When we first gutted our kitchen in our 1850's house... there was a 3" difference, over less then 6 feet! Honestly 3/4" over 12 doesn't seem so bad (my mom's 15 year old house is out enough that they have to shim the fridge!).

We did build up the low spots with self leveling flooring cement. It worked decent but we are no where NEAR level. In fact, our kitchen cabinets are 'shimmed' with a 2x4 laying flat on one end.

Because we didn't want a step into our kitchen from the living room - we left it. But others may be more concerned.

Hi Lil geek- 3" difference is huge, was that at a working counter top? That is where I find my challange. I am fairly short and the countertops higher than 36" are uncomfortable to work at. I cannot set the bases shorter, because of the range which has a set height.

It seems that others dont really consider out of level floors and issue. Or perhaps just call it "character"!

Thanks-

i had the same thought, only 3/4 over 12 feet? that's virtually level!! ours in a 1926 home is more of a rolling unlevel kind of floor. we took the floor down (5 layers) to the original subfloor, stabilized the creaky boards, put in several layers of roofing felt (the asphalt kind), and nailed in wood strip flooring so that the boards are perpendicular to the "dip". because it is prefinished, there are no non-level floor sanding issues. the cabinets are shimmed on top of the floor. each and every cabinet is shimmed on the bottom and the back (the walls aren't plumb either, no surprise). working on this was really frustrating because of the unlevel surfaces, but now it's as if it never happened. there is a light at the end of the tunnel...and every house has something unlevel.... good luck kren

better2boutside - I think we are a little less then that because we did attempt to level before we put the flooring down. But we do have an obvious 'shallow' and 'deep' end in our kitchen. I too am short (5'1") and of course the 'deep' end is the end where I need/want to do all my work (between the stove and fridge). Honestly, I don't even notice it anymore!!!

If I remember, I will take an accurate measurement.... but your 3/4 sounds pretty level over then length you have... you won't likely feel it.

I have to agree with the other comments - 3/4" over 12 feet isn't much - I wish I had that problem :-). My situation is more like Lil_geek - mine is also around 3" over 6' (house was build in 1895). It's funny when you look at our power room - there's a good 1" difference just over the doorway.

For our kitchen reno (currently ongoing . Our contractor stripped everything down to the planks, added a new subfloor on top, then also used a leveling compound (I also had high and low spots). After that, there was an awful lot of shimming. You can't tell unless you stand far back and look at the toe-kicks - they're shorter on one side than the other.

I'm also short (4'11"), so I'm happy that the cabinets aren't any taller. Actually, what's funny is that the new floor looks good, but you can feel some of the dips when you walk across it (and it's a small kitchen). With the old floor, you could visibly see the bumpiness.

Are you just asking how to lay a wood floor over a non level floor? I don't know but if so the posters seem to be a bit on a tangent. Perhaps some of the HGTV or This Old House websites can help.
Or perhaps jack up the floor from below?

Hey Mary- What I was trying to figure out was how to shim the new floor to be closer to level. I was thinking that we could run furring strips perpendicular to the direction of the floor boards maybe.

My motivation for this is that I get lower back and shoulder pain when I work at the higher kitchen counters for long durations (ie canning, bread making...)

I thought about trying to shim the subfloor from the basement, but the ability to cut the existing nails (into the floor joists) would be very difficult and time consuming. I did search the flooring forum, but that board is very slow and had no luck with other searches.

I guess the truth of the matter is that folks just live with it.

Sorry - I was one of those posters off on a different tack. I guess I should have paid attention to the fact that you originally posted in the flooring forum :-).

In terms of getting a floor level, using a leveling compound is pretty standard. However, how do you plan on doing the wood floor install (e.g., flooring, nail down, glue down)? That may make a difference.

Don't confuse level with flat. A good hardwood install requires a flat surface; hardwood that's bent over a high spot or bridging a low spot will work loose. That's why people fill the dips and grind off the high spots: to make the floor flat. 3/4" in 12' means the cabinets would have to be shimmed 1/8" or 3/16" which is nothing special. If that 3/4" drop were concentrated in, say, the last 3' then your floor mechanic may want to use use a floor leveling compound.

Our plan is to install 3/4" T&G (nailed down).

What is leveling compound (concrete?)? I wouldn't think that you could nail though somthing like that.

The floor slopes down towards the main carring beam and does not have humps (so far as I know.) We do have holes from the old radiators and water/drain feeds though.

So using some sort of furring strips is not the right way to do this?