Oh man.

[Unregistered-Regina]

Okay–Here’s the deal. The house is brick, not balloon-framed, with a wall halfway across the width of the house. I have 2 different votes on whether or not the middle wall is bearing or non-bearing, but I truly cannot imagine that it’s NOT load-bearing, because everything to the west side of the middle wall is fine, while everything to the east, from about the 3rd joist south, is problematic. (I’m wondering if there are split joists–one set holding up the west side (undamaged) and one set holding up the east side (rotted) with both sets resting on the top of the wall frame in the middle. Dunno–though I think I’d better find out.)

The joists under the bathroom are DEFINITELY rotted, owing to the effects of a leaking toilet and bath over ??? years. Between the area of water damage and the wall, the drywall obscures the joists, so I can’t say for sure what might be going on there.

The 4″ downslope is on two planes—from the high corner of the room (northeast) to the low corner (southwest) is the 4″ variance I quoted. There’s a clear low point visible from both above and from the kitchen ceiling below.

I think my next step is going to be to request that he remove the rest of the drywall over the kitchen so that we can see the full extent of the problem. But just from the looks of things, I’m thinking at least 3 or 4 joists are going to need replacement.

Any further ideas would be greatly appreciated–thanks for the help!