Dipping bay

[M15try]

Hi folks,

Would appreciate some advice re our first house - an 1882 built terrace.

In the process of getting a radiator installed in a first floor bay, I’ve seen that the joists do not run continuously under the bay. In the picture I’ve attached, it looks like the bay is supported by seperate much shorter joists. The top of that these short joists are coming away from the timber that runs across the opening of the bay. This is even more pronounced in the bay of the floor above.

Would it be a decent idea to add some stabilisation here? Like a steel L shaped bracket to prevent further movement?

 

[Cubist]

First floor joists in bays would often have been fixed to wooden beam ( read heavy joist) that spans the inner face of the bay with a second that supports the outer face and window frame of the bay. Given that the exposed joist ends appear to have partially separated from the inner beam this suggests that the outer lintel may have rotted/failed in some way and the joist ends fixed to it are now dipping. First move is to expose that outer lintel to determine its condition and whether replacement is required. Is there any evidence in the room below of a corresponding slope/dip in the ceiling?

Brackets, no matter how strong, would not be able to carry the load of the bays structure. Either the fixings to the short joists in the bay would fail in a similar fashion or the timber itself may split and fail.

 

[M15try]

Ah very interesting, thank you very much - I wonder if the upvc replacement that was done (before our time) about 10 years ago is a contributing factor. The joist pictured is probably the worst example, the others aren’t so bad - more like the very top one in the picture

The ceiling actually looks fine in the lounge.

I’m going to see if I can get a look at that outer lintel today