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We live in a very old farmhouse and need advice before proceeding with the kitchen. The kitchen, and probably most of the house, was not properly built (e.g.: headers, etc.). When we moved in five years ago the kitchen and then dining room sagged nearly six inches. Over a period of time we have jacked up the floor to the proper place. Today we ripped down the sagging, cracked plaster and lath and are looking for ways to fix the sagging floor joists (for the second story).
Because the ceiling in the kitchen is at least four inches lower than the adjoining room, I would like to leave it opened. I am not opposed to exposed second story floor joists, if they are painted, but the upper floor definitely needs to be more secure.
Well, since you said 'desperately', I won't wait for your pictures to mention some possibilties...
Since the second story floor joists are exposed, it's easy to get at them. They can be "sistered" by having new joists nailed to them, after they have been jacked up into position. You could make a temporary wall to hold the second floor where it gets jacked to, and then nail the new joists up.
You can add flooring upstairs that will make it stiffer, too. Maybe another sub-floor on top of the old, or new hardwood would go a long way towards making it more solid. But it will add weight to the floor, which leads back to the question of why it sagged in the first place. Probably the joists are too long or spaced too far apart to support it, or the wood had knots or weaknesses that finally let go. Or maybe it was cut to add plumbing at some point.
If you sister new lumber onto the old joists, it won't look as nice as some hundred year old timbers... it'll have shiny new nail heads showing, but you mentioned painting them anyway. And, there are ways to make the joists look like old timers... looking forward to your pictures
Mike
