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Remove 13 ft. bearing wall - Beam choices?

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Remove 13 ft. bearing wall - Beam choices? Bill 04-24-2008
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Posted by Bill on April 25, 2008, 11:25 am
"Robert Allison" wrote in message
>
> ...As far as what it will cost, if you do the legwork (make accurate
> drawings, take a lot of photos of both the foundation under the support
> posts and the floor above and the situation itself) then the engineer can
> design a system for you without having to do all of that himself....
>

That sounds like a good idea. I can tear out a foot or so of the drywall on
the ceiling on either side of the bearing wall and remove a foot of drywall
on the side walls both directions. Then take pictures of everything
including the crawl space under all this. Then provide this along with
measurements to the engineer.

Note: Under all this is are TREE TRUNKS! This is an old house built in the
1930's. For support beams under the house... Under each outside wall and
under each bearing wall, there is an entire 11 inch round tree trunk with
the top side sawed flat and pier supports under it. Actually there are
already pier supports at both ends of where the bearing wall ends (Where
supports for a beam would go).

The 2nd floor (1st floor ceiling) has closely spaced 2 x 4 joists resting on
this bearing wall (the 2 x 4's span 10 ft.). And not evenly spaced either. I
don't think this is enough support (I would think 2 x 6's would be better),
but the house is still standing - just "creaks" a bit when walking upstairs!

Note that the upstairs sub-floor is nailed into these 2 x 4's with zillions
of nails. So ripping out the 2 x 4's and replacing with 2 x 6's would be
fun!

I understand that I would need to support everything on either side before
removing the bearing wall and that I would need to transfer the load down
through the subfloor.



Real Goods Solar, Inc.
Posted by on April 25, 2008, 4:51 am
On Thu, 24 Apr 2008 07:06:07 -0700, "Bill"

>Before I go and hire an architect, get building permit, etc. I would like to
>get a ballpark on what this might look like...
>
>I have a bearing wall (2x4 studs) which is 13 ft. long in my living room
>which I am thinking of tearing out and replacing with a beam. (2 story
>house - living room first floor.)
>
>But looking at "span tables", this is looking like it would need a solid
>wood beam like 4 x 10? Well a 10" beam would come down a bit far and not
>look so good...
>
>So how about a steel I-beam? I looked at span tables for I-beams and it
>looks like a "W6x9" would do the trick? This would come down less and look
>better.
>
>Anyway I don't know a thing about steel I-beams. Does "W6x9" mean 6 inches
>wide and 9 inches high?
>
>Is there a smaller I-beam which would work for this span?
>
>And I have 2x4 walls that this I-beam would connect to on each side. Would
>the I-beam just rest on say 4 x 6 wood posts? Or have holes drilled in the
>bottom of the I-beam and lag screw it to the wood posts?
>
>And how would I fasten the joists resting on the top of the I-beam to the
>I -beam?
>

People who rip out load bearing walls are normally idiots. The wall
was put there for support and is intended to stay there. If you want
a visual of the next room, put in a few smaller windows so only every
other stud is removed and beef up those that stay.

People who think that a house is going to remain solid and survive in
severe storms leave their houses with their original structures. Only
those Saturday morning home re-make shows knock out load bearing walls
to create lots of open space. Of course the tv viewer never sees the
house a few years later when the roof sags, or sees what occurs during
a tornado.

Posted by RicodJour on April 25, 2008, 7:50 am
On Apr 25, 4:51 am, sonofa...@nonetoday.com wrote:
>
> People who rip out load bearing walls are normally idiots. The wall
> was put there for support and is intended to stay there. If you want
> a visual of the next room, put in a few smaller windows so only every
> other stud is removed and beef up those that stay.
>
> People who think that a house is going to remain solid and survive in
> severe storms leave their houses with their original structures. Only
> those Saturday morning home re-make shows knock out load bearing walls
> to create lots of open space. Of course the tv viewer never sees the
> house a few years later when the roof sags, or sees what occurs during
> a tornado.

An excellent example of frontier gibberish spoken with the conviction
of someone who has no knowledge of construction. Aspiring trolls
please note.

R

Posted by Bobk207 on April 25, 2008, 10:44 am
On Apr 25, 1:51=A0am, sonofa...@nonetoday.com wrote:
> On Thu, 24 Apr 2008 07:06:07 -0700, "Bill"
>
>
>
> >Before I go and hire an architect, get building permit, etc. I would like=
to
> >get a ballpark on what this might look like...
>
> >I have a bearing wall (2x4 studs) which is 13 ft. long in my living room
> >which I am thinking of tearing out and replacing with a beam. (2 story
> >house - living room first floor.)
>
> >But looking at "span tables", this is looking like it would need a solid
> >wood beam like 4 x 10? Well a 10" beam would come down a bit far and not
> >look so good...
>
> >So how about a steel I-beam? I looked at span tables for I-beams and it
> >looks like a "W6x9" would do the trick? This would come down less and loo=
k
> >better.
>
> >Anyway I don't know a thing about steel I-beams. Does "W6x9" mean 6 inche=
s
> >wide and 9 inches high?
>
> >Is there a smaller I-beam which would work for this span?
>
> >And I have 2x4 walls that this I-beam would connect to on each side. Woul=
d
> >the I-beam just rest on say 4 x 6 wood posts? Or have holes drilled in th=
e
> >bottom of the I-beam and lag screw it to the wood posts?
>
> >And how would I fasten the joists resting on the top of the I-beam to the=

> >I -beam?
>
> People who rip out load bearing walls are normally idiots. =A0The wall
> was put there for support and is intended to stay there. =A0If you want
> a visual of the next room, put in a few smaller windows so only every
> other stud is removed and beef up those that stay. =A0
>
> People who think that a house is going to remain solid and survive in
> severe storms leave their houses with their original structures. =A0Only
> those Saturday morning home re-make shows knock out load bearing walls
> to create lots of open space. =A0Of course the tv viewer never sees the
> house a few years later when the roof sags, or sees what occurs during
> a tornado.


>>>>>> People who rip out load bearing walls are normally idiots. <<<<<<

They could very well be idiots but normally? No.

Modifying a structure after it's built is not that dissimilar to
modifying while it's still in the design phase....though one needs to
use constrcution tools rather than a keyboard or an eraser.

>>>>The wall was put there for support and is intended to stay
there.<<<

Yes that is (was) true when the house was built.

But as long as one determines the required structural capacity &
replaces (or in some case because of code changes, increases it) the
structure will be fine.....that's why we have design folks. :)


>>>People who think that a house is going to remain solid and survive in
severe storms leave their houses with their original structures. <<<<

Improperly done, wall removals can weaken a structure but done
properly you'll wind up with a structure that is as strong usually
stronger due to increases in capacity demanded by the code.

cheers
Bob

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