Bearer is bowing under the strain.....

[TEEJAY]

Another point: in modern building design, and I would have thought the same held true back then, the floor holds up the walls, not the other way around...

Some people get lucky and the panelling on the wall stiffens it like a bracing sheet and the wall supports itself. Being an old house it most likely has masonite or similar lining.

I know what you are saying and it doesn't comply with theory and regulations but it works this way all the same.

[journeyman Mick]

Silent,
in some older construction styles the floor is held up by the walls. The house I grew up in in Sydney was double brick on sandstone strip footings. The floors were supported on the sandstone blocks that formed the base of the walls.

Mick

[silentC]

Well, yeah but that's a different style of floor. This one is a platform floor with the walls sitting on the floor. I think the style you're talking about there is called a balloon frame? The walls go up first and then the floors are suspended between and there is a solid foundation under each wall.

[joe greiner]

Yeah, that one threw me from the outset. How could removing the wall make the floor sag? Doesn't really matter, I guess. If sag correction is desired, lots of suggestions here.

Joe