Well, some of you asked to know, so:

The structural engineer looked at my little house this morning.

He said it doesn't need to be torn down-like some he's seen. : {

BUT:

Current ceiling joists are old actual 2" x 4", and 24" OC.

Need to sister them each with either one 2x6 or a 2x4 on each side. 17 of them

Addition (old kitchen & bath) on back of the house needs to be anchored / fastened better to the main structure.

Properly frame the back wall where the giant holes were cut out for the addition without headers, etc.

Replace the 2 wall studs that were totally cut through for plumbing.

Also need to patch the floor boards where the demo guys dropped the front chimney earlier in the week. (He said it was the last 4 feet or so that had "just" fallen over)

I had seen it, told him chisel and hammer - you remove a chimney brick by brick. Lucky it didn't break the joist. Be more careful. There were 2 chimneys to come down, and guess what?

YUP! Yesterday, they dropped the rear chimney, smashed the floor and this time broke 2 joists.

They also removed the one wall that was supposed to stay - but that's the least of it all - might figure it's just as easy to get tub out & re-frame. OK

Other than that, we're good to go! Aye, yay, yay

I sent a "heads up & we'll deal with it next week" message to the contractor along with a couple photos of the joists from below.

Now I'm going to try to not think about it too much, and have a Happy Easter.

So it sounds like you dodged a bullet but still have your work cut out ahead for you.

Nothing ticks me off like a contractor on a fixed bid cutting corners. In essence, they were trying to shave hours of work off their bid so they could make a bigger profit. I would make them pay for the floor repair in a heartbeat.

Oh, they will definitely pay to fix what they broke!

But, I do hate dealing with those types of situations.

First time with this contractor - we'll see how he reacts Monday. So far, I'm not impressed with a couple (other) things.

The engineer says he'll send me a name of an "older" framer who only does smaller jobs (like mine) & is really good.

The current contractor is under contract to do the framing of the new interior walls, but not this structural stuff. And I hesitate to give it all to him / his crew - in light of what I've seen so far.

Right now, I'm just hitting the brakes & hope to talk to this other framer next week.

Might even consider just paying them for what they've done so far - minus repairs - and contract with someone else.

DJ,

Is this your crew?

youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ6h16mYqIU

Oh, if I could get ahold of an experienced framer who just wanted smaller jobs! That alone could be worth all of the troubles with the broken joists.

Deej, Methinks this is your first and last experience with this contractor.

Deej, Methinks this is your first and last experience with this contractor.

Deej, Methinks this is your first and last experience with this contractor.