What we take on · Tampa, FL
Walls and beams
Opening a kitchen into the room beside it is an engineering job before it is a building job. Whether that wall carries anything decides the beam, the permit and most of the cost, and it is not a thing anybody should settle by knocking on it.
From wall to opening
- 01Find out what the wall is doingWhether it carries load is read from the framing, not from anybody's opinion in the room.
- 02Have it engineeredA structural engineer specifies the beam and stamps the drawing the permit is issued against.
- 03Permit itOurs to file and wait on, dated on the plan as a stage of its own.
- 04Shore, cut and set the beamThe load is carried on temporary posts while the wall comes out and the beam goes up in its place.
- 05Close it and make it vanishFlush or dropped, then made good so the space reads as one room.
Questions about removing a wall
How do I know if a wall is load bearing?
From what runs above it and how the house is framed, never from how solid it feels under a knuckle. This is the one item on this page where being wrong is dangerous rather than expensive.
Can the beam be hidden in the ceiling?
Sometimes. It depends on the depth the span demands against the depth the ceiling has to give. The engineer settles it, and the answer changes how the finished room reads.
Do we need a permit to take a wall out?
For a structural one, yes, with a stamped drawing behind it. An unpermitted beam stays invisible until the house is sold, and then it is the seller's problem.
The weeks and the number, then the work.
An hour in your kitchen, then a drawing, a dated calendar and one figure with every line shown.