So there is a door in our hallway, and another opening down further. I looked in the attic and the rafters run parallel to the header in the picture below. The room to the right has nothing on the opposite wall, the room to the left has a wall that lines up with this header. Wife wants this completely gone, which I know I really should hire someone to determine that. Another option would be to get rid of the header and go up to where the 2 x 4s are running across the hall, give the hall more height here, but I would really need to get the side walls flush to the hall, which I can see the studs holding the header probably aren't doing anything as there is a gap on the verticals above the header. But the studs going to the top 2x4's may be carrying load. Wondering if I can put a couple 2x4's under this horizontal ones but in the side walls? Any thoughts, or recommendations. You can see the other one down the hall further, nothing in line with it on either side.
