What loads are considered for a floor? It's about a basement room with a living room above, and we need to replace a load-bearing wall in the basement that runs halfway along the room length with a beam that spans the entire length instead. The load-bearing partition wall likely only supports the slab cast for the fireplace in the living room above, as the other half of the floor from the partition wall to the load-bearing room wall has the same dimensions as the remaining floor joists in the room, which extends the full width of the room without a mid-support.
In the image, the green lines are the floor joists which I haven't been able to determine the exact dimension of but appear to be around 200x25, a more precise measurement will be made when I can expose a bit more. The room is approximately 370x320, the partition wall is 185 long. The green square is the fireplace slab that is cast together with the outer walls and the partition wall.
Since we want to remove the partition wall, we also need to knock down the concrete slab it supports (so the fireplace, which we don't miss, will go as well), and after much discussion on how to proceed, we've concluded that the best way is to place a beam along the middle of the room to support the entire floor, whether it's needed or not.
We want the beam to be up in the floor if possible since the ceiling height in the room is already low, so the plan is to place the beam on the floor, support the floor on either side of where the beam will go, cut out for the beam in each load-bearing line, lift the beam to its new position, support it at both ends where it is to sit, and then lay the floor in shoes on both sides of the beam.
Here, the red line is the beam, and the blue lines are the new lines replacing the slab that the fireplace stood on.
I have knowledge of calculating things, but it usually involves machinery movement and steel details. I don't know building techniques, but an IPE or HE steel beam that I weld shoes on to "lay" the board ends in is my idea. Holes in the sides of the shoes to screw boards and shoes together.
Is this crazy?
If not, I'd like to know what load I should calculate for the floor and if anyone has opinions on the execution. It would be nice to have a sturdy sofa group and gather the whole family in the living room without the festivities ending in a pile of wood in the new bathroom that will be underneath
