I think I have some kind of strange karmic relationship with ceilings. Kim and Scott’s ceiling issue was obvious. One look at that sagging thing and you knew – something strange was going on. But this house is not the same – I’m sure of it!

But I can’t hold it against anyone for wanting to be extra sure. I mean, better to be on the safe side that to be randomly inspired to install a jacuzzi and a 100 gallon fish tank upstairs one day down the road and then see the ceiling mysteriously start to sag –  that would most certainly be unfortunate.

So here is a photo of the ceiling before

what we discovered when we tore off the gyp board

I will admit, I was surprised – I was expecting to see joists that are about a foot deep running across the kitchen, which is about twenty feet wide, and this is definitely not that. But if you are a little interested in what is going on here – having two wood members “sistered” together adds rigidity and strength – and if you are not planning on turning the upstairs into any of the following:

a densely packed library

an aquarium with wall to wall fish tanks

a new hot tub living room situation

a swimming pool

a storage room for your brick collection

…it should be fine. But since everyone wanted to never have to worry about resisting any mysterious future urges toward any of the above, we added more structure to make sure we would be safe and sound. AND we did it in a way that we wouldn’t have to have a header running across the ceiling interrupting our nice huge open new kitchen.

So here is the fix

yes, it really is this simple – and a lot of extra wood – just put another joist across and you’re done.

and here’s a look at the ceiling all closed up

– with no header – ceiling for miles!

There used to be a wall here!

Thankfully it looks like my trials with ceilings are getting easier and easier to master – phew.

We are well on our way to an awesome, perfect new home for an awesome couple!