Expert: Bruce E. Johnson - 2/15/2009

Question
I have a Ranch home built in 1975.  My floor joist go only half the distance of the home and are match with another floor joist in the middle.  These are supported by 2 2x4s with a wall under them.  I have an opening at the bottom of my stairs to the basement between the 2 halfs of the house that is 37in and has 2 2x12 (which seems overkill to me).  I want to make the opening 53in. How much support do I need or do I need any?  Right now the 2x12s give me about 6 ft of clearnace.  Could metal give me more headroom or can I just put supports on sides of the opening and remove the header altogether?

Answer
Hi Greg, normally a rule of thumb is one inch of depth per foot of span for supporting beams.  Which means that a double 2x6 should be enough for the 53" span unless there is some sort of concentrated load in this area that I am not aware of.   I hope this information helps feel free to write again regarding this or other matters, sincerely bruce e johnson..bejohnsonconsulting.com