nealtw

It's not that kind of tile!

bryce

Yes that tile on the ceiling is easily removed. You may notice in the new picture some changes. The guy heard about the possible structural issues that the inspector noted (he agree to a price reduction of 2k)
But since then he also fixed something, i hope it was done right, i guess he felt bad about it.
Anyways that will be one of the first things to be done is remove most of the ceiling tiles and take picture and show them to my uncle who has built over 10 houses himself, he will know what to do.
Actually i was in the house again and the floor doesn't seem half as bad as i remember it.
I think most of the problem will be 'solved' or stopped if i just but enough support footers in the basement.
Are steel the way to go ? I am tempted to use bricks and cement seems a better idea. I guess steel crank footer is much easier. (no clue where to buy them either.)

nealtw

bryce; You are talking about posts, which you can't just put them on the floor. You may have to put footings in like More did.
.http://www.houserepairtalk.com/f17/preparing-footing-surface-steel-column-12468/

bryce

Hi Neal, i'm in the house now and have pulled off the ceiling tiles and
there is only 1/4" x 2" runners then the attic floor which is about 1' and completely covered.

So there the headers and joists are behind that. Which i guess is not possible to see what has gone on.

Nothing really seems all that wrong in the house.
There is a 70x45" bay window and above i see some the wood is pushing inward a bit, above is the attic room with the floor tilting as you saw before in the picture..

The area around the a stair case is the same, nothing to see, except runners. The stair case is in the middle of the house above the main support beams of the house in the basement.
It seems to be the house is sagging live V on the side, a little bit. I'm thinking the main thing to do is support the basement with footers. I think this is the only structural issue. That at the time in 1947 it just wasn't build with 2012 in mind.
I'm thinking now maybe the inspector i hired was just 'earning' is his keep, which he did do because he got me so feaked out that they lowered the price. I wonder now if it is really not so much of big deal afterall.
Why worry about the stair case if there is no sagging? It looks supported well enough.
Basically the only thing wrong here is that the attic bedroom floor is tilted a bit and kitchen floor is not tilted but wonky in a fee places.
The supporting wall that i'm think of taking down does not seem to have adequate support in the basement. So i suspect that is the apex of the problem. What i can tell there is no way check anything the attic floor/ main floor ceiling unless complete excavating. But what would the point?

nealtw

The wall you want to take down, what is it supporting upstairs? Tilting walls around the bay window might something to look at, do the floor joists above land on the wall above the bay? By the look of your other posted picture you may have a problem with headers.

bryce

It seems to be the rot that is making sag, plus a bit of buckling.
I'm going to sister the rot beam and also put some sort paint on it.
Once the leak is stopped it should be fine. The attic i can use the concert levelling stuff.

BTW, some guy off of kijij came today an engineer, after about 5 minute i told him to hit the road. He didn't know jack all, i wasn't going to pay him no $400. Maybe he was an engineer but no real construction experience.

nealtw

You want to remove as much or all the rot if you can, then use a limited amount of the stuff with copper in it to kill whats left, but don't over do it inside the house.

bryce

I can re force the rotten part completely thanks to the miracle or metal alloy.

I just need a to bolt in a 3" x 70 panel of metal as i raise it up. The metal should do it no?

mudmixer

If the contractor was dumb enough to not install a handrail, I would seriously question anything else he said.

The home inspector probably was not certified by anyone if he missed the handrails (safety problem) and quoted a price for correction (as noted by BridgeMan). He should have noted the "red flags" to you to do as you choose for correction or to be used on the final price negotiation.

Dick

nealtw

Dick; have a look at this wall in the same house.
http://www.houserepairtalk.com/f45/okay-what-now-14746/