Interior Column's

larrylwill · 07-26-2009, 02:00 AM

I am remolding the Living room. It is 32ft wide and 20ft deep. 1/2 of it used to be a porch so 1/2 the floor is plywood and the other is cement with tile. Now there is carpet over it. Later I will replace it with laminate. I just finished replacing the window wall with bigger LoE windows 1-6x5' 1-5x5' 1-6x5' 1-3' door and 1-4x5' window.

Across the middle of the room is a beam made from 2- 2 x 12's with a 1 x 12 in between. So its 3"x12"x30' meaning the beam stops about 1ft from the wall on each end. A 6" column 10" from each end that holds the beam and another in the middle of the beam center of the LR.
There was a small 1' wall on each end that did nothing but further divide the room. I removed the small walls. Now I want to move the columns to the end of the beam and replace them with a less obtrusive column. If I had the money I would replace the whole thing with a steal beam wall to wall.
The house is a 1 story rancher. The column's now are 8" hollow wood. How can I figure out the size of the column's I need, they bear the roof? I am also conceding 3 loly columns with a wood shell maybe 4" fluted. I need Ideas.

________________BEAM_______________________
......column ............. column.............. column......

Aggie67 · 07-26-2009, 09:24 AM

Can you sketch the room? Not sure if I interpret your description correctly. Was there a wall between original living room and the porch? How old is the house, and where do you live? One of the concerns I have is shear capacity.

Example:

32' side
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ----
x................................................x
x................................................x old porch section
x................................................x
x................................................x
x.cbbbbbbbbbbbbbcbbbbbbbbbbbbbc.x 20' side
x................................................x
x................................................x
x................................................x orig bldg section
x................................................x
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ----
x................................................x
x................................................x
x................................................x
x................................................x rest of house
x................................................x
x................................................x
x................................................x
x................................................x
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

larrylwill · 07-26-2009, 01:17 PM

Here is a rough sketch and some pictures. The house is about 70ft long so the ends are cut off in the sketch.
The house is 1962. The slab portion is about 4' off the ground and was supported by a 4" block wall around the perimeter and 2 columns. I have had additional support of double 8" blocks (16") columns every 4' (21 of them) after an outer footing was found broken.
I believe there was a wall at the beam but not sure because it is inside the brick house. However this could be wrong. There is another porch that is now a sun room. I plan on removing the glass room and making it just a porch.
The peak of the house roof runs parallel to the Fireplace and the beam in the middle. About where the word WoodFloor is.
I do know that everything on the inside of the beam is 3/8" wall board and old lumber and everything from the slab to the outer brick is 1/2 wallboard, bead board and new dementional lumber. I think the changes were done in the 70's That was also when the attached garage was made into the Master BR.
I have since replaced the bead board with wall board.

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p...GlassPorch.jpg
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p...ylwill/LR1.jpg
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p...ylwill/LR2.jpg
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p...ylwill/LR3.jpg
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p...ill/gables.jpg

Aggie67 · 07-26-2009, 02:09 PM

You should have it looked at. Among other things:
1. whether the shear capacity of the facade with all of the windows is sufficient. (Strong winds tend to push a building sideways, with the top of the walls moving with the roof, and the bottom obviously anchored to the slab/foundation. Sections of wall on each facade are normally left without windows - and reinforced - to act as shear walls to resist shear forces.)
2. whether or not moving the columns out to the ends of the beam is going to exceed the beam's maximum span.

larrylwill · 07-26-2009, 03:05 PM

There was already windows in there. They were aluminum triple thick double pane plane glass and setting on the brick veneer instead of the house frame. They were not even touching the beam above them in some places. Lots of caulk. No insulation in the wall. When I removed the bead board I could see outside beside the windows. not sealed on the ends. I re framed the windows and moved the frame to the house foundation. I replaced them with LowE double pane tempered DP50 separated by a 2x4 in 2 places and added 2 more 2x4 at the ends. That beam is the same as the other one. I have already been down that road.

Now the beam in the LR is already there and the columns are there, I have no Idea as to the strength of the columns, I want to move them only about 6" out but later I want to replace them with a different stronger column. a 4" Jack Post holds 9 tons. I would think 3 of these would hold up more than the 3- 8" hollow wood columns.
The posts are 13' apart I want to make them 13' 6"'