Support for the New Kitchen

May 18, 2013. We're in the middle of a kitchen remodel. The most important part of the job -- what makes it a complex procedure -- is the replacement of a load-bearing wall with two twenty-foot-long support beams. these are made of engineered wood called "Micro-laminate" or micro-lams.

Here is a picture I posted on PhotoBucket:


The micro-lams are 2" by 20", and there are two of them. The original wall sat about where the center house jack is on this photo. You can see the double joists where the top of the wall used to be. Once the wall was removed, the house was jacked up about 3". Before, the house was supported by two 2X6 wood beams. These might have been adequate (barely) if they ran from foundation to foundation (across the photo above). In fact, they were installed as two different pieces that joined up at the old wall.

So, in fixing all this, the old beams were jacked up until they were even with the bottom of the micro-lams (which do span from foundation to foundation). Then the inadequate 2" by 6" beams were bolted onto the micro-lams.

After the weekend, the support jacks and the boards they connect to will be removed and we will have one room where there was two. Hopefully.

This shows the other side of that photo:
 

Actually, the micro-lams, at 2 X 20 are quite a bit of overkill. The guys working this project believe the engineer who made this recommendation was being exceptionally conservative. They have done similar jobs with support beams that are half that size. But, it's better to be safe than sorry. Now I know where to stand in an earthquake!


And, I'll post one more view of the kitchen as it stands this weekend. There's more in photobucket.