What size beam to span 6 feet...
 

Okay, not sure if this is too loaded a question.

I have a bearing wall in a bungalow I'm remodeling. The wall runs the
length of the living room, and is pretty much in the centre of the
house, running parallel to the eaves. There is a wall in the basement
directly below, which presumably is a beam with teleposts.

I'm assuming the wall is bearing. I've removed the drywall, it's a
standard 2x4 wall with studs every 16", just what you'd expect.

I'm wanting to open the wall up, and make an opening approximately 78"
wide. I'm pretty much removing 6 studs.

What size beam do I need to use in this instance, (ideally using
regular lumber - I have some height to work with, probably enough room
for 2x10s if necessary), and how many studs need to support each side
of it?

Thanks in advance. If I haven't provided adequate information, please
let me know what else I need.

What size beam to span 6 feet...
 

"maurice" wrote in message
ups.com...
Okay, not sure if this is too loaded a question.

I have a bearing wall in a bungalow I'm remodeling. The wall runs
the
length of the living room, and is pretty much in the centre of the
house, running parallel to the eaves. There is a wall in the
basement
directly below, which presumably is a beam with teleposts.

I'm assuming the wall is bearing. I've removed the drywall, it's
a
standard 2x4 wall with studs every 16", just what you'd expect.

I'm wanting to open the wall up, and make an opening approximately
78"
wide. I'm pretty much removing 6 studs.

What size beam do I need to use in this instance, (ideally using
regular lumber - I have some height to work with, probably enough
room
for 2x10s if necessary), and how many studs need to support each
side
of it?

Thanks in advance. If I haven't provided adequate information,
please
let me know what else I need.

For headers, I always use two 2 X 12's with half inch plywood
between them. The 2 X 12's are glued and nailed one on each side of
the plywood. Perfect door heigth.

For jack studs, I use only one for up to eight feet. (That is one
jack stud nailed onto the regular stud.) For over 8 feet, I use
two jack studs,

Bob-tx

What size beam to span 6 feet...
 

On Aug 19, 1:14 am, maurice wrote:
Okay, not sure if this is too loaded a question.

I have a bearing wall in a bungalow I'm remodeling. The wall runs the
length of the living room, and is pretty much in the centre of the
house, running parallel to the eaves. There is a wall in the basement
directly below, which presumably is a beam with teleposts.

I'm assuming the wall is bearing. I've removed the drywall, it's a
standard 2x4 wall with studs every 16", just what you'd expect.

I'm wanting to open the wall up, and make an opening approximately 78"
wide. I'm pretty much removing 6 studs.

What size beam do I need to use in this instance, (ideally using
regular lumber - I have some height to work with, probably enough room
for 2x10s if necessary), and how many studs need to support each side
of it?

Thanks in advance. If I haven't provided adequate information, please
let me know what else I need.

There is not enough info for a guess at required beam size.
Supported load is important.
Consider the entire load path from roof to foundation.
Bob's comment about jack studs is worth taking note of.
They will take all the load from the beam and must be supported.
T

What size beam to span 6 feet...
 

On Aug 19, 7:21 am, " wrote:
On Aug 19, 1:14 am, maurice wrote:



Okay, not sure if this is too loaded a question.

I have a bearing wall in a bungalow I'm remodeling. The wall runs the
length of the living room, and is pretty much in the centre of the
house, running parallel to the eaves. There is a wall in the basement
directly below, which presumably is a beam with teleposts.

I'm assuming the wall is bearing. I've removed the drywall, it's a
standard 2x4 wall with studs every 16", just what you'd expect.

I'm wanting to open the wall up, and make an opening approximately 78"
wide. I'm pretty much removing 6 studs.

What size beam do I need to use in this instance, (ideally using
regular lumber - I have some height to work with, probably enough room
for 2x10s if necessary), and how many studs need to support each side
of it?

Thanks in advance. If I haven't provided adequate information, please
let me know what else I need.

There is not enough info for a guess at required beam size.
Supported load is important.
Consider the entire load path from roof to foundation.
Bob's comment about jack studs is worth taking note of.
They will take all the load from the beam and must be supported.
T

So how do I determine the supported load?

I guess I was being simplistic, I figured as long as what I built (new
header and studs) was as strong as what I removed (6.5' of 2x4 wall
with 16" studs), I thought I'd be okay.

What size beam to span 6 feet...
 

In article . com,
maurice wrote:

Okay, not sure if this is too loaded a question.

I have a bearing wall in a bungalow I'm remodeling. The wall runs the
length of the living room, and is pretty much in the centre of the
house, running parallel to the eaves. There is a wall in the basement
directly below, which presumably is a beam with teleposts.

I'm assuming the wall is bearing. I've removed the drywall, it's a
standard 2x4 wall with studs every 16", just what you'd expect.

I'm wanting to open the wall up, and make an opening approximately 78"
wide. I'm pretty much removing 6 studs.

What size beam do I need to use in this instance, (ideally using
regular lumber - I have some height to work with, probably enough room
for 2x10s if necessary), and how many studs need to support each side
of it?

Thanks in advance. If I haven't provided adequate information, please
let me know what else I need.

I have no idea. But I do know that you should consider shear strength as
well as load-bearing. I put a window in a wall that was already mostly
windows, and a pocket door in the opposite wall, and I had to make some
shear strength compensations. (A structural engineer talked me through
it.)

What size beam to span 6 feet...
 

On 2007-08-19, maurice wrote:

I have a bearing wall in a bungalow I'm remodeling. The wall runs
the length of the living room, and is pretty much in the centre of
the house, running parallel to the eaves. There is a wall in the
basement directly below, which presumably is a beam with teleposts.

You need to specify the width of the house perpendicular to the wall,
and what is being supported by the wall. It sounds like the wall is
an interior bearing wall supporting the first floor ceiling joists and
the attic space above. Is that right?

What size beam do I need to use in this instance, (ideally using
regular lumber - I have some height to work with, probably enough
room for 2x10s if necessary), and how many studs need to support
each side of it?

According to the 2006 IBC, in a 28 foot wide house, for an opening in
an interior bearing wall that supports "one floor", double 2x10s with
two jack studs each side will span up to 6' 1". I assume "one floor"
means living space at 40 lbs/ft^2 live load, not attic storage space
at 20 lbs/ft^2 live load.

Cheers, Wayne

What size beam to span 6 feet...
 

This group sometimes reminds me of all the things I don't know!
Thanks for all the advice.

You need to specify the width of the house perpendicular to the wall,
and what is being supported by the wall. It sounds like the wall is
an interior bearing wall supporting the first floor ceiling joists and
the attic space above. Is that right?

Yes, that's right. The house is roughly 24' wide by 42' long, so the
width of the house perpendicular to the wall is 24' (ie, 12' on either
side) It's a bungalow, so only supporting an attic and roof (plus
snow load in the winter, I'm in Canada). Hopefully this makes some
sense?

I sounds like I should be okay with 2 2x10s plus 2 jack studs, and if
I use 2x12s, all the better. Does this sound right?

What size beam to span 6 feet...
 

maurice wrote:

... I'm pretty much removing 6 studs.

... I figured as long as what I built (new header and studs) was as strong
as what I removed (6.5' of 2x4 wall with 16" studs), I thought I'd be okay.

6x1.5x3.5x900 = 28,350 pounds, if they couldn't buckle? :-)

Nick

What size beam to span 6 feet...
 

On 2007-08-19, maurice wrote:

It sounds like I should be okay with 2 2x10s plus 2 jack studs, and
if I use 2x12s, all the better. Does this sound right?

I forgot to mention that you need to specify the type of roof system.
Is it conventionally framed with rafters and ceiling joists? If so,
double 2x10s with double jack studs on each side is adequate to span
6'6" in an interior bearing wall supporting one floor in a house 24'
wide, according to the 2006 IBC. If you have a cathedral ceiling with
a structural ridge, or if you have trusses that depend on the bearing
wall, then that is beyond the scope of the IBC prescriptive practices,
to my knowledge.

Cheers, Wayne

What size beam to span 6 feet...
 

On Sun, 19 Aug 2007 19:36:12 GMT, Wayne Whitney
wrote:

On 2007-08-19, maurice wrote:

It sounds like I should be okay with 2 2x10s plus 2 jack studs, and
if I use 2x12s, all the better. Does this sound right?

I forgot to mention that you need to specify the type of roof system.
Is it conventionally framed with rafters and ceiling joists? If so,
double 2x10s with double jack studs on each side is adequate to span
6'6" in an interior bearing wall supporting one floor in a house 24'
wide, according to the 2006 IBC. If you have a cathedral ceiling with
a structural ridge, or if you have trusses that depend on the bearing
wall, then that is beyond the scope of the IBC prescriptive practices,
to my knowledge.

Cheers, Wayne

You've also got to consider the fact that you are converting load that
was spread evenly over 6'6" (well, fairly evenly) into two point loads
underneath the jack studs. If there's a continuous beam directly
underneath the existing wall, it's probably no issue. But if the
floor joists run perpendicular to the wall on top of the beam below,
then you at least have to make sure there's solid blocking underneath
the jack studs to transfer the load to the beam. Hard to describe,
but you need to make sure the load from the jack studs is transferred
directly to the beam underneath, and not dependent on just the floor
sheathing or bottom wall plate to carry it to a joist or beam nearby.

HTH,

Paul F.

What size beam to span 6 feet...
 

Obviously there's more than meets the eye here.

I'm guessng that 2 2x10s will do it, and 2 2x12s will be even better,
but I'm going to bring some drawings down to the city and have their
engineer sign off on it. I'll update the group once I have some
direction one way or another. Thanks again for all of the advice.

Maurice

What size beam to span 6 feet...
 

On Aug 21, 4:19 pm, maurice wrote:
Obviously there's more than meets the eye here.

I'm guessng that 2 2x10s will do it, and 2 2x12s will be even better,
but I'm going to bring some drawings down to the city and have their
engineer sign off on it. I'll update the group once I have some
direction one way or another. Thanks again for all of the advice.

Maurice

Just fyi, I had an engineer look at the drawings, the 2x10s (2 of
them, laminated together with a sandwiched 1/2 plywood layer) was more
than enough.

Thanks for all the help!

Maurice

What size beam to span 6 feet...
 

replying to maurice, Me wrote:
How many jack stand?

--
for full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/mainte...et-243356-.htm

What size beam to span 6 feet...
 

On Monday, October 9, 2017 at 4:44:06 PM UTC-5, Me wrote:
replying to maurice, Me wrote:
How many jack stand?
--


You're too late. 10 years ago, Maurice was abducted by outerspace aliens and has never been returned. Fighter jets could not keep up with the flying saucer and it vanished into outerspace when the fighter jets reached their maximum altitude. His gerbils really miss him. ヽ(ヅ)ノ

[8~{} Uncle Alien Monster

What size beam to span 6 feet...
 

On Tuesday, October 10, 2017 at 12:35:53 AM UTC-4, Uncle Monster wrote:
On Monday, October 9, 2017 at 4:44:06 PM UTC-5, Me wrote:
replying to maurice, Me wrote:
How many jack stand?
--


You're too late. 10 years ago, Maurice was abducted by outerspace aliens and has never been returned. Fighter jets could not keep up with the flying saucer and it vanished into outerspace when the fighter jets reached their maximum altitude. His gerbils really miss him. ヽ(ヅ)ノ

[8~{} Uncle Alien Monster

I thought you would have gone with something like,
his house collapsed 2 years ago due to an inadequate load bearing wall and only the gerbils survived.