Header?

[gofly312]

Hi,

I have someone that wants me to eleminate part of a load bearing wall. The wall is between 13 and 16 ft long. He is wanting to have a header and two or three columns instead. How would I go about do this. I have had people tell me to "sure " the wall but being new to this trade I'm not quite sure were to begin could someone please help me.

Thanks
S. White (IN)

[Rich]

If it's 16' long and you put 2 columns in the span of each opening will be a little over 5'. My questions are what is it holding above it, what is the ceiling height, and what does he want the opening size to be (specifically height of opening).
If he wants the ceiling and opening height to be the same or the same elevation all the way through the opening then you will need to frame the header into the floor or ceiling above. If it's a floor - no problem. If it's a ceiling it's a little more difficult but possible.
Now - how do you actually do it? You will need to shore the existing ceiling by placing a temporary structure (wall or columns and beams) a couple feet back from the existing wall to give you enough room to work. Once you're shored the ceiling you are free to cut the wall out. Here is where the construction method could change.
If he doesn't care if there is a visible change in ceiling height from the header you could tear the wall out and put the header all the way across and then place the columns in at the spacing desired. The exposed beam could be a glu-lam or timberstrand beam - the posts could match that or it all could be drywalled.
Now if he doesn't want a drop soffit in the openings and wants the ceiling flush all the way through then you will need to cut the floor joists above to place the header flush to the bottom of the joists. One problem with this is that you will need to tear out some of the drywall ceiling so that you can put joist hangers on the header. These are needed as toe-nailing the joists will not be strong enough.
In my opinion the best method is leave the floor as is and put the beam right under the floor joists.
Remember to put a double king stud in place on each end of the header to provide support. Therefore, the header will be 6" longer than the desired opening. Hope that helps and let us know how it works out or if you have any further questions.

[Rich]

Oh.. after all that's done you can remove the temporary shoring. :D