Take a look at this questionable floor support.

[ShadowTek]

The interior walls had dropped away from the ceiling about a half inch in the middle of the floor, so I went to check the condition of the floor support.The center of the floor is supported by 3 2x8s (or maybe

2x10s). The main floor joist in the center (the one that all the other perpendicular joists butt into) is made up of two seperate sections that meet in the middle. As you can see in this video/picture, the person who was paid to do this decided that it would be ok to only support one of the two ends where these sections come together. meaning that the end of one half of the floor is simply hanging in mid air, and, as you can see, it has dropped over time, likely contributing to the noticible separation of the interior walls from the ceiling.

Poor.

[Larry The Snake Guy]

What's the problem? That joist is supported...by the floor... :)

[Mike rock]

The easiest thing to do is sister another 2X4 stud next to the existing one. Hammer it in and it will bring up the floor, or use a jack to raise the floor while you put in the stud.

[ransley]

First get it level with a few cheap screw jacks, they are about 15$ ea at HD, then figure out what to do, the right way this time.

[ShadowTek]

Screw jacks to level it were what I was planning on. Then, replacing those 2xs with some pressure treated 6x6s sounds like a more sturdy solution.

[aemeijers]

Nobody else asked, so I will- is your roof trusses or stick framed? Are the doors on the inside walls sticking? No doubt you have floor problems, but if the doors are square, you also may have roof lifting problems. Sometimes, in changing weather, trusses get a bow to them, and raise up in the middle.

-- aem sends...

[ShadowTek]

It's a truss roof.

There are 3 doors in that area, and the one closest to the center of the floor *is* starting to jam up noticeably in one of the upper corners.

I'll try to remember to climb up in the attic sometime soon and check things out with a level.

[EXT]

The easiest thing to do is sister another 2X4 stud next to the existing one. Hammer it in and it will bring up the floor, or use a jack to raise the floor while you put in the stud.

That is the correct way to do it. Also if you look at the bent nails under the sagging support beam you will see that there used to be a stud under the end. It is apparent that it has been removed by someone. Was that someone you?

[ShadowTek]

Nope, it wasn't me.

I don't even like the idea of 2xs as floor supports anyways. A good beefy 6x6 sounds better to me.

[DerbyDad03]

We are going to work very slowly and not try to jack up this house a

1/2" in one move are we?

What was that cracking sound? Where's that water coming from?

[ShadowTek]

The 2 other 2x supports shouldn't need to be raised any more than the hair that it will take to pull them out and replace them. The only part of the floor that will need to be raised to any degree is the center-most part, which will just be brought back to level, plus the hair I need to slip the new support in to place.

[DerbyDad03]

In your OP you said: "The interior walls had dropped away from the ceiling about a half inch in the middle of the floor"

If there is anything inside these interior walls, which perhaps have settled over time, then a rapid jacking of the support to raise everything 1/2" could cause problems.

I've never had to jack up a support beam in the center of a house, but I've read that any more than an 1/8" a day is asking for trouble.

I do know that when I helped "straighten" a barn, what looked like the simple and easy jacking of a beam turned out not to be. Even though it look as if jacking the end of the beam would just lift it back to level, it turn out that more than just the beam wanted to move. Things that had taken many years to settle weren't going to just go right back to their starting point just because we leveled the beam that had lost it support and started the problem.

I'm not preaching the doom and gloom that this site seems to be but the general concept that a house is not a single solid unit that will just fall back into place is what I mean.

[ShadowTek]

I don't mind a little preachin, as I haven't actually jacked a floor up by myself before, and I'm in no hurry or desire to make mistakes.

Do you think it woulf be of any value to raise that center part of the floor to level over the course of several days, or even weeks?

As the 2 outer supports would simply be replaced, I could do those immediately and be done with it.

But what If I took a screw jack to that dropping part of the main beam and only raised it a little bit, say a millimeter, once a day? Would that help to minimise any potential damage by allowing the house time to resettle as I go?