For those of you who didn't know, there has always been a dip in the second floor. The dip started around the doorway into the master bedroom and it was noticeable to anyone walking around the second floor. Aside from being noticeable while walking around, the dip also presented a problem for the plumbing in the master bathroom. The toilet will be situated almost on top of the high spot of the dip. So, if we installed the toilet and then fixed the dip, the change in the slope of the floor might affect the drain for the toilet. This might cause improper flow - and with a toilet, we want to make sure everything flows correctly. So, before Tyler and I could get the plumbing done, we needed to get the dip leveled out.

Initially, Tyler and I were not looking forward to this project as it was going to be very involved. We were going to require four jacks that we could use to hoist the house up off of the load bearing beam. To support all of the joists, we were going to have to construct two temporary load bearing beams that would rest atop the jacks. Then, we'd have to build a new stud wall at the proper height to support the load bearing beam so that the floor would level out. And, since we'd be working with the beam, current building codes would require us to remove the load bearing beam and replace it with a thicker load bearing beam. So, as you can see, it was going to be a very involved project.

We started the project by first demoing the North side of the first floor wall that ran between the old living room and dining room. This was in preparation for the new stud wall we'd have to erect. Next, we set about trying to figure out exactly how far out of level the load bearing beam had become. To our surprise, the beam was still fairly level - or as level as one could hope for in a house well over 150 years old. So, if the beam was level, what was causing the floor to be uneven?

Next, Tyler started measuring from beneath the second floor subfloor to the first floor subfloor. Everything was fairly consistent till we reached the wall that we had just demoed. The wall was directly beneath the master bedroom doorway. Tyler started examining the wall more closely and surmised that the studs for the wall were somehow jacking up one of the joists for the second floor. So, we decided to completely remove the wall between the two rooms on the first floor - this meant our studio apartment would now be open to our storage room.

Tyler had most of the wall knocked out without much of a change to the leveling of the second floor. However, when Tyler knocked out the last stud beneath the joist he said he could see the joist fall back onto the load bearing beam - apparently, this was a slightly unnerving moment. So, we ran upstairs and checked the level of the floor. It was significantly better, but still not level enough - so, did this mean there was another problem we had to find and fix?

We decided to check the level of the floor on the West side of the load bearing wall from the doorway to the master bedroom. The level of this floor, matched the level of the other side. So, was the wall beneath this joist also too tall? Tyler and I decided to find out.

We went back downstairs and Tyler grabbed his sledge hammer. A couple minutes later, the second wall was down and we ran back upstairs to check the level. The floors had leveled out a little bit more - enough to get the bubble almost between the lines. We considered that to be level enough and declared victory over the uneven floor.

So, instead of having to jack up the house and mess around with temporary load bearing beams, all we had to do to fix the uneven floor was rely on our trusty negotiator to knock out some walls!