# Removing bearing wall and putting up a beam



## sardinia (Feb 22, 2011)

Hi, I need some advice for removing part of the load bearing wall that separates my kitchen from the living room. Attached are some pics that will maybe help to explain it all. In the pic1, is the bearing wall at the moment, & the proposed new opening will be 12'. The pics2, is showing the floor joist support in the basement in conjunction to the current bearing wall. The pic3, shows the bearing wall view in the attic. Pic4, shows in the attic the initial part of the actual bearing wall. 
My preference is to use two 2"X10"X12' nailed together for the beam, unless it is better to use 2"X12"'s instead. Either way, the beam will not rest exact with the support column in the basement. My question is this - since the original bearing wall removal is only 4', does the beam need to rest exact or can it support without? I just want to make sure that I do not need to adjust my beam size to 14' so that it can match the support columns in the basement. 
The last question is - how many 2x4's will be sufficient to support the end beam given the width of my desired opening? 
Thank you


----------



## nealtw (Feb 22, 2011)

Can't see in the attic. Are the ceiling joists hung on the beam with hangers. If they are you could cut back joists and add another ply or two to that beam. But you still need an engineer to look at it. It looks like you have a pillar at 6 ft in the basement. It almost looks like you could just take the wall down, but you need someone to figure out the loads, anything else is just a guess.


----------



## jenn520 (Dec 23, 2011)

sardinia said:
			
		

> Hi, I need some advice for removing part of the load bearing wall that separates my kitchen from the living room. Attached are some pics that will maybe help to explain it all. In the pic1, is the bearing wall at the moment, & the proposed new opening will be 12'. The pics2, is showing the floor joist support in the basement in conjunction to the current bearing wall. The pic3, shows the bearing wall view in the attic. Pic4, shows in the attic the initial part of the actual bearing wall.
> My preference is to use two 2"X10"X12' nailed together for the beam, unless it is better to use 2"X12"'s instead. Either way, the beam will not rest exact with the support column in the basement. My question is this - since the original bearing wall removal is only 4', does the beam need to rest exact or can it support without? I just want to make sure that I do not need to adjust my beam size to 14' so that it can match the support columns in the basement.
> The last question is - how many 2x4's will be sufficient to support the end beam given the width of my desired opening?
> Thank you



What was the outcome of this???


----------

