If your home is not level, it can lead to many and varied problems. Some are minor or merely nuisances (cakes in oven are uneven no matter how often you adjust oven height), while other issues can be quite serious such as leading to structural damage. It really depends on how badly leveling is needed and what that entails.
If leveling is required, it is advised to hire a professional to take care of it. It’s generally not cheap, but leveling a home is not an area where most people are going to be comfortable with guesswork. It can also be quite dangerous if you’re not sure how to proceed.
Years ago, at the home of someone I know, the consensus was to bypass leveling until a later date. The decision was to go right to new flooring, hoping to spiffy the place up a bit. The floor was in such bad shape that it began to stretch the flooring. It would need to redone again before long and good flooring doesn’t usually run cheap.
The diagnosis given was that there was so much pressure on the floor joists that it was what was causing the walls in the most affected section to begin pulling away from each other. In less than a year’s time, it was so bad that a bit of daylight could be seen in one corner. Worse yet, this situation apparently began to put strain on the roof, which lead to even more costly damage.
Instead of the floor, the repairs had to begin at the roof and go down. The roof was stabilized and then the walls were pulled together and braced up, after which the home was finally leveled.
A friend who is a contractor said the whole house could have literally collapsed when told about it later. I brought up the memory because I was seeking his advice on possibly doing a rehab. He warned that leveling is especially important in older homes.
There may be contractors in the area that offer free estimates. Compare prices to get an idea of what leveling should cost. It also helps to have more than one opinion so you can judge the seriousness of the situation. It may not be dire at all…
Even if new flooring has to be put on hold, it’s generally going to be worth it. Consider temporary or inexpensive flooring options in the interim. An area rug, a remnant piece of vinyl that covers most of the floor, or some of the cheaper peel and stick tiles, may just do the trick for cosmetic purposes until you can level it up and buy that gorgeous new flooring you’ve had your eye on.
Best wishes to all for happy home improvement.