Question about load bearing wall and opening allowed...

9 years ago

We have a kitchen that is almost 19' long and we're looking at opening up a wall even more because the space needs to be totally reconfigured. The almost 19' wall currently has an opening of under 11'. Our house is a ranch with a basement 99% sure this is a load bearing wall based on what is looks like... Will have an engineer and architect for this project, but would like to figure out our possibilities before we hire everyone. Would LOVE to open up the wall to have just 2ft on one side and about a foot on the other (the one side is currently a foot...) Want to put a big island in there. I see pics on houzz and pinterest of some kitchens with columns that look pretty good... One question is... if you do columns, do you need to still put in a header? And how far apart do the columns need to be/what is the max amount of space allowed between them? I think we could have 2 columns in the island (one on each end) that would look pretty good... Any info is greatly appreciated!

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Comments (6)

Sms
9 years ago
Yeah you need a structural engineer before you get too far along in your planning. There are lots of potential options but a steel beam might be in your future for such a long span. Sometimes those can be recessed into to ceiling but you still may need columns.
schicksal
9 years ago
Structural engineer time. In short... it depends. In our case where we opened up about 24' that used to be the rear wall of our 1 story house there was a column needed due to a point load, a pier and footer added below the column to take the load to the ground, and four LVLs (meeting in the column / side by side) as headers. Both ends of the opening were above existing piers that were deemed to be of more than adequate strength so they were left alone. Then of course there were the materials and fasteners used to make the connections.

That said, it took the framers one day to remove the old wall and frame in the new opening, but I already removed all of the drywall, electrical and plumbing ahead of time.
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patricianat
9 years ago
About 30 years ago we did such a remake of our house and we actually removed walls between DR and kitchen, LR and den. We made new walls but these had to be removed/redesigned and we used steel beams but we did have a structural engineer at the suggestion of the contractor to walk us through and make recommendations, at a cost, however, but in the long haul it was worth every penny. Our remodel looked beautiful and we felt very safe with it. The house has been through a hurricane and 2-3 tornadoes and is no worse for the wear.
oldbat2be
9 years ago
We too started with a post in our design plan. We bumped out an exterior wall, 5 feet. Several people on the forum suggested either a steel beam in the ceiling or an engineered wood beam.

What is upstairs? We had attic space, so didn't mind putting in the LBL (wood) beam, which sticks out upstairs about 6 inches. We were working with an architect and our building inspector required a structural engineer's stamp on the plans.

Here's what ours looks like, it's 3 engineered beams secured together, spanning the room. Good luck!
PRO
Joseph Corlett, LLC
9 years ago
That's "LVL" and stands for Laminated Veneer Lumber.
michellemarie
9 years ago
We basically took the back of our house off to expand our kitchen. You will need to consult with a structural engineer. I didn't use an architect. I used a draftsman for my 3 story 2500 sq ft addition. And then I changed the entire floor plan as we went. The perks of being a general contractor!!