Barriers aren’t great …
… especially when they block the livability of livingroom spaces. But, 1980s suburban architects and builders (or 1990s builders working from 80s cookie-cutter blueprints) often didn’t think much about the liveability of the generic two-story homes they stamped out. The focus instead was on profit maximization, which meant maximizing the room count of sales listings. This is why you might want to remove a load bearing wall in your suburban starter home.
These clients bought an inexpensive vintage starter home in far north Austin, TX. Their first goal was to open it up. The home had a first floor that was cut into two unfortunately small livingroom and diningroom areas. They wanted to have one large 14×30 multi-use (and light filled) space all open to the kitchen. This post describes the whole process for how to remove a load bearing wall partition to make a home more liveable.
The Problem
The clients wanted to get rid of this very annoying and practically useless first floor living area divider:
The original architect/builder had attempted to give a suggestion of openness by making a faux-arched cutout in the wall between the livingroom and “dining room” areas. The actual result was interior architecture that would be instantly dated once the Clinton administration ended.
The Challenge
The main challenge to removing a load bearing wall divider is that it’s load bearing. This partition wall was really structurally important to holding up the entire second floor of the house. That highlighted the genius of the original starter home building design cost savings. Putting load bearing walls in the middle of a house is a real cost savings for building speed.
Making first floor load bearing walls go away without making the house fall down? Neither easy nor cheap. But, not impossible and also not hugely expensive.
The “Theory”
Getting rid of a load bearing wall is pretty simple in theory. All you need to do is replace the wall with a post and beam strong enough to support the structural load. So your main challenge is just to figure out the minimum beam support necessary for supporting the maximum theoretical load that the original wall was designed to carry.
This is where some practical engineering practice experience comes in handy. Not necessarily how you’d expect, though. It is textbook procedure to calculate the dynamic, static, shear, and other theoretical loads on a structural beam for house framing when building from scratch. But, if a builder has already done that work properly, then all a remodeler has to do is replace the existing framing with something that is at least equal to the original load bearing framing. And, there are some pretty simple rules of thumb to follow for structural beams — rules that homebuilders (and architects) very likely used for being sure that the original framing wouldn’t collapse in the first place.
That’s how real-life engineering experience informs structural dynamics calculations. Exact precise calculations are rarely done during actual home construction. Instead, rules of thumb (literally derived from the fact that the distance from the tip to the first joint of an average adult’s thumb is about one inch — handy approximation) are used to make sure that even the dopiest of construction dopes can’t screw up a framing job too badly. If you want to make sure your framing crew doesn’t screw up a job, then use a rule of thumb that any gradeschool graduate can intuitively understand.
This is why rules of thumb are also inherently conservative. It’s the Scotty Principle in action. If a beam of a given size is the absolute minimum possible, then an architect will double that (or at least add 50%) for a good rule of thumb safety factor. Because, you never know if some unfortunately short-thumbed carpenter will be using their thumb for making approximate measurements.
The “Calculations”
So, the practical rule of thumb for a doubled up white pine or similar regular common lumber header is that it can span a length in feet equal to its width in inches. For example, if you’re spanning a 12-ft wide load-bearing opening then two 2×12 lengths of white pine lumber nailed together should take the load no problem unless you’re installing a parking garage or olympic swimming pool on the second floor. Framing carpenters all over the world use this common lumber rule of thumb to ensure that homes don’t fall down.
If you’re wanting to minimize the size of a structural beam, though, then you’ll want to use a stronger material. LVL is a “laminated veneer lumber” material that has roughly double the load carrying strength of regular common white pine lumber. So, the rule of thumb for doubled-up LVL beams is to use a minimum width in inches equal to half the span in length. For example, if you’re spanning a 12-ft wide load-bearing opening then two 6-in wide LVL beams doubled together should take the load no problem.
Remodeling calculations to remove a load bearing wall can be way easier than original construction engineering calculations. You can how the framing was originally done after peeling away the drywall during a remodel. And when substituting LVL for regular common lumber to maximize ceiling clearances on a remodel, you can just use a beam depth that’s at least half the original. In other words, if a house was framed with a structural opening that used a doubled-up 2×12 header then you can simply use at least a doubled-up 6-in wide LVL beam to replace it for a remodel with no worries.
The Savings
For an added safety factor (and cost savings) to remove a load bearing wall, you can just use a doubled 8-in LVL beam to make absolutely sure that there will never be any sagging framing issues for a wall removal where the original load was framed for a doubled white pine 2×12. LVL beams are commonly sold in just a few widths, but 16-in is a really common one that’s almost always available at any lumberyard. So, rather than buying two special order skinny beams, it’s most economical to buy a single length of beam and then simply ripsaw it down the middle.
The Process
Again, straightforward in theory. With two sets of second-floor support joists coming together at the wall to be removed, replacing it with a post and beam simply required supporting the ceiling on both sides with temporary wall framing until the new beam was erected. In total, it was a seven step process:
- Demo the existing wall down to the studs
- Build temporary exposed stud support walls on each side
- Demo the existing wall studs and framing
- (Re)move the electrical wiring
- Install the new post and beam
- Remove the temporary support walls
- Wrap the new post and beam in drywall, paintable mdf, or stainable pine
The least expensive finish option would be to simply wrap the new structural beam and post in finished drywall to also make it as visually unassuming as possible. The simplest finish option would be to wrap it in primed pine or MDF (medium density fiberboard) for painting. Read on to see the maximum Texas option that these folks chose.
The Action Pics!
But first, there was demo to do. The original house framers had of course used a simple white pine limber beam in the original construction. This made it easy to size the new replacement framing after stripping away the drywall.
Capping the two electrical outlets and moving the overhead light switch were also nicely straightforward tasks. The outlets were on the end of a circuit run, so there wasn’t even a need to leave a splice box in the new framing post. And, using five 2x4s to make the 5″x6″ post framing left just enough room to creatively install a new switch box.
Putting up the temp support framing was also a cinch using the pro trick of assembling the studs and footer/header flat on the ground and then hefting into place.
Installing a doubled-up LVL beam usually takes at least two workers. But if you prefer working solo (like me) then here’s a trick. Simply nail up the first 2×4 post support at one end and heft each LVL piece into place one at a time. If you shave a 1/4″ or so notch off the corner of the beam that’ll be resting on the 2×4 support while you lift up the other end then that’ll ensure the beam doesn’t get pinched by the ceiling header while you rotate it into place. Then you can just support the other end with a tight dry-fit 2×4 while squaring everything up.
Then you can just repeat the process for the second LVL beam and screw all the beam pieces together along with permanent 2×4 supports as a final step. Viola! A solo process that even Bob Villa would be proud of:
The original wall framing had an extra set of ceiling headers that made the total wall width 6-in. So, to eliminate the need for a whole lot of ceiling patching (and therefore keep labor costs down), two additional 2x10s (milled to 8-1/2″ depth) sistered to the LVL beam matched the original 6-in wall width.
This added a bit of extra safety factor strength to the finished beam assemply, but mainly made it possible to extend the finish wrapping all the way to the opposite wall corner for a more finished and purposeful look.
The final semi-finished beam (with a milled-down 1×12 pine board facing already installed on one side) and 2×4 posts framing looked like this:
The Final Finish
The easiest way to put an appearance finish on a structural post and beam when you remove a load bearing wall is to simply wrap all the framing in 1/2″ MDF cut to size. MDF is cheap and easy to work with for finish carpentry.
But these folks really wanted to highlight the post and beam as a visual focus for their new great room space. So, the clients chose to wrap the framing in finish wood that could be stained for a much more dramatic finished look.
The cabinet grade pine looked like this after three rounds of sanding to eliminate seams and get the wood prepped for a nice even stain:
Luckily the house was vacant at the time, so dust containment wasn’t too difficult.
And the end result? A new open space actually more structurally sound than the original framing. The clients did the stain work themselves for even more cost savings, and the final look turned out great!
Here’s the removing a load bearing wall finish montage:
If only tearing down border walls were so easy …