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My son-in-law wants to combine a living room -family room into one large area. At the present there is a bearing wall dividing the two rooms.The living room is part of the original structure. The family room was added later.The wall that separates them is the wall that has to be removed. The length of the wall is 20 feet. I think the rafters are resting on a double 2-10. My suggestion is to fasten a microlam beam on both sides of the existing beam bolted all the way through. Question. What size beam would be required to support the weight , including snow load? Or is there another solution?
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As always with this question (that sems to come up once a week), there isn't nearly enough information to figure out the answer.
You'll need to have somebody actually look at the house to be able to figure it out.
*Ditto what Ryan said, except that I would say that bolting a beam to something existing is almost never a good answer.
*Ron,This may seem like and old harp.......but sometimes you have to ask a real eningeer.Ed. Williams
*Ed - Is this some kind of a dig or something ?Or are you just poking fun at the fact that I said I'm a "pretend engineer" ?
*I just figured he was writing to Ron FRAY, not Ron STROHBECK.
*Hey Ron,No dig intended. It's just many many times in the past people have asked questions about structural engineering and many many times in the past my reply has been "hire an engineer". I for one, don't believe in messing with things I'm not qualified to mess with. The engineering of loads in a house is one of those areas. I've seen the results of the school of "more is better" and the consequences of "I bet that will hold anything". Sometimes it's not better, and sometimes it won't. I don't want to be responsible for anybodies sagging ceiling or garage door header. I don't want to be the one the home owner calls because stress cracks are showing up all over the house. In all my years of doing this, one of the most important things I have learned is when to call in a professional. If there is an engineering concern, my pat reply will be "hire an engineer". They worked just as hard to learn what they do as I have to learn what I do.Ed. Williams
*Ed - I agree with you on most all of what you've said. I don't believe in the "more is better" or "I bet that will hold anything" rules of thumb. I try to be solution-oriented, and get people what they actually need. I get asked about beams all the time, and don't give advise unless I've seen the application, or know the person well. (And am sure they know what they're talking about. I also limit my advice to things I know something about - You'll notice that I never give advice about steel beams on these forums. I know about as much about steel as I do about women...........(-:Sorry if I mistook your posting - I wasn't sure if you were kidding around, or were taking a shot at me for not actually being an engineer. Guess it wasn't really either one - I didn't notice that the original poster was named "Ron" until I saw Ryan's post.
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My son-in-law wants to combine a living room -family room into one large area. At the present there is a bearing wall dividing the two rooms.The living room is part of the original structure. The family room was added later.The wall that separates them is the wall that has to be removed. The length of the wall is 20 feet. I think the rafters are resting on a double 2-10. My suggestion is to fasten a microlam beam on both sides of the existing beam bolted all the way through. Question. What size beam would be required to support the weight , including snow load? Or is there another solution?