Expert: Dan Griffin - 11/8/2011

Question
I have a "lean-to" great room that was just built onto the side of my home.  The great room is 6 years old, the home is 112 years old.  I want to remove the original exterior wall, exposing the kitchen into the great room.  The wall is double brick, and two stories tall.  i would only like to remove the brick to expose the first floor.  the wall is about 8 to 10 feet in length by about 8 feet high... what process must i follow and how can i support the large of an opening?  Thank you and i hope I explained it clearly.

Jordan

Answer
Jordan,

YOu will need to create a header that can carry the loads above the opening.  This will require a study of the loads involved including floors above and roof in addition to the weight of the overhead masonry.  The header beam will need to be large enough to carry the loads and the bearing ends of the beam will need to transfer the loads to adequate footings/foundation to deal with the point loads.  In the process of installing the header beam and columns, the overhead loads will need to be shored up to carry them while the hole is being created.

YOu give me the impression that this is a masonry bearing structure that does not have wood framing carrying the loads.  This is a bit unusual so will need to be verified.  This is certainly a project that will require the services of a structural engineer to design the beam, columns, and bearings.  He should be able to indicate possible shoring and pinning details to create the opening.

I hope this gives you a reasonable point of beginning.