Demo & Framing The Affected Area

There was a lot of demo involved with this project. We filled a 30yd dumpster in no time. We began by removing the existing kitchen base cabinets and wall cabinets. The only real consideration when demoing the cabinets was the plumbing service to the sink and dishwasher (all appliances had already been removed). Most customers are not interested in trying to save old cabinets, which is good for us (saves time) and for the customer (saves money). So into the dumpster went the old cabinets.

Next we removed the existing flooring in the 2 affected rooms: the kitchen, and the dining room. The existing kitchen had a linoleum floor with a 1/4″ plywood underlayment. We removed the linoleum and underlayment at the same time, not only is it easier that way, but also we would be installing a new 1/2″ plywood underlayment that would cover both rooms. The dining room had a hardwood floor that was actually in beautiful shape, however it didn’t fit with the new design so it also went into the dumpster. We did save some of the old hardwood flooring to be used when tying together the remodeled kitchen and dining room with the existing living room.

After the old flooring and cabinets were removed, it was time to move on to getting rid of the two walls that separated the kitchen from the dining room and lining room. One of the walls was structural and the other was not. In order to remove the structural wall we framed a temporary wall on the living room side of the structural wall to be removed. This temp wall supported the living room ceiling joists (remember we removed the kitchen & dining room ceiling joists to create the cathedral ceiling) and any additional load on them, while we removed the structural wall and installed a laminated beam to replace it, along with a laminated post that would transfer some of the load down to an existing, appropriately sized beam in the basement. Here is a picture of before the walls were removed, and here is one of after the beam was installed and the project is completed.

Now that the laminated beam was in place it was time to frame the cathedral ceiling. If you look at the picture you will notice that the existing roof rafters are on the left and the new ones are on the right. Notice how the new rafters span from the midpoint of the existing rafters to the newly installed beam on the right, transfering the load quite nicely. The framing isn’t 100% complete in this picture but its close, we still need to add the collar ties to the new cathedral ceiling as well as some strapping for the sheetrock.

The round-top window is also all framed up, as you will notice. Although still there in this picture, the existing wallboard you see to the left and right of the window will be replaced. We also installed a laminated header to carry the load over the window.

If you are interested in more information on load bearing walls, here is another article that focuses particularly on identifying their location in your house.