# How to jack up a ceiling?



## jeffb (Aug 26, 2008)

I have a house built in 1960. Someone had taken out about 10 feet of a 14 foot wall, to turn a 3 bedroom home into a 2 bedroom home. 

Despite the header and 2) 2x4's they put up to support the weight, the ceiling is bowing down a bit. The wall is a supporting wall. The house is a one story home, built on a crawl space. 

I'm going to close that back up, so I need to jack that part up to get the ceiling straight again, then put in studs, and drywall it back up. How do I properly jack that area up, to get the ceiling level again? I posted a photo, you can see where they took the wall out, inbetween the 2 ceiling fans. I couldn't get back any further with my camera.

Thanks, 

Jeff


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## Termite (Apr 13, 2008)

Welcome to the site Jeff. Hope we can help.

Can I assume that the ceiling is sagging at the location where the wall was removed by the previous owner? Did they install a header to carry the load of the wall that was removed? 

The seeminly simple answer is to jack the ceiling back up, but I'm hesitant to recommend that without some more info. 


Is the ceiling just a ceiling or is there another floor above?
Is there a header where the wall used to be?
Since this is a bearing wall, are there roof supports that land on it in the attic?
Are the ceiling joists themselves bowed or sagged, or have they settled at the former bearing point?
If there is no roof load or floor above, you can probably use rented bottle jacks and some timbers to jack the ceiling back up. A header of sufficient size to carry the imposed loads would need to be installed (upset or downset but downset is easier), and would need support studs to carry the load down to the beam below or the foundation. 

If you can post some pics of the room and even pics from inside the attic above, it would help.


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## ShawnPA (Aug 23, 2008)

Wow am I a novice. I would've never taken all of those questions into consideration. Probably why I try to keep to simple projects, LOL


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## jeffb (Aug 26, 2008)

*Just posted a photo now*



thekctermite said:


> Welcome to the site Jeff. Hope we can help.
> 
> Can I assume that the ceiling is sagging at the location where the wall was removed by the previous owner? Did they install a header to carry the load of the wall that was removed?
> 
> ...


Thanks for the reply. I just now posted a photo. There is a header where they took the wall out. I'll have to look to see if roof supports land on that wall or not. I don't think I'll be able to see if the ceiling joists have bowed, but I'll see what I can do.

Thanks, 

Jeff


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## Termite (Apr 13, 2008)

Can you describe what is sagging then? Is the header they added sagging in the middle? What dimension of lumber is it?


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## Termite (Apr 13, 2008)

ShawnPA said:


> Wow am I a novice. I would've never taken all of those questions into consideration. Probably why I try to keep to simple projects, LOL


Hey, that's where it is handy to be able to go online. Over the years I have learned a lot by biting off waaaay more than I could chew! :laughing:


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## clasact (Oct 21, 2006)

cant really tell much from that picture but just from what I can see I would say they used 2x4 and it is not strong enough to support the weight thats why it is bowed.If you planning on closing it in again then determine how much it has sagged and how much weight will need to be supported then you can jack it up with either a bottle jack as KC said or T post and build a new wall that would be strong enough to support it.I don't know your span or weight needs so its hard to say if say an LVL may be needed.Anyone trying to help will really need more info


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## buletbob (May 9, 2008)

If you are going to start jacking from the floor below, make sure you support the floor from below, if there is some weight to be pick up your going to inert a lot of pressure on the floor in that one spot of the jack. might crack some beams. so support the floor and then jack it up. 
from that picture is that 2x4 plate the original one from the wall removal. if so then install you 2x4 shoe plate on the floor below. measure the height of the floor to ceiling at both ends of the open wall which was removed. if the measurement is the same this will be your stud height. once you have the ceiling up to where is going to be you must realize that when you remove the temporary support wall under the floor your going to have some deflection in the floor because of the load you just imposed on it, unless there is a bearing wall or girder installed under it.


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