I have a house where I want to open up a part of a load-bearing wall and would like some input on whether the construction can handle it and suggestions for a good solution.
It is a semi-detached house on two floors built in the year 2000. In the wall where the opening will be made, there is a wall approximately 3.7 m with a doorway and then there is an open part about 3 m with a pillar. The load in the open part is supported by a glulam beam 90 x 225 mm which I want to extend to replace the load-bearing capacity of the part of the wall being removed. The extension will be either 1.2 or 1.6 m, depending on what the construction can handle.
I am attaching a picture of the first floor (where the change happens) with the options drawn in (original beam in red, new beam (1.2 or 1.6 m) in green, and existing wall (2 or 2.4 m) kept in blue. I am also attaching a PDF with explanations/type details, plan 1, plan 2, intermediate floor, and roof trusses, so maybe some kind soul can get an idea and make suggestions for a solution. Worth mentioning is that there is a masonite beam 2.4 m from the outer wall which, in the first option (1.2 m extension), ends up above where the beam ends and can thus be supported by the beam's pillar, while in the second option (1.6 m extension), it hangs in the air 0.4 m from the new beam's pillar. All this can be seen in the drawings, but I imagine that's where the crux lies, i.e., whether the joint can support the load 0.4 m from the pillar or not. There are probably other factors to consider that I've missed, where I hope you friendly forum members can assist with your expertise.
My hope is that the 90 x 225 mm beam can be extended with another 90 x 225 mm beam, 1.6 m long, to get as large an opening as possible. I've read around and some advocate for nail plates, while others suggest nail-gluing longer pieces of construction plywood or similar over the joint. Please feel free to suggest jointing methods as well.
For the drawings, I can mention it is "House 36" and "type B1" to look at, where other options are available.
