Load bearing wall question
pfar54
2 years ago
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Comments (12)
PPF.
2 years agopfar54
2 years agolast modified: 2 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 MoreQuestion on possible load bearing wall Removal
Comments (4)What is the span that you need to open? You may be more limited in the span you can open or the remaining header. With an all brick construction house, with two floors above our kitchen. We have had a structural engineer draw up how to open the kitchen into the current refrigerator room (which is built like an enclosed porch). It will be a lot of steel for a relatively short span with at least a foot remaining in the ceiling for a header. Part of it has to do with keeping the house from falling down while the put it in, but i have not seen it done yet (or received the updated quote for the steel after the structural engineer made the drawings). We got a quote that had an allowance for the beam construction, then paid a structural engineer to evaluate and make the drawings and we are waiting to figure out how close the allowance was to the estimate....See MoreHouse structure question, are these walls load bearing?
Comments (9)While not a complete answer, some information can be given on this forum. To know for sure we would need more information on the span and the truss. However, it is unlikely that a builder is going to engineer trusses without load bearing walls on a middle floor while using a load bearing wall on the bottom floor. It is spending money for no reason. So, for preliminary brainstorming while you wait on better information, I would assume they are both load bearing....See MoreOpen wall, pass thru, neither?
Comments (17)This is a challenging space. If you are willing to do a total remodel, there are more options. But for now, I would do as in the drawing below. I would also remove that pony wall. For the kitchen, if you can spare to remove the cabinets, I'd open it up the top half of the wall. (no pass-through and only if there is no tv) I'd buy a table with an extension that can be used when you have extra guests....See MoreVerbo
2 years agopfar54
2 years agores2architect
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoVerbo
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoJoseph Corlett, LLC
2 years agoweedyacres
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