How To Remove A Load Bearing Wall & Install a Beam
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Today, I’m sharing how to remove a load bearing wall in a kitchen that Jim is currently renovating. Removing a load bearing wall will require installing a support beam in attic in order to support the structural integrity of your home.
This split level fixer upper is about to be welcomed into the modern era and I can’t wait to see the kitchen wall between the dining room and living room removed! We are also vaulting the ceiling which will also help drastically transform this older home.
How To Remove A Load Bearing Wall And Install A Hidden Beam
It’s crucial to add a support beam when removing any wall to ensure the stability and strength of the house.
Ideally, concealing the support beam in the attic is the optimal solution for a clean and polished finish.
Adding an LVL architectural beam is how you support a load bearing wall if you want to remove such wall.
Just a side note before we get started:
Identifying and removing a load bearing wall is for a licensed professional contractor and not a DIY homeowner project. Hire a professional (if you are local to central Massachusetts you can hire Jim!) and check with your local building department for building permit requirements.
What is a Load Bearing Wall?
The load bearing wall below is the wall between the kitchen, dining room and living room.
A load bearing wall is what supports the weight above the wall.
You do not want to remove a load bearing wall without replacing it with a load bearing support beam that will support the weight of the roof.
You will risk your roof caving in if you do!
Be sure to check with your local building department for permit information prior to work.
Removing A Load Bearing Wall Before And After
Here is a picture of the side hutch wall most of the facing wall removed.
Temporary Support Wall
As you can see above, we left the 2×4 framed wall which is a load bearing wall as a “temporary wall” until we got the new LVL support beams installed. You will need to build temporary walls as structural elements until the LVLs are completeley installed.
Here is a picture of the ceiling after we removed the load bearing wall (the wall that separates the kitchen from the dining and living room) and removed the ceiling in order to create a cathedral ceiling.
Installing a load bearing beam up in the ceiling is what allowed us to open up the space and remove the walls.
You can see the two LVL beams above the strapping pieces directly below the roof.
Here is a quick look at the fully remodeled kitchen. You can find a full tour of this kitchen by visiting, best split level kitchen remodel before and after blog post.
How Do You Install LVL Support Beam
Here are the details about how to remove a load bearing wall and how we installed the load bearing support beam.
Getting the support beam into the house was a challenge as length of the beam was 20 feet long and very heavy they pulled it in through the window.
All kidding aside, this is not a DIY project, not only do you need to hire a professional contractor but you need to do your research and make sure they are licensed and have experience removing a load bearing wall.
Once the support beam was in the house, they used support braces to assist in keeping the beam in place.
How Expensive Is It To Remove A Load-Bearing Wall?
We added two LVL support beams that were fastened together with lag bolts.
The two LVL beams were approximately $285 each which Jim picked up at our local lumber yard.
The support beam is fastened to support posts at each end of the house that continue down to the foundation.
The two LVL support beams up top are fastened together with lag bolts.
When adding a support beam to a load bearing wall, you will need a design plan from a structural engineer with calculations to submit to the town for their records.
This type of project will most likely require a permit from your town.
Be sure to check your town building requirements.
If you are hiring a licensed contractor, they should know all of the town requirements.
The architect/engineer drawing up your plans will measure the existing house conditions and calculate the load requirements for the beam in order to size the LVLs required.
The engineer will use a load bearing beam calculator to determine your materials needed.
Keep in mind, the cost of the LVL support beam materials will not be your only cost. The cost of the LVLs will be determined by the size calculated based on the weight of the structure.
Once the support beams were installed, they removed the temporary wall frame and bracing.
Another Related Post: See how we opened up another split level kitchen wall, by removing a load bearing wall, creating an amazing open kitchen with an island.
Overall, this project would have cost between $3500 and $5550 depending on the scope, architect costs and your licensed contractor. Obviously Jim and his crew did the work so that saved us on the labor, which is the most expensive part of the job.
The strapping (the long skinny pieces of wood running along the ceiling) are to attach the white planks that we have coming.
Yes!! The ceiling will not be sheetrock, it will be country style white planks!
The next step is to do the electrical wiring and insulate.
Looking to see all of the home remodeling projects we did in this split level home? See them in order below.
Split Level Home Renovation Series
- Split level home remodeling project – how it all started and the home before we tore it apart
- Small 5×8 bathroom remodel with cost and how we saved money by keeping the same layout
- Kitchen demo + adding a load bearing beam between the living room, dining room and kitchen
- Split level kitchen renovation before and after (you will not even recognize it!)
- Kitchen cabinet review at the split level home and how we packed storage features into the new space
- Installing shiplap on the new vaulted ceiling in the kitchen and living room at the split level
- Opening up a load bearing wall in the kitchen
- Split level entry way foyer makeover (before and after)
- How to increase front door width and height – front door makeover
- Installing solid core interior doors for a modern look
- Split-level house exterior makeover before and after
- Why we picked black windows with white interior
- How to modernize a split level home exterior
- Finished basement vinyl floor plank installation
- Split level front door ideas
- BONUS – See another split level home that sold 80K over asking price
Be sure to check out last weeks post to see the kitchen load bearing wall before we tore it down. The 1970’s kitchen was pretty scary!
Disclosure: This post is for demonstrative purposes only. Identifying and removing a load bearing wall is for a licensed professional and not a DIY homeowner project. Hire a professional and check with your local building department for the necessary permits and requirements.
Meet Jessica
What started as a hobby, Jessica’s blog now has millions of people visit yearly and while many of the projects and posts look and sound perfect, life hasn’t always been easy. Read Jessica’s story and how overcoming death, divorce and dementia was one of her biggest life lessons to date.
