load bearing wall

[rottyguy70]

greetings,

we have room upstairs for which we plan to alter the entry way door. essentially, the room look like a rectangle (12x16). if one looks down upon it, and North is top, South bottom, etc. the existing single door is in the south-west quadrant of the room. due south of the room on the other side of the wall, we have a linen closet that currently has french double doors. we'd like to remove the existing single door (patching it with drywall, etc.) and punching through the wall between the existing linen closet and the room and make that into a new entry way (again it's a double door).

our concern is that the wall we want to punch through appears to be a load bearing wall (it runs perpendicular to the joists above it). is this a valid concern and if so, how can we remedy the transplant of this entry way?

thanks

[willshak]

On 1/1/2005 11:51 PM US(ET), [e-mail] took fingers to keys, and typed the following:

Yes, it may be a valid concern, but we can't tell from here. Notwithstanding the information you have provided, there is no way that anyone can give you any instructions on opening your specific load bearing wall without an on-site visual inspection. Anything else would just be shot-in-the-dark suggestions, and you would have to make a shot-in-the-dark choice on which one was correct for your situation.

[rottyguy70]

hi bill, thanks for your response. we will work with an architect to design the room but was just looking to see what type of inspection and thus followup construction one would make to insure adequate structural support.

thanks

[willshak]

On 1/2/2005 9:45 AM US(ET), [e-mail] took fingers to keys, and typed the following:

That particular framing will probably only support the floor joists directly above that space. I assume that any further construction above that space will rest on the rear concrete wall, i.e. the rear walls and joists above, roof rafters, etc.

[willshak]

On 1/2/2005 10:28 AM US(ET), willshak took fingers to keys, and typed the following:

Sorry, the above was misdirected from a similar framing question. The absence of quoted text contributed to my misdirection.

[bambam]

Yes, this is a valid concern. If, as is likely, the wall is load bearing, you will need to install a header above the opening for the door. The size and ply of the header depends on what's above the room ... live and dead loads. An engineer can tell you how to reframe that wall and his stamp is your guarantee of the information.

As a general rule, what you're proposing is elementary construction ... but we can't see it and therefore can't offer an opinion as to the proper header or even IF the wall is load bearing.

Welcome

Ken

[minerva nine]

Put in a nice hefty door header above the opening you want to create and you should be fine. It's worth talking to an experienced builder before you attempt to do this yourself, however.

M9

[Tony M]

Hire Lyle

Best of luck and let us know how it turns out

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