Hall Way Door - Is this load bearing?

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infidex

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Hello,
I'm in the process of getting rid of the wood trim on the lower half of our hallway, and I'm at a point where I reached a door jam that is in an odd place in the hall. Wife doesn't really want a door here, would prefer the hallway to continue with out the step in for the door jam/door. I pull the door and framing off, and pulled off the sheetrock on one side of the header area. Question is, can I take this all down and make it so the walls and ceiling are continuous down the hall. There is another one part way down the hall. I need to go up in the attic, but I am pretty sure it run parallel to the rafter beams, there is nothing on the other side of the hall on the right, to the left there is a foyer and the foyer wall is in line with this one. Here are some pics, the small 2x4's above the header aren't even resting on the header.

EDIT.... Just went into attic, so if your looking at the first pic, the beams in attic run parallel to the header in this area. The wall on the left actually extends up into the attic an extra 2 feet because the rooms on the left side of the hallway are 2 foot taller ceilings.



 
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In case this helps, the red lines are the area where this hallway runs in our house, and the green arrow would be about where this door way is.

 
The header does indicate bearing and looking in the attic is the right proceedure. It looks from the outside that the building turns right at that point. You might find that the ceiling joist on one side sit on this. If thats the case it may be able to be moved. You would have to determin that the walls on each side of the door are also bearing. If they are you could move the beam up top and hang the joists on the side of it with hangers, evan on an angle they make hangers for that. If you have unfinished basement or crawl space, much can be learned about bearing points there. I suspect this wall is a contuation of wall in the rooms on each side of this hall and down stairs you might find a foundation wall.
Welcome to the site.
 
Ok, so here's a couple more pics, I want to think this is load bearing, but it doesn't have anything on the other side of one wall. The first pic below shows where this header would be if I went into the room on the right side of the hall pic above. The second pic is the other side, left of the hall from the main pic above. The hall does take a jog, but it is back a few feet, the second pic below is looking back at this header on the opposite side, where there is still sheet rock.



 
The header does indicate bearing and looking in the attic is the right proceedure. It looks from the outside that the building turns right at that point. You might find that the ceiling joist on one side sit on this. If thats the case it may be able to be moved. You would have to determin that the walls on each side of the door are also bearing. If they are you could move the beam up top and hang the joists on the side of it with hangers, evan on an angle they make hangers for that. If you have unfinished basement or crawl space, much can be learned about bearing points there. I suspect this wall is a contuation of wall in the rooms on each side of this hall and down stairs you might find a foundation wall.
Welcome to the site.

Thanks for the post, I put some more pics up to see if that helps. I do think it is load bearing, but the beams in the attic are running parallel, and there is nothing on one side of the hall where this is, the other side it is in line with a wall. House is on a slab, unfortunately not many basements here in Texas. There are not many vertical beams in the attic connecting the roof joists to the rafters, I guess I'm use to how houses are built in the North still, but down here we really don't build them to hold snow.
 
Looking at the pic, I can see why you are remodeling! The 1980's are calling and want to know where their old woodwork went!

From what you say, let me offer this: If the ceiling joists are parallel to the header, this is probably NOT bearing. Many times, headers are installed per plan in a doorway and are not necessarily bearing. HOWEVER, you need to be certain before removing it outright. Visual inspection in the attic should tell you all you need to know.

To be safe, after temporarily bracing the ceiling, you can remove the header and reinstall it in the attic using the hanger method described by Neal (my evil twin brother). This will re-tie the framing into a supported beam. Remember to carry the point load down to the slab by lengthening the jack stud so it contacts the new placement of the new header.

:D

HALLWAY.jpg
 
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