Joist in half wall

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Neal,
You're a contractor, I'm not. I'm not saying he needs a structural engineer to determine if it can be removed, but based on the original pictures I sure can't tell why the beam goes out beyond the wall above. I would speculate that it is supported by a post down to the basement floor at the end. Knowing what is going on inside the wall is crucial in determining whether it can be removed or not. Or what restructuring is required to remove it.
 
Sparky617 said:
Neal,
You're a contractor, I'm not. I'm not saying he needs a structural engineer to determine if it can be removed, but based on the original pictures I sure can't tell why the beam goes out beyond the wall above. I would speculate that it is supported by a post down to the basement floor at the end. Knowing what is going on inside the wall is crucial in determining whether it can be removed or not. Or what restructuring is required to remove it.
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Fair enough but the engineer will cost $500 and when he come out he will say I need to see this and that so open that up and call me when I can see it. That extra call will be another $100.

No one here has suggested bringing in an engineer more than I have and I respect your concern and suggestion but that being said I would expect you to add like you just did, how much load is on it and will the remaining studs carry that load.
 
Bmattig said:
Here is a picture of the 2x4 that joist is sitting on at the end of the half wall. This is under the stairs storage. I added 2 more 2x4's left and right to support the joist under the entry.
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This is a picture from before you finished the basement, so I will test your memory.
Looking at this picture, it looks like the entry to storage is behind the beam and it looks like the beam is nailed to the stud behind it. Am I seeing it right?
 
I really appreciate you guys helping me with this.
Here is another picture of the downstairs entry support structure. The horizontal beam that is attached to the 2x4 that goes all the way up in the half wall is not the same beam as the one in the half wall I want to cut. This beam is another support for the 2x4's that make up the front of the halfwall.

image.jpg
 
I think maybe this beam is supporting the halfwall above it? I don't know:confused:

image.jpg
 
Yes I fugured that out after my last post.
You said you added two 2x4s for the door way, as they didn't reach the bottom of the beam, they add no strength.
So this beam and lower wall have the a landing at the top of the stairs and the (what might be a closet over the area to the left)
There is a beam that runs joist under the top of the upper stairs. Can you ste a marker on the the upper floor showing where that beam is and take photo?
 
I have assumed we are on a landing in the first pictures, is this a splitlevel house and are we on the center level floor?
 
Correct. It's a split level. When you come into the front door you step on the support structure from the last few pictures. This is the entry way it's 4 ft above ground. The entry way is center level and the half wall is on that level. To the left is the set of stairs going down and right side goes up. So that beam from the last pictures is directly under the halfwall and attached to the 2x4 that runs from the top of the half wall down to the gound.
 
Bmattig said:
I think maybe this beam is supporting the halfwall above it? I don't know:confused:
Click to expand...

The new 2x4's do not appear to be supporting the beam since they aren't attached to it. Did you install those, they are clearly newer than the others in the picture. Not sure what they are doing, possibly nailers for drywall, but they certainly aren't structural.

In order to remove the end of the beam, since it doesn't appear to be supporting anything above it beyond the wall, I'd install a post down to the basement slab right at the point you want to cut it off. That would transfer the load down to the floor. The only question I'd have with that strategy is will the slab support the load since there probably isn't a footer there. It is probably just a 4" thick slab.
 
Okay.4 foot crawlspace where you have access to the bottom portion of that wall that faces the crawl space. I want to see the bottom of the end post and the concrete under the wall (FLOOR)
 
Just so you know my thinking. As this is a dividing line between the crawlspace and the basement, I am hoping there is a foundation wall (concrete). My fear is that they just did a peir support to carry this beam and all the weight above it.
 
i actually went ahead and remove the drywall from the from part of the half wall and discovered that this beam is only sitting on one 2x4 that goes down to the crawl space and sits on a footing

image.jpg
 
Your last photo tells the story, if this was an important beam it would have had two or three studs under the end. So this is just a normall wall and as such I would cut it off and add one stud under the cut end when your done.
 
I guess I should have removed ALL of the drywall to begin with. My bad! Thanks guys for looking at the pictures and helping me solve this beam puzzle.
 
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