We hired a contractor as this project was way beyond our DIY skill set. Our contractor worked closely with an engineer at a local lumber yard to create an LVL (laminated veneer lumber) beam specific to our roof pitch, room dimensions and length of span. Like I said, waaaayyyy-haaay-haaay beyond our skill set.
An LVL beam is constructed of multiple layers of thin wood held together by adhesive. This allows for a smaller yet stronger structural support when compared to a solid wood beam.
LVL Beam in Dana's house from House*Tweaking
I figured it was time to consult with a lumber company. Our designer, Julie, recommended Sudbury Lumber, so Maura made an appointment, and off we went.
We met with Anthony and described what we wanted to do. I had sent him the plan and some mark-ups that I had done. We didn't have an issue with the end of the beam that would be supported at the wall with the fireplace, adjacent to the garage, because the column that would hold up that end would sit on the concrete foundation. The tricky part would be the other end, between the kitchen and living room, because that would be centered over the hallway, and we couldn't really have a column smack dab in the middle of the hallway.
Anthony marked up our plan to show us what we would need to do.
Anthony also provided a sketch of how the beam should be supported so that the load is transferred properly.
If you notice the green highlight, it shows as a doubled floor joist. Ugh. This was going to be an issue since, as I said, we have a finished basement with a suspended ceiling. I had to do some investigation to see how difficult this was going to be. I was hoping that I could at least handle doubling up a couple of floor joists.
After removing a few ceiling tiles in the basement, here is what I found, minus the green and purple items as those would be new.
I partly lucked out because I discovered that there already was a set of doubled-up floor joists at the edge of the stairwell. Since the floor joists overlap the main beam, I couldn't have doubled-up floor joists directly across from the ones adjacent to the stairwell. I figured that I could add one shown in green. This would result in an angled header, shown in purple, but it ended up being directly over a support column. Luckily, again, there were doubled-up vertical 2x4s at the corner of the stairwell to support one side of the header. I would have to add a doubled-up 2x4 in the wall across from the stairwell. This wouldn't be bad because I would have to open up that wall, anyway.
Once I got the plan marked up as shown above, I forwarded to Anthony at Sudbury Lumber to get his stamp of approval. He said that it should be fine. He then ran his calculations on some software, and everything passed. Our 2-ply, 14-inch LVL beam ended up being 18 feet long. All of the lumber needed to for the structural work, including the design services, tax, and delivery, cost $463. Not bad.
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