Hi, I want to remove a load bearing wall in a house to have a big open living area.
Basically the wall cut the room in two, right in the middle of the cathedrale ceiling and support the roof trusses.
The old concrete tile on the roof has been replaced by steel (1100lbs instead of 8300lbs with concrete).
The ideal would be to have no post to support the beam in the room so we have a span of 28ft.
An engineer came and proposed to lift a steel beam with a crane etc. not really the kind of things I’d like.
So I’ve been doing some research and I’ve seen this potential solution of building a box beam on site.
Does anyone have any previous experience with similar situation? Is it technically posible?
Cheers
Replies
You're saying that the wall runs under the ridge of the roof and supports it for its full length? What is the construction of the end walls?
It's sitting on the brick wall on one side and on studs running in the wall down to foundations on the other side.
Before I got into all the complcated engineering and construction of a box beam, I would make sure It can't be done with a more conventional beam. i.e. multiple LVL's.
Is the 1100 #s you state the total load or is that the actual load just to be carried by the beam?
Need more info to be of much help. What is the total area of the roof in question. What is the design live and dead per sq. ft. What is the snow load per sq. ft. if any?
Contact your supplier of LVL's. I bet they can design a beam for you.
We can certainly put a conventional beam but the problem is the access. A 28ft beam would be quite complicated to get in the house or we have to take the roof off and install it with a crane.
That's why I was thinking about building a boxed beam.
the 1100lbs are just the weight of the tin. I have no idea of the weight of the rafters and the plaster inside but i can work that out.
Designed and brother built a 30 foot long box beam that supports his 25 foot wide 2nd floor and high snow load roof above.
3 foot deep, 3 ea 2x6s for each chord.
Doubt you want the 3 foot beam height, which is why steel was proposed?
It's clearly not posible!! , 3 foot deep would just look horrible!
box beam
Not knowing more that we do and not seeing the actual site conditions, it's hard to give you meaningful advice.
The reason I said mutiple LVL's is so you could install them one at a time and not have to put inplace one large / heavy beam.
Example. Three 1-3/4" x 16" LVL's, would give you a 5-1/4" x 16" beam. They could be bolted together after they are in place. Knowing the loads, this would be a simple thing for your engineer to design.
As has been said, it you require a small profile, steel it the way to go.
And just to make your point clear, they don't have to be full 28' length. They can be bolted in overlapping sections. Can also use flat steel in sections if necessary for additional loads.
There's more than one way to skin a cat....but cat lovers are going to hate you no matter how you do it.
The cats won't be particularly fond of you either.
The engineer was probably right.
It is hard to get more strength per volume than a steel beam.
It's kind of like the old addage about, cheap, quick, or fast.
There are always trade offs in design. And, if it can't stick down, and you don't want to open up a wall to get it in, you are limiting the options available.
Just because you can't bring a beam in through the front door, doesn't mean you have to bring it in from above. What is the access on the side walls? (Particularly the distance to abutting property) Crane can be there to lift beam to access cut in side walls and then pushed on rollers inside and outside the house and into position.
Like they say, "Where there is a will....I want to be in it"