Design Confidently, Live Comfortably
  TAs a structural engineer, I am often consulted about remodels like the Ryans' that involve turning several rooms into one larger space by removing or relocating walls. Depending on the walls' location, the process can be as simple as tearing down studs and plaster or as structurally devastating as having your house collapse. There are two types of interior walls: partition and bearing. Partition walls delineate rooms. Bearing walls can also divvy up spaces, but more important, they support the floors, walls, and roofs above. Moving or removing a bearing wall can be relatively easy and inexpensive or elaborate and costly. For example, turning a narrow doorway into a 6-foot- wide opening can be done by an accomplished carpenter in less than a day. On the other hand, removing the wall that runs down the center of your house is quite an undertaking.  Posts and a beam can replace a wall and support the load above. The load (think of the house above the wall) carried by a bearing wall has to be transferred elsewhere. Removing a bearing wall usually requires replacing it with a horizontal beam supported by vertical posts. And more load and longer walls require bigger posts and beams. In the Ryan kitchen, three bearing walls were replaced by a T-shaped ceiling beam supported by posts buried in the outside walls. While most walls in a house can be moved or removed, determining whether a wall is partition or bearing is best left to an engineer. If the latter, he or she will design a system to carry the loads. Transferring loads incorrectly or not supporting them at all could compromise the integrity of your house -- with disastrous results. Michael Koelzer is a structural engineer near Richmond, Virginia. NEXT: Kitchen Collaboration BACK: Team Work |
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ILLUSTRATIONS: MARTHA GARSTANG HILL |
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