Ahhhhh, I'm feeling much better now.

Now it's time to check out angieslist.com.

Did someone pick up my microwave tattoo warning? Or maybe my ways to improve America essay?

Okay, we're almost there. All we have left is:

1. Adding the knobs and pulls to the kitchen cabinets.

2. Replacing three doors.

3. Putting in the dining room chandelier.

4. Installing the TV in the kitchen.

5. Installing a big closet thingie in its opening in the kitchen.

The dining room also has a weird pattern showing up in the ceiling, which is the outline of a 4'x8' piece of drywall. The odd thing is that it wasn't there before and they didn't really do much in the dining room. We're not sure if we should do something about it or not, because it's invisible from some angles and very prominent from one angle. Odd.


Oh, and Granite Depot has retained their place in the hellish blackness of my hatred.

Ceiling Drywall with all the construction has likely moved. Nailed or screwed? Textured ceiling?
Have contractor look into it. May need to be renailed and taped/painted....

It should've been screwed, but we don't see any nails or screws popping out - just an outline of a 4x8 piece.

It's killing us, because we've already moved all of the furniture back in, and we don't want to cover everything with drywall dust again. If we were sure it wasn't about to fall, we'd probably just live with it. Or maybe if we're lucky they can just pound a few nails and do a little patching.

How far is the outline? Is it like when light hits across the surface, you see it? It could be a bad taping job. If they didn;t taper the mud out far enough, a hump around the rim will show (stop snickering). Is this a newly installed ceiling? or was the drywall always there and the outline just appeared?

It's weird. We first saw it in the evening, and we were all like "Holy cow! The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" because it looked like a whole sheet had dropped a quarter-inch, and there was no work being done in that area. (It's in the middle of the room, and surrounds the old light fixture that has been taken out. That's the only work in that general area, but it is in that sheet.)

Then, the next morning, we came in, and we were in different lighting at a different angle and it was all but invisible unless we really looked for it. You would never have noticed it in that lighting. That tells me it's shallow, but it's quite noticeable in the evenings when you're walking in from the kitchen.

The ceiling was installed about seven years ago, and has always looked perfect, so we know that something has changed, but it's weird that we aren't seeing any popped screws or nails. We're half-wondering if the drywaller back then (who was not the most stable of individuals) merely taped it up, but I can't imagine that it would've lasted seven years if that had happened.

Sounds to me like the old like fixture was holding it up.

I was about to laugh and make fun of you like usual, but actually, you may have something. The light fixture is right in the middle of that sheet, and perhaps the little frame thingie on it was providing support.

Its also possible that the NEW fixture is heavier or mounted different that is adding a load to the piece of drywall...OR....I know this is outragious, but maybe it was there the entire time, but the way the previous light lit your room, "hid" this the entire time, or this new light maginfies a pre-existing condition.

Another thing that might have happened, only if the previous fixture was hanging, and the new one is mounted close to or on the ceiling, the light is now going across the surface, magnifying surface defects, while the old one threw light more towards the ceiling hiding elevation changes.

In case you missed it...
But you both have a point. Since the lighting has changed in the room, what was possibly never noticed before sticks out like a sore thumb now.

We've been musing over that, too. The other complicating factor is that we moved the door to the room, so we're seeing the ceiling from the north now, whereas we used to see it from the south. It may show up at this angle, but not at the other (though that seems odd).

It is conceivable that it's been there the whole time, but I'd be surprised. My wife notices things like that so well that she calls Encyclopedia Brown a slacker. I don't think it would have gone unnoticed for seven years.

I'm leaning toward dartgod's theory that the light fixture was supporting it to some extent, and it's now sagging since the light's not there. Even that seems a little odd, though, because I'd expect either a bowing in the middle or a total collapse, as opposed to the whole thing coming down a quarter-inch.

The ceiling is supported not by the joists, but by little metal studs that are hooked to joists. This was done to level out the ceiling. I keep wondering if that could have anything to do with it, but can't see any reason for it.

The ceiling outlet is NOT on a stud or hanger between studs? Heavier fixture cause the whole sheet to drop???? Wierd.

Put up a big ceiling Medallion?

The light fixture was indeed attached to a joist. The new one's not up yet, so we've just got a little bare light bulb in there now. The old fixture was glass and probably weighed 15 pounds.