Ceiling – What is This Thing Inside the Ceiling?

ceilingjoists

I am trying to figure out whether wall is load bearing or not.
I am in 2nd floor of 3 storey condominium building.

To figure out which way joists run, I cut rectangle in ceilling near the wall. I can see metal piece behind ceilling drywall as shown in first picture ( along the side of rectangle, facing bottom right corner of picture). That is definitely not duct work. I placed my cellphone inside and took its picture along it's length. (2nd picture)

I did find 2×4 or 2×6 running parallel to the wall, around 24 inch away but its wider side is facing toward sky. Is that joist ? I thought joists are placed wider side facing sideways and shorter side facing sky.

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Best Answer

That is a “top hat” rail for attaching Sheetrock. You can see the screw in the pic there should be more. Top hat may be a trade name. But that’s what we called them. Kinda like a metal stud but not as big.