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Building Homes or Extensions/Load Bearing Wall - Respacing/Removing Studs

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Expert: - 4/28/2010


Question
Hi Bruce,

We are hoping to open up the wall between our kitchen and family room. We do not want to remove the wall completely.  We have removed the drywall and found that there are doubled up Studs and there are single studs. The wall is for sure load bearing. I am just wondering if I can remove the single studs, and how many can be removed without comprimising the structure of the house and the best way to do that.  I believe the wall is about 8 or 9 feet long.

Answer

opening
Hi Teresa, if you are sure the wall is load bearing you are better off installing a header in the wall to support the load above. A rule of thumb for the header size is for every foot of width you need one inch of height.  In other words if you are making a four foot opening then you will need a double 2x4 header, a six foot opening a double 2x6 header etc.  I am enclosing a simple drawing to illustrate.  I hope this information helps, please feel free to write again regarding this or other matters, sincerely bruce e johnson..bejohnsonconsulting.com  

Bruce E. Johnson

Expertise

I can answer any construction related question in regards to carpentry, concrete, drywall, masonry, structural elements of any type of building, residential or commercial. Interior or exterior.

Experience

Custom Commercial and residential buildings. Churches, theaters, schools and auditoriums. Most recently I am working with the Catholic Church on several design build committees. I have a website related to scheduling and project supervision. Although my expertise is more related to multimillion dollar commercial, educational and theatrical projects my generous credentials in residential and remodelling construction make me a viable source of information regarding all forms of building questions.

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