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| Hi--we are planning to make our basement a bit more liveable. I'm interested in moving a cloumn in the center of the roow. I realize that this would require a beam of sorts, I assume steel or laminated wood, and two beefy supports on either side. What am I missing? Do I need to bust the floor and put in footings below the new support posts?
Who does this sort of work? We are not hiring a GC for the project. What sort of tradesperson do I call? |
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| This job may or may not be bigger than it seems. You definitely need to break the concrete, excavate to undisturbed soil for new pads, criss cross them with #6 rebar and place the concrete; then put a steel beam across the columns, best to be welded in place. Provide for adequate temporary support before you remove the column! For sizing and pad specs, I would suggest a professional engineer would be ideal; your local building department might also be able to properly advise you. Typically, you would need a permit, as this is structural work. If I didn't do it myself, I'd probably get a labourer for the digging; a carpenter/handy guy for framing the pads, locating the posts and beam and mixing and placing the concrete; and a welder. The unforseen: you hit a sewage line in your floor, meaning you have to relocate the pad(s), or an immovable boulder or bedrock, requiring a rethink of the support. If you're doing this in a well-built newer home it may be quite a demo job breaking high mpa concrete--up to 5" thick and cutting any underlying mesh and removing 4-6" of gravel. |
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| "We are not hiring a GC for the project. What sort of tradesperson do I call?" You need a GC. |
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