Take Down that Wall! (Kitchen Remodel '09 - Part 1)

After deciding we wanted to remove the load-bearing wall that separated the kitchen from the living room, the next step was to figure out just how to go about it without our house falling down. The wall supported nearly half of the weight of our roof, so a lot of work needed to be done before we could take it down. I had to pour a new pier under the house, install additional framing, and place a huge, 20' long LVL (laminated veneer lumber) beam in the attic.

We are so lucky to have a good friend who also happens to be a good engineer with experience in removing load-bearing walls. (Marc, we are forever indebted to you for your knowledge, expertise, and sweat equity -- and I mean SWEAT!) Here he is directing traffic the day we put the beam in.


Before any work could be done on the wall removal or beam, I had to dig a footing and pour a pier. This meant digging a 2'x2' hole while laying on my belly under the house, then filling it with concrete, and later filling a tube form with concrete atop the footing. I'll admit, there was nothing easy about digging a 4 sq ft hole underneath my house. However, the hardest part (and perhaps the most labor-intensive thing I've ever done on the house) was filling it with concrete. I had to fill a large plastic tub with concrete and drag it commando-style through the crawlspace under the house to the pier site. Concrete is heavy, and I had to make about 20 trips.

After the pier and additional framing were in place, it was time to get the beam in the attic. The beam was made of 2 separate LVL beams glued and nailed together. With the help of 5 friends, we hoisted the beams one at a time into the attic from a hole I cut in the exterior wall above our carport. This went a lot smoother than I expected given the weight of these beams (approx. 200lbs each.) In the photo, you can see how we reinforced the carport frame with 2x4s, and then used the carport frame to as a resting point, so someone could quickly move from one ladder to another.

I hung out in the attic and pulled the beams in through the hole while the guys pushed. This was the first 100 degree of the summer in Austin (one of 68, 100-degree days this summer!) We started early Saturday morning, and by nightfall the beams were in, the hole was patched, and the siding was replaced -- like nothing ever happened.