then you obviously have to dig it out and replace it and or your sole plate.

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