What do you think of this idea for a load-bearing wall? Will it work?
Some of you have been kind enough to provide me with ideas to address my kitchen remodeling concerns. I am here to pose another question and hope the drawings I made with help illustrate what I am asking. (My other post is HERE.)
Here is my current load-bearing wall with the fridge placement:
So I have more space in my kitchen, I am thinking about recessing the fridge (I don't think I want a counter-depth fridge), removing the pocket door and opening up the doorway, like this:
I would bump into the dining room about two feet (I rarely use the dining room), add shallow pantries facing into the kitchen and then cabinets/built-ins facing into the dining room. I may even add a cabinet perpendicular to the fridge facing into the door opening so I could store cleaning items there but also to improve the transition between the two rooms.
Do you think this would work? I am hoping it would be aesthetically pleasing, open up the walkway in front of the fridge, provide some storage in both rooms, and cost less than putting a full beam in. Is this structurally possible? How do you think it would look?
Comments (9)
rantontoo
6 years agoRelated Discussions
Question: Load bearing walls and poured-wall basement
Comments (12)building off of what renovator said, if you have load bearing walls on the first floor, you need to align structure below them in the basement. This can be beams or walls. Frame walls will be your cheapest option in most cases. However if you do not want a wall there, then price is not always the driving factor. However if you are a single story plus a basement, you shouldn't have too many first floor interior bearing walls. If you use steel or LVL beams, they must be sized to carry the first floor load as well as the loads placed on the first floor (2nd floor and possibly roof loads). As you can guess, this can make wood beams, even built up, quite deep. Steel might be your best bet here if you have longer spans between columns in your basement to keep head room heights at ideal levels. I tend to disagree with the claim in wood costing more then steel. Steel will cost more then wood in most cases. The post can be hidden inside walls (why would you do this? save the money and make the wall bearing! unless of course you have a very high point load) or they can be boxed out and made decorative. I joists should actually be cheaper then a floor truss, but typically cost a little more then solid 2x8-12 framing. However IMO, I joists are far superior. They can be had in very long spans so they can lay a continuous 30'+ joist across your load bearing beams/walls and allow for straighter and faster construction. Also, depending on the depth of them and the spacing, they can easily clear span 20'+. Plus they are a "greener" product. Trusses will cost more, but the benefit you have there is the web openings to allow easy smaller duct runs and electrical access....See MoreDo you think this wall is load bearing?
Comments (25)If I follow your drawings/photos correctly. You peeled back the pink insulation in top photo #4 to exposed the drywall in the newest photos. The profile of the pink insulation in photo #4 is the profile of your vaulted ceiling relative to the kichen ceiling. Your attic photos are from the kitchen attic space looking towards the vaulted space. There is a pretty good cavity between the roof deck and the vaulted ceiling. (i.e. not a cathedral style where the ceiling follows the roof pitch). All trusses are typical truss geometry with a single gable truss at the ceiling transition. The dry wall closes the gap between the flat ceiling over the kitchen and the vaulted ceiling. The only "support" your looking to remove parallel to the gable truss is the ~3 ft at the end wall of the stair case. The wall parallel to the staircase runs perpendicular to and under the other standard trusses. Based on the above, it still does not seem like an issue to me. I'm interested in what your engineer has to say. Lastly, I would expect at least a brief letter summarizing his work and findings, so there is a record of his visit, observations, and opinion....See MoreDo the interior walls on these architectural plans look load-bearing?
Comments (17)Hi all, Yes I get the risks involved, which is why I'm taking the time to try to get as much technical input as humanely possible before doing anything. Certainly it would have been much more risky of me to go right ahead and make structural changes without that. Repeating over and over that I shouldn't be asking the internet isn't doing anything. I appreciate those of you such as BobH, live-wire_oak, and jdesign_gw who actually share helpful, technical information for me to look into. To be clear, I've never planned to go ahead and dive into demo based on the conversations here. I didn't mean to give that inaccurate impression. This is just a sounding board to try to collect information. I am continuing to contact local professionals who can come see the house in person. C...See MoreI think the concrete company missed footings for a load bearing wall..
Comments (31)The other footings had rebar. I'm not sure about the floor because I wasn't there. My GC said the inspector is quite thorough here so maybe I can get a hold of him. I'm 50/50 on whether I want to bring it to his attention or not though. Some have told me that the ground here is so solid that even if it is missing it's going to be worse to rip up the floor and it should be fine without the footing. But if it does crack...then down the line I'm suing the concrete company? I dunno about that plan. I tried to post the first floor above but the pic isn't coming through. Also our contract doesn't have all fixed prices there are lots of allowances so if I have any extra inspecting done I'm sure I'm eating the cost. And lumber is already killing me....See More
zmith
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoKatie66,
I've read most of the posts, but if my suggestion has been posed already, I apologize for the duplication.
If you don't use your dining room, what about rerouting the traffic flow
through it from the garage via a side door as illustrated below.
Without a floor plan of your kitchen with all appliances shown it's hard to say if the refrigerator location would work.
This gives you a wide open L-shape where you could possibly fit your desired island.
mtnmom9
6 years agoUser
6 years agomtnmom9
6 years agoJ G
6 years agokatie-
I am mostly responding to the concerns in your other thread here. First of all, I certainly emphasize with the strain of not being able to figure out how to make the layout work, or how to hire the people you need when budget is a concern. We have been *thinking of* doing our kitchen for seven years while we try to figure it out!In terms of your stress level, I would encourage you to think about whether it is the actual kitchen condition that is causing you stress, or it is the project that is causing you stress...in which case it might be best to sit back and try to make your kitchen workable so that you have a little breathing room. Trying to just get it done may end up costing more to get less of what you want. I assume you are waiting to replace your microwave because you want to buy a new one with the built in look...but we were able to pick up a used microwave for $25 on craigslist (which we have now used for 6 years...it is good we picked it up). A garbage disposal replacement is usual a DIY install...and the new disposal should be able to be installed in your new kitchen...my hubby (who is a chemistry professor but likes DIY) also has installed dishwashers if you know that appliances you want. That does not solve the open sofits and cealing, but it does make the kitchen more functional.
I think pictures would help me visualize the spaces more, but I am going to be the odd man out and say that I think trying to recess your fridge into the dining room is going to eat up a lot of your budget, and I am not completely sure what you are going to gain. I think your concern is that your fridge is sticking too far into the highly trafficked space.
Do you have any built in pieces that make the "living room" the living room, the dining room the dining room and the family room the family room? I think I would try to turn the dining room in the "living room" (or the family room kids hangout space with the door that closes!). Then you could put in a large island with sink running the long direction of the house (or leave your sink) , put your fridge between the french door and the low window with a pantry (or counterspace next to it) and leave the stove where it is. You could then put your dining table in the living room (but have bar seating on the island) and even set up a small seating area in your new dining room...our house is probably a very different style than yours, but our little couch at the end of our dining room is quite popular! (It's in an alcove, but you see our chandelier and built in china closet...it is very much part of the dining room...you might even be able to put in a built in bench under your low window).
I have certainly found the staring over phenomenon quite difficult...especially because everyone does things differently. Our first quote came back "no structural engineer required," the second contractor wanted us to hire a structural engineer before he wrote the quote (although he did say he would most likely correctly guess what needed to be done), the architect we talked to would bring a structural engineer and start boring in the walls. The third contractor said he would open up the walls, and then have the engineer come make drawings if we wanted...he said that we could go either way but the permitting would be much easier with a stamped engineers drawing. Each contractor uses a different cabinet sales person that sells a different line of cabinets!
Have you tried home depot or cliqstudios or something similar? I went to home depot and met with the designer...they gave me a ballpark figure but said I would have to pay $100 for a measure to get an actual design/quote, but the kitchen designer I met with was very helpful and gave me some good ideas. The $100 would be applied to the install...we need a gut to update knob and tube wire etc so we are not doing home depot install. I talked to cliqstudioes today and I am curious with what they come up with.I have also found it really helpful to look at real estate photos of similar houses to mine to see how they updated the kitchen...they are more consistent with the style, budget and layout constraints of my project than the Houzz photos are.
Joseph Corlett, LLC