A bit of insight on what I see in this photo - there's a calcimine coating as well as lead paint (you can test it for lead for kicks, calcimine is less harmful - used to be used as a washable coating for ceilings etc when we burned coal or wood inside) - the calcimine is the unstable coating (if you have any other old ceilings in your house that aren't covered they may develop a pattern like this but on a way lesser scale as they're coated more recently). The instability of those ceiling coatings means that it will all come off.. In very small and particulate pieces.

I would very honestly recommend that you don't open that any further and patch the hole, I'm sorry...that (definitely) lead substrate is so unstable that if I ran into that at my own (1912) house - I'd set down my tools and set a 20-30k budget to deal with it (which would be pulling the whole ceiling+ but still wouldn't be lead abatement). And for that kind of money I'd deal with the stupid ass soffit and spend it elsewhere. It's totally possible and legally you can tear that shit up as a homeowner but I wouldn't touch it were it mine... Just my $0.02... I'm sorry
If you are hellbent or if you have any other lead questions happy to advise you how to do as safely as possble but don't.

What is a Bj bench? I'm in construction and I've never heard that term used before. Or are you just talking about a fellatio fixture?

This is less than good advice.

Dudes renting.

Install two temporary adjustable Lally columns near the middle of the beam to level it while you work. Drop a plumb bob from the center of the beam to the floor and mark it, then make that the center of a 12” square to cut out of the floor. Dig down to whatever the frost line is where you live (say, 4 feet). You can calculate how much concrete mix you should need, but I always buy more than I think the job will take, concrete mix has no expiration date. Pour about 12” into the hole, using the sides as a form (if you want to install steel reinforcement, bend it so it extends up 2 feet above this). Once that has set drop an 8” Sonotube onto it and fill it with concrete to the level of the floor. 72 hours later, level the joist with adjustable columns. Go slowly and check for cracks in the masonry above. Measure the distance from the beam to the new footing, taking base and top plates into consideration and cut a cement filled permenant Lally column to fit. I cut the pipe with a grinder and break it with a hammer. Raise the joist 1/4” or so to fit the new column, plumb it from 12 o’clock and 9 o’clock and lower the beam onto it. When you remove the temporary posts the beam should be level and solid. If the crack is bad, I would sister an LVL to it with 3/8” galvanized through bolts and washers. Next step, build a fire, crack a beer, and put on the game.

I give it a 12

I think I could just patch the hole I made in the soffit and just forget about the second ceiling. I mainly want to get rid of the soffit but it’d be nice to reclaim the height and fix the insulation.

There’s no hvac, plumbing, exhaust in the false ceiling. The pictures I linked are between the false ceiling and the plaster ceiling. The false ceiling ends where the soffit begins if that makes sense. They didn’t drywall wall to wall, only up to where they started the soffit.

https://i.imgur.com/DMhWvEH.jpg

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Is it oil less pump?

I work in a plumbing shop. Don’t know why I got down voted. Hahaha. These supplies usually don’t have shit offs either so be prepared to shut the house down…. Unless you had a sick plumbed who isolated groups. But I doubt that.

Don’t do this

Yeah definitely test it. I had what I thought was lead based paint in my old house and it turns out it was just oil based, which apparently can also crack and peel similarly to lead. The amount of work and precautions required for lead paint removal warrant buying a test kit. In fact, I’d buy 2 kits. I didn’t trust the first one so I did another one, and felt much more confident about removal with just basic PPE.

There is a one way valve between the compressor and tank. If you have air leaking back through the compressor, this valve is stuck open. Repair or replace.

My wife loves plants. She chose ones that love high humidity.

You could have also continued the herringbone tile down to the floor for that waterfall effect but i guess its too much to do haha. But anyway, it still turned out great! I love everything especially the plants.

"joist tape".

That moment where you have to Google to see if you are being trolled by another "yard of flight line" or "blinker fluid", or "left handed smoke shifter"...

A basin wrench might work

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Small wrench. Unscrew that long nut and it relaxes the pressure on the faucet

My wife saw an inspiration picture and liked the way it looked. And we damn sure couldn’t have done 2 more herringbone walls and had them wrap around the corners correctly!

How old is this? My hot water valve got stuck/old so I started replacing the valves. Center valve came out no problem. Hot water one wouldn’t budge no matter what. Called a plumber and turns out it was original to the house and the valve was pressed in. Only way to replace was to force it out and press in a new one.
I opted to replace the entire valve setup by busting a hole through the opposite wall.

That is a very nice-looking bathroom! I’m just curious why the two different wall tiles in the shower area?

I would guess (only a guess, worth less than you paid for it) that someone had to dig out the main drain to replace/fix it and just left the "spoils" there when done. If that is correct, then there is no harm in putting it back (if you are convinced the drain is working correctly, not leaking, etc.) Loose dirt is not going to be doing anything structural. And, of course, if the mounds of loose dirt don't touch the joists they also aren't doing anything.

The proper path forward is to get a structural engineer out for an inspection and consult.

And definitely keep an eye on that drain - are you sure it isn't leaking or easily obstructed so that the previous owner wanted it easy to get to?

Re reading your original post I would demo as little as possible, do you have to pull the whole ceiling?

Was the soffit added later? Maybe when HVAC was put in or last kitchen reno? Lil weird to see a proper lathe & plaster ceiling with a soffit

If you can catch the utility locator while they are there, they can tell you approximately how deep it it. Where I am they usually mark the depth in one place, but I can never read their handwriting.

I think the minimum depth for a gas line is typically 12 inches, but that doesn't guarantee it was installed correctly.