I have gutted the walls down to the studs in the kitchen and moved one wall to add 5 feet in width. Area is now 18’w x 13’l x 11’h. Balloon framing for this two story home.
Two of the ceiling joists need some type of repair. Joists are full dimension 2″ x 8″ spanning 13′. A joist at one of the kitchen was cut to accommodate an 18″ fireplace flue at one time. For this joist I thought maybe just box it in to the adjacent joists. Another option would be to do a microlam, but the exterior wall has diagonal bracing in the way. The joist at the other end of the kitchen was notched at least 36″ to install plumbing to upstairs which has since been removed.
Would like to remove the load bearing wall between the kitchen and family room. Opening span would be 12’w x 8’h. Wall is 2″x4″ full dimension. Do I need an engineer to determine the size header? Calculated myself for it to be 4″ x 14″ for the existing 2″x 4″ wall or 4″ x 12″ for a 2″ x 6″ wall.
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Are there floor loads above? If so, I'd scab on full length 2x8s.
As to the header, go to a full service lumberyard. Their engineered wood supplier will spec your beam for free. Just as important is the load path to to the foundation . This article gets into those details. I edited it, and learned a few things from Mike. (Not that learning from Mike is unusual..) https://www.finehomebuilding.com/2015/03/04/remove-one-wall-and-join-two-rooms
Thanks for the information Andy. Will contact my local lumber yard about the header.
As for the ceiling joists there is a floor load above. Considered scabbing the damaged joists, but was unsure how due to the balloon framing and diagonal bracing on the exterior wall. All the joists overlap on the wall separating the kitchen and family room. If I scab on the joist outside then the overlap is in the way. If I scab on the inside the diagonal bracing and balloon stud is the the way.
I'm not an engineer (just a carpenter/construction journalist since 1979), but I wouldn't have any qualms about sistering a joist even if it didn't go as far as the wall plates. I would run it as far as possible, and use the fastening schedule of screw-the-snot-out-of-it-with-RSS-screws. Pretty sure it would be fine.
if you have the height, add 2x stock to the bottom of the existing floor joist to create an "I-joist" - looking at the pictures, I'd probably use 2x6 (at least) to support all the structure above it
plus add some cross bracing/blocking to spread out the loading - snap a line about 1/3 from each end and put in 2x10 ripped down to 8 inches and cut to fit the framing width on each side of the line - should "stiffen" up the loading
more work since you'd have to take down the strapping, but should strengthen the structure
just some thoughts
good luck