Structural Repairs: How to un-butcher a house

Load Bearing Walls

It is possible to remove load-bearing walls, as long as the load is carried by some other means (usually by a beam). The previous owner of our house did not understand that basic concept, and thought it okay to remove studs to put in doorways, cut top plates to run plumbing, and simply remove walls without paying any attention to the structure.

Weakened structure

The problem: Studs were removed from a load-bearing wall so a doorway could be inserted. In the same wall, part of the top plate was removed for the plumbing vent stack.

The solution: As part of our overall renovation, an even larger section of the wall was removed. It was replaced by a beam comprised of two 2x10s which now carry the load. The plumbing was re-routed. An accurately sized hole was drilled through the top plate so the vent stack could run through it. The wall was reinforced with additional studs which helped to level the joists above. The load is carried by the foundation block walls and one of the new stud walls in the basement.

Compensating for a removed structural wall

The Problem: In creating a larger master bedroom, the previous owner removed a load-bearing wall-- an error that could have had very serious consequences. He should have installed a beam to carry the load, but instead he just left the top plate of the wall in place, which sagged by close to an inch over the years. Oddly, he built a lower ceiling using a framework of 2x4s and drywall. The 2x4s were installed below the level of the top plate--I guess so the ceiling was all the same height-- so he could have replaced the top plate with a 2x8 beam without sacrificing any head room at all. Likely a beam of 2x10's would have been required for this span, but even that would have only protruded a couple of inches below the lower ceiling.

Solution: The obvious solution would have been to use jacks to raise the sagging top plate back up to level and restore the stud wall below it. But we had in our grubby little hands architectural drawings that changed the floor plan of this area yet again. A wall was to be built a few feet from where the original wall had been, so rather than install a beam and build a wall, the contractors completely changed how the load of the second floor is carried. The new wall has been moved several feet and features a steel I-beam supported by jack posts that sit over the block foundation on one side and a block basement partition wall on the other side. This is our new load-bearing wall. New joists were installed between this wall and the other wall detailed above. The result is structure that is extremely strong.

More structural reinforcement: the second floor hallway

Meanwhile, in the hallway, we learned some more secrets of the house's past which revealed more inadequate structure. The upper hallway is open, overlooking the stairs. Where there should be a beam supporting the second floor joists across the stair opening, there was only two 2x4s which appear to have been a top plate at one time as the stud locations were clearly marked. Apparently, the staircase is not original to the house. If I had to guess, I would assume that access to the attic had been achieved via retracting attic stairs, and the proper stair case was installed at a later date.

The contractors installed an angle iron to reinforce the top plate, giving it the structural strength to properly support this span.

The structural repairs detailed here are presented in the order of their completion. Restoring the underlying structure of this house started shortly after we moved in (2003) and continued to the Spring of 2009. Considering our "home inspection" focused solely on structure and apparently revealed no issues, we were completely blindsided by the scope of the repairs that were necessary. The cost of the repairs was folded in with the cost of extensive renovations that have enhanced the value of our house. However, had it not been for the structural issues, we would not have had to renovate so extensively. It is far easier and much less expensive to do things right the first time. A few hundred dollars worth of lumber would have saved tens of thousands of dollars worth of demolition and construction.