Wall removal

Either one would suffice. However whomever you choose should have an architect or structural engineer sign off on the plans.
I worked for a bit with a friend who is a very skilled carpenter and we did a very similar job. Large home and they wanted the wall between to large rooms on the main level taken down. We drew our plans and then had the architect make any changes then away we went. We opened the side of the house to install the 22' glulam beam into place. Big job but we knew the upstairs bedrooms et al would not become main floor bedrooms! LOL.

Greg ✉
Oct '22

We did this in our 1930s Cape a few years ago. You'll definitely be required to have an architectt take a look at thing and draw up plans to give the town. Here's a couple of things to consider that we learned from experience. Depending on the age and construction style of your house things will almost certainly settle a bit. All of the door frames on our 1st floor that were parallel to the beam got all wonky. Had to cut them loose and reset them to get the doors to close cleanly. Also related to settling we had several cracks form in our plaster walls. We also had to have additional supports put into the basement where they lined up with the ends of the new beam. That meant cutting hole in the concrete floor and filling the empty space with solid concrete. Afterwards we noticed that our kitchen floor also had a little more bounce than previously. When the kids were running around things would rattle in the sink. We added another support column in the basement to fix that problem. We love the open space and we don't regret doing the project though it was a lot more than then we expected…. but I guess that's any renovation.

Chase ✉
Nov '22