# Bowed ceiling/floor



## oldhome1 (Feb 27, 2015)

Good morning,

A year ago I bought an older house...it has had extra additions throughout the years, but the part I'm experiencing the problem in is 90 years old. The ceiling in my living room is bowing down, and the floor above it is following as well. It looks to be drywall (at least the last inch of it) and the floor upstairs is wood. Is there any way to fix this, short of ripping it all out and starting from scratch? I am a not too experienced in fixing things...i can hang lights/fans, change plugs and am in the process of redoing a garage into a game room. (it's going well but taking more time than I thought) 

If this is ripping everything out and starting from scratch I will have to hire it out, I do not feel confident taking on that challenge, especially with it being in my living room. I am hoping there is another fix. If there isn't, could someone give me a guess on the price of ripping it out and starting from scratch? I'm in Ohio so it's not a really expensive state for projects like this. Thank you for your time.


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## slownsteady (Feb 27, 2015)

to the site.
If both the first floor and second floor are sagging (bowed) then your problem is likely in the basement. If it is unfinished, have a look around now, because others here will be asking you lots of questions about what you find. Look for cracked or bowed joists in the basement ceiling. Is the sag in the center of the house, in the area of the main beam? Any cracks in the basement walls or floor? Stuff like that.......

If you basement is nicely finished, it will be harder to find these things.....if it is recently finished by the previous owner, who knows what they hid :hide:


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## joecaption (Feb 27, 2015)

A few very common things you find in older homes is under sized and over spanned floor joist.
Walls that have been removed that where never properly headed of to add the needed support to once the walls gone to "open up the room".
Support columns that have been removed in the basement or where never set on proper piers so there sinking or rotting out at the bottom.


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## nealtw (Feb 27, 2015)

Sounds like the floor joist for upstairs are undersized. If that is all it is, the fix would be to remove the drywall plaster and anything else up there and maybe the joists could be pushed up to straight and new bigger ones sistered to them and the re-drywall the ceiling. Easy if you say it quick.
You can lower costs be doing the removal your self and with alittle help from people here you could do the rest yourself to but if not, hire a framer to fix the timber and dry waller to do the drywall.
But as joe said you may find that structure has been removed and will have to be addressed, you won't know until you get it opened up for a look see.


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## slownsteady (Feb 27, 2015)

Did I read it wrong? Is there a sag on the first floor also?


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## bud16415 (Feb 28, 2015)

I didn&#8217;t read anything about the first floor, floor. 

As others have mentioned you may have undersized joists or joist spacing in the old days there wasn&#8217;t much if any control over what got built and it all went by the eye of the guy building it what was enough structure. It could also be over a 100 years the sag was very gradual and just slowly took a set. 

Before you do anything you need to figure out and report back just how bad the room is how it is sagging. Start with the perimeter and go around with a level and also measure from the floor to the ceiling at each corner and mid point of the wall. Then measure the height of the mid point of the ceiling. What you want to know is how far out it is and is how it has sagged. 

Next you need to find some clues as to if there is damage to the plaster and such and was it covered over to hide it and how long ago that was if you can. You can drill a little test hole and see if you go thru a layer of drywall and then a layer of plaster and then lath etc. 

Do the same thing upstairs with a level and see if the two curved surfaces seem to match up. 

Chances are your house has been bowed and lived in for a very long time like that. Depending on how bad it is and how bad you need everything perfect will dictate how I would repair it. Most people don&#8217;t have an issue with the second floor bedroom having some dip. If that was the case you may not want to jack things back up just maybe add support with the sister joists and provide a level ceiling on the first floor. Jacking things up in an old house that has taken a set sometimes causes more problems than it fixes.


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## oldhome1 (Mar 2, 2015)

Thank you guys, yeah I guess I left out a few details. The floor on the first floor is fine, and it's a slab house with no basement. My guess is I will have to add some ceiling joists. I guess I should be happy that this is the only room it is happening in. Doing this fix on the whole house would have been rough. Thanks again.


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## bud16415 (Mar 2, 2015)

Well good luck and when you rip out the ceiling let us know what you find.


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