Ceiling on top floor sagging

Im the OP, thanks for answers. We discovered that they took a wall down right where the joists were spliced together.  Bad place to do that! We are going to pull up sagging joists with metal strapping and affix to rafter right above.

JMT

in Architecture 13 years and 5 months ago

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JMT | 13 years and 5 months ago

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We pulled down some sagging plaster and discovered that the entire ceiling (lathe and plaster and what looks like old 2 x 4 fir) is connected to roof joists only in one place and by thin strips of wood perpendicular to roof joists. I looked up there and all rooms on top floor appear to have same configuration. Is this typical? Wondering if there used to be a wall where ceiling is sagging.

Rick | 13 years and 5 months ago

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Yes, it’s typical original, ( and lame )  construction back in the day.  I often  see 1x2s  simply tacked up to hold the wood lath and plater ceiling frame. This is a comon problem in that once you have a roof leak ( and who doesn’t over the last 150 years ) the plaster gets damaged and cracks away from the wood lath. Often the support will fail and you’re left with a damaged sagging ceiling. Your only options are to try to tie the sagging areas up better with metal strapping and use a T- bar to push the ceiling up and do the plaster repair. Or simply pull the ceiling down and put a new sheetrock ceiling up.

northofditmas | 13 years and 5 months ago

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The 2x4s rest on the the 2 load bearing walls, right?  If so they have no need to hang from the ceiling – the 2 walls are all the support you need.  Now in terms of sagging, did the 2x4s sag or just the plaster?  If only the plaster sags you can use rick’s option and replace with sheetrock or you can use ceiling buttons and save the existing ceiling.  Replacement means a dumpster and labor to haul out a lot of plaster.  Ceiling buttons plus skim coating is a little more labor but saves demo costs and if there is crown molding saves that as well.