Structural problem?

[A+]

Don’t really know how to word this but I’m gonna try to explain it. Since we moved into this 15yo house, the 2nd floor has always sounded loud and hollow beneath our feet. While down stairs, we can hear every little step like the kids are stomping with every step. Today, I guess the lighting was perfect, I could see something like support beams or something but it’s something that I have never noticed before in our 5yrs living here. This is where all the sound is coming from and pictures on the wall shake when we walk around up there. Can you see it? That’s not normal, right?

[lowthreeohz]

Looks like a drywall seam to me.

[A+]

The crack, yes but I’m wondering about the vibrating of the pictures on the wall that happens when we walk upstairs...

[lowthreeohz]

Is that the direction your floor joists are going?

[A+]

Yes

[Gasser64]

Pillar time?

[A+]

Structural problem?

Add pillars ?

[lowthreeohz]

I wouldn't want to go that far, but if you had to I'd put a manufactured beam in it's place. But you shouldn't need to do anything of that nature

[A+]

It’s weird because I sat down on the floor yesterday and punched one side with my fist and it didn’t make a sound, Like punching the floor should make. I roll over to the other side and hit it a few times and it sound loud and hollow and makes the wall shake.

[jammeejamm]

miller time bro?

[juiceweezl]

Few questions?

How long is that span (left to right and front to back) in the picture you posted with the red marks?

Do you know which way the floor framing is running?

Do you know the depth of the floor?

Is the drywall nailed or screwed?

To answer your question, no, you shouldn't see/feel/hear movement with someone walking across the floor upstairs. If they're like my kids and a basketball game erupts on the nerf hoop upstairs...well, yes, you'll hear a ton of noise and pictures may shift from time to time due to vibration, but that's because it sounds like a wrestling match upstairs. The joists may not be strong enough to carry that span.

[kingjason]

Now, I am not the two story, or home building expert, but I did try and collapse my garage because I had no idea what was going on. I also have some similar marks but I know what that was from.

My house was built in the 80's and had wooden beams across the roof in the living room. My contractor was like, hey those are decorative if you want me to take them out. I was like sure. Hey, guess what? They were actually thru the sheetrock and he had to patch those areas. Probably not in your case.

Second theory. Maybe they took out a wall at some point? Or I would imagine those beams are connected up stairs to wall running crossways that may be connected to the roof for support. My garage had two rooms built into it when I moved in. I ripped that out right away and since it had attic stairways I used it for storage. Looked out one day and thought "hmmmm that sure looks like it is bowing a tad bit". For some damn reason, when they added the walls, they pulled the support beams for the attic out that came from the roof, which I have since repaired. Or in your case it may be as simple as they should have used screws and not nails to tie all of that stuff together. I have looked at a few other houses around my neighborhood and several have had load bearing walls removed in the search of open floor plans. Sometimes it is a just a crap shoot

[juiceweezl]

If he is seeing the ceiling actually bow, it's not a nails versus screws case. I only asked to see if it was just possibly drywall coming loose due to vibration. Each time I've had my roof redone, I have to go back and fill nail/screw holes and some cracks and touch up paint on the ceilings.

Everyone needs to understand the difference between a beam/girder and a joist. People often get them confused. A joist goes across a span just as a beam/girder does, but there is one key difference. A joist carries only the load for itself (whatever its share of the tributary area is). A beam/girder carries the load for which it spans and also the load for every joist that attaches to it. In other words, if there are 10 joists framing into each side of a beam (to cut a span in half), then the beam has to carry half the load for the span of those 20 joists plus its own span. If some idiot removes a beam during a remodel, then get the hell out of the house before something happens to make it fall unless it was engineered to handle it.

OP, is your home one by one of the big builders? If so, see if you can get a framing plan for it. That would tell a big story.

[TX_92_Notch]

My former brother-in-law bought a $400,000 house in Frisco and it sounded like their kids were going to come crashing through the floor. The dumbass architect placed the game room over the living room and their ceiling fan in the living room shook when the kids were riled up.

You're not alone in your misery.

[juiceweezl]

My former brother-in-law bought a $400,000 house in Frisco and it sounded like their kids were going to come crashing through the floor. The dumbass architect placed the game room over the living room and their ceiling fan in the living room shook when the kids were riled up.

You're not alone in your misery.

Do you know the difference between an architect and a structural engineer? The architect works for the homeowner or home builder. They're job is to produce a design that the client wants. The structural engineer (who traditionally is hired by the architect for a % of the project) has the job of making it constructable and code compliant. There is a big difference between what the two do for plans. Architects are well versed in lighting, colors, aesthetic details, counter tops, open spaces, ADA requirements, etc. and not framing. If a house does not have a structural engineer, then you can't really get mad at an architect. The code official is the next one in line to catch something that goes against code.

On top of all that, remember building to code is the worst possible home you can legally build. As for the kids and sounding like crashing through the floor. Keep in mind that unless he wanted to pay $600K for that same size home, you'd hear anything going on upstairs if kids are playing rough at all or jumping in the least little bit. You have to weigh wants vs. needs vs. costs.