Hi,
An engineer who inspected a 1925-built house I consider buying, noted a sag on the 2nd floor by bathroom. The bathroom was replaced 7 years ago and they put a lot of cement under floor tile (~5" high). He said it was too much weight. This bathroom is located near stars and therefore joists that holds it are resting on double-joists which run parallel to beams (the joists are not going to the beams because of the stars on their way). He said I need to put a pole running all the way to basement to support these double-joists, and in addition to reinforce the floor under bathroom by adding 7 joists or C-joists.

I realize of course one can't say for sure without seeing it, but I wounder if the engineer maybe overkilling this just not have a liability in future? Is a floor sag a serious issue? The RE agent said most houses in this area she saw has the same issue.

 

It is not surprising that a 90 year old house has some issues. The engineer is likely proposing the best fix to restore the floor. If you are unsure, have another engineer look at it and see if they have other ideas.

IMO - I doubt I would avoid this house just because of this one issue.

 

Hi, Tolyn Ironhand,

The issue seems to be not because of the age of the house but because of a new bath installed recently without reinforcing the floor.

I am just interesting to learn if other folks here saw similar things [with floor sag by bathroom] and how they dealt with. I hate to have a pole running in the middle on the finished basement and the project of ripping the ceiling and adding joists sounds too troublesome for me.

 

How much is the floor sagging?

 

stickshift,
It's hard to give a number, the sag is easily visible, but does not look too terrible.

 

Easily visible sounds pretty terrible to me.

 

Well, maybe an inch along a few feet distance right in front of the bathroom, and then it stays flat.

 

I'm still trying to understand why the floor was built up with 5" of concrete. There is not reason for that. Do you have to step up into the bathroom?

 

Correct, there is big step into the bathroom. Maybe they put concrete and tile over existing tile or maybe they just did not know what they doing. The engineer did notice too high level and said they should've reinforce the floor under, especially because on this side the joists are supported by double joists (according to him) rather than beam. I still wonder if it's a structural danger (they did use it for ~7 years) and I have to go through what he suggested?

 

I would tear the floor out. Obviously it is wrong and sounds like it looks weird/bad.