We have a similar house design with a load bearing wall running right down the center from front to back. In our plan to open up the floor plan and widen the doorways the plan shows manufactured beams (laminated?) so that they don't get too tall and reduce the height of the doorways. The floor joists for my 2nd floor run left to right and from each side they run over and sit on top of the existing load bearing wall. They plan to put up temporary supports, remove the existing wall down the middle of the house, and then replace it with the laminated beam. We haven't had the plans go to the engineer yet, so the initial beam specs are just based on the projected span and the use of 4x4 posts to support the beam at each end and one point in the middle (total beam length is about 20 feet). The posts will be right on top of the steel I-beam that runs across the basement below. Bruce

Hang in there...Our circumstances were a lot like yours. Wet got quotes ranging from 1800 to 5500 for a similar job. We too were going to do this portion of the job ourselves but time constraints as well as a few other factors caused us to decide against it. Better Header is a company located here on Long Island that manufactures a wide range of beams that are used all over the country. Tomorrow morning you should call and speak to Dominick the number is (631) 242-1975. Please be forewarned that he can be a little rough around the edges especially if they are busy but he is an honest man who knows his stuff. Explain your situation to him such as contractors wanting to use different beams, quotes that are very different and some of the measurements for your house with regards to the beam. If you don't have something he needs simply call him back when you do. He will be able to tell you what beam you need and you will be able to call a distributor in your area to get a price for just the beam. A little more leg work but it gave us a third party source outside of architects and contractors so that we could compare apples to apples as far as what beam we were using and what the material would cost. If you have any questions or just need to vent don't hesitate to let us know!

Even with your detailed explanation & the pictures, I'm confused on what you are trying to do. Davidandkasie asked a very valid question. For a typical ranch home the area that you show a header going is typically a ceiling joist. I understood your response that the load above is "air & insulation" plus the ceiling itself but then the question is why do you need a header? To support what? What makes that a load bearing wall? It has to be there to support some kind of load. Now if the header is actually in the crawlspace (i.e. supporting the floor area) then the following applies. If you go strictly by the 2006 IRC Residential building code then the header spans for INTERIOR bearing walls are dependant upon the building width which for a ranch is typically the depth of the building (i.e. perpendicular to the roof ridge). For a 1-story ranch & 20', 28', & 36' building spans, 2-2X6s can span 4'6",3'11", & 3'6" respectively, 2-2X8s can span 5'9", 5'0", & 4'5" respectively, and 2-2X10s can span 7'0", 6'1", & 5'5" respectively.

Obviously this isn't an answer to your question, so I apologize for going off on a tangent. But today's focus on open floor plans puzzles me. As someone else here recently pointed out in another thread, it's hard to comprehend why homeowners enjoy showing guests their meal-preparation chaos.. To me, removing walls is kind of like choosing to work in a cubicle when you could have a real office instead. I suspect that it's at least partly because tear-down-this-wall is what's promoted on the home improvement television programs and websites. This trend has been rolling along for quite a while now. I wonder how much longer it can last. When enough houses have open floor plans that the remodeling cash gusher slows to a stream and then to a trickle, the contractors and manufacturers will have to come up with some new trend, so they can keep homeowners draining their bank accounts and taking out home equity loans. It'll be interesting to see what that new trend is. BTW, I saw the ultimate in open floor plans recently. This house had two floors and an attic, and no internal walls whatsoever! It was a totally original French townhouse from about the 16th century, never modernized, no plumbing, no electricity. Also, no indoor bathroom. :)