planner101
Member
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2013
- Messages
- 15
- Reaction score
- 2
Hiya,
Before anything is said, I don't have direct access to house right now because I'm in the annoying process of buying it from the bank(foreclosure).
Also, I plan on asking the inspector which are load bearings and which are not.
Here is the "floorplan" with estimations on where walls are(brown walls are beams.. white lines are walls, black lines represent doorways, green rectangle is a kitchen peninsula)..
When you first walk in, you walk into what used to be a foyer hallway.. previous owners took down two walls separating the foyer hall and kitchen from the living room. The brown lines are typical headers. They kept the walls defining the dinning room, which has doorways.. the doorways go into living room and kitchen.
I do like open floor plans, but in this house it's a little annoying they decided to tear those walls down because I don't have much usable wall space to put pictures or even a TV on. The wall in front of the house has really big windows so theres no space to put a tv on there.
My plans are to put the wall back up to separate the foyer and add closets along that wall(for linen, coats,etc)...
I would like the open the doorway more where the dinning room and living room meet to create a better flow and allow more light to pass through all rooms.
Same thing with where the wall separating the kitchen and dinning room are.. to open up that space.
This is where I don't know... because there's already a beam that runs parallel to kitchen.. I'm pretty sure the wall separating the kitchen and dinning room is load bearing... now what I can't figure out(which, I know only viewing the attic will tell me for sure) is if the wall separating the dinning and living room is load bearing. I'm thinking no, but since there is a beam that runs parallel to it, I'm starting to think maybe it is. (its a one story home no basement).
I want to take Wall 1(separating dining and living room), and open up the doorway into a shallow arch.
And Wall 2(separating kitchen and dining room), and either take out the wall(and put in a beam that is not visible) or open up the doorway making another shallow arch.
Finally my questions:
I would like some input as to cost of labor, materials, pros would be if I took out wall 2 completely vs putting in an arch? When I hire a contractor... does he do his own independent research to find out about the header.. or do I need to hire out an engineer?(I'm sure it varies from contractor, but usually what happens)?
I also just thought about seeing if a beam could be placed in the attic(not sure of the name)... so that way when I'm sure of what I want I can do whatever(either take whole wall down or make a shallow arch). If I were to do this... do call a general contractor or an engineer? And do engineers install this beam? Or do I need to hire a contractor for installation?
Hope you were able to follow along.. thanks!
Before anything is said, I don't have direct access to house right now because I'm in the annoying process of buying it from the bank(foreclosure).
Also, I plan on asking the inspector which are load bearings and which are not.
Here is the "floorplan" with estimations on where walls are(brown walls are beams.. white lines are walls, black lines represent doorways, green rectangle is a kitchen peninsula)..
When you first walk in, you walk into what used to be a foyer hallway.. previous owners took down two walls separating the foyer hall and kitchen from the living room. The brown lines are typical headers. They kept the walls defining the dinning room, which has doorways.. the doorways go into living room and kitchen.
I do like open floor plans, but in this house it's a little annoying they decided to tear those walls down because I don't have much usable wall space to put pictures or even a TV on. The wall in front of the house has really big windows so theres no space to put a tv on there.
My plans are to put the wall back up to separate the foyer and add closets along that wall(for linen, coats,etc)...
I would like the open the doorway more where the dinning room and living room meet to create a better flow and allow more light to pass through all rooms.
Same thing with where the wall separating the kitchen and dinning room are.. to open up that space.
This is where I don't know... because there's already a beam that runs parallel to kitchen.. I'm pretty sure the wall separating the kitchen and dinning room is load bearing... now what I can't figure out(which, I know only viewing the attic will tell me for sure) is if the wall separating the dinning and living room is load bearing. I'm thinking no, but since there is a beam that runs parallel to it, I'm starting to think maybe it is. (its a one story home no basement).
I want to take Wall 1(separating dining and living room), and open up the doorway into a shallow arch.
And Wall 2(separating kitchen and dining room), and either take out the wall(and put in a beam that is not visible) or open up the doorway making another shallow arch.
Finally my questions:
I would like some input as to cost of labor, materials, pros would be if I took out wall 2 completely vs putting in an arch? When I hire a contractor... does he do his own independent research to find out about the header.. or do I need to hire out an engineer?(I'm sure it varies from contractor, but usually what happens)?
I also just thought about seeing if a beam could be placed in the attic(not sure of the name)... so that way when I'm sure of what I want I can do whatever(either take whole wall down or make a shallow arch). If I were to do this... do call a general contractor or an engineer? And do engineers install this beam? Or do I need to hire a contractor for installation?
Hope you were able to follow along.. thanks!