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!

it will cost less to use a dropped header.... Everyone has their opinions. THose that didn't do it, think it looks fine and isn't worth the money to flush it up. those of us who flushed it up think its worth it. I don't know exactly, how much mine cost, we are doing a whole house remodel. I had a cape style house and I flushed up/removed the entire load bearing interior wall that ran down teh middle of the house, it broke up what is now my kitchen into the dining room, and divided my living room in 2. I do know it took 4 pieces of steel and 6 microlams (2 peices of steel per side of the stairs, and 3 microlams per side) the steel total was $2500. I also had to add a steel support column in my basement on a footing. in my situation, I was removing bedrooms to open up the kitchen, and living room it was definately worth it. It made the renovation completely integrated and looks like a colonial not a renovated cape. you have to decide whether it looks natural where you have it, or unsightly.

If I were to take a swag at the "what would it take" question, I'd guess that you'd need to run full-length joists (rafters) along these 2 planes (yellow highlight). They would need to span from outside wall to outside wall. The process of removing existing and installing new isn't rocket science, but it is painstaking. Support roof on either side of the LB wall with temporary stud walls 2. Carefully cut out existing joist (remove existing joist hangers, drop or cut rafter out) Install new, full-length joist (make sure you have it engineered for the needed load). 4. Re-attach rafters to the joist with joist hangers. 5. Remove temporary wall We DIY-ed something similar in the 2nd floor ceiling of our last house with a flush laminate beam. The trickiest part might be that the roof sheathing is likely nailed into the joist. You can cut the nails out with a sawzall, but you won't be able to nail into the new one unless you are re-roofing.