After searching and reading every post here now, without becoming wiser, I am asking my own question...
We have bought a 1.5-story townhouse with a basement. (1978) In the basement, there is a load-bearing wall, and directly above it on the entrance floor, there is a similar wall. I want to remove this wall for an open-plan layout between the kitchen, dining room, and living room. The wall runs in the same direction as the roof trusses, so it only supports, as I understand, the upper floor with 3 bedrooms and a bathroom.
The house is built in Sikaflex (light concrete) according to the contractor, who has also been here and looked and made a structural calculation for which I paid 3700 SEK... then they went on vacation, and now I have been pondering a lot...
I have measured the wall to 8.4 meters,
The contractor wants to install an HE-B beam 180, supported by 3 VKR pipes 100x100 6.3mm (a center pillar) will this hold?
How would it be with a glulam beam given that a center pillar is needed? Can anyone answer that? Attaching a picture of the floor plan with measurements...
I hope that Justus can answer more thoroughly, but if you need a HE-B 180-beam, it will be a substantial glulam beam to replace it. The risk is that there might be issues with the ceiling height.
How does the load distribution look at the columns?
There are quite substantial point loads, perhaps reinforcement is needed on the floor below at the columns?
Yes.. I trust that a structural engineer has considered that when calculating it..? But I understand what you mean. I've thought the same thing... VKR tubes have sharp edges and will cut straight through the underlying wall in the basement... and is it enough to place plates under VKR for support?
If you wanted a house with an open floor plan, you should have bought a different house. This is a rather narrow and elongated house. You need to take advantage of its features. You must work with the house, not against it. Replacing large parts of the load-bearing wall on the ground floor with a beam on pillars is not well-considered, in my opinion. An 8.5 m long HEB 180 weighs nearly 1/2 ton and costs over 10000 SEK. It is a complicated undertaking to make such a renovation. Work through possible changes to the floor plan first.
I am thinking like this... instead of focusing on obstacles and what isn't well thought out... come up with solutions instead... everything can be solved! I want viable solutions that I can discuss with different builders and then make a decision based on the quotes I receive.
The kitchen is quite boringly placed, corridor-type and dark with daylight from adjacent rooms. One might consider that removing a load-bearing wall could provide better lighting. However, that would require redesigning the kitchen. Opening up the dining room to the hall doesn't help, only makes it worse. A realistic goal might be a beam replacement of up to 4 meters. The question is where it would be most beneficial.
The idea is that when we tear down the wall of 8.4 meters... and replace it with what I believe is best, a steel beam supported by 3 pillars, one of which is in the middle. We will demolish the existing kitchen, and where the fridge/freezer and cleaning cabinet are, they will be replaced with a kitchen island measuring 3x1.2 m, to achieve an open and bright layout, with light from the hall, kitchen, dining room, and living room. The fact that an 8m beam is heavy and costs quite a bit is acceptable since this entire vision transforms the whole house!
It is probably about a townhouse. Does the ridge run across the kitchen and stairs?
In that case, shouldn't the wall that is to be removed be a load-bearing wall? Or is there a drawing where it is clearly stated that the wall is load-bearing?
It would have been nice to see the rest of the description of the house, but having grown up in a 70s terraced house with a load-bearing structure of concrete, I would guess that the heart wall is load-bearing - the joists are likely resting on it.
Justus provides some of the most constructive and knowledgeable advice on this forum, so it's definitely worth considering whether the vision is possible (preferably before buying the house, of course). You can always change the vision.
For example, is it possible to swap the dining room and the upper bedroom in the picture and open a smaller section, about 4 meters, between the new dining area and the living room?
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