Structural Wall Removal - Ottawa
- Dave - 360renos
- Sep 4, 2017
- 2 min read
An Ottawa home owner couple wanted a wall removed between their kitchen and dining room to make an open, airy space between the two rooms. As part of the kitchen renovation project the structural wall was to be removed and any mechanical systems re-located.
We hired an engineering firm to complete our required drawings and notes which were then submitted to The City of Ottawa with an application for a building permit.
360renos removed the kitchen cabinets, flooring and drywall on the structural wall. Installed two temporary walls on either side of the structural wall while it was being removed.
We re-located two HVAC ducts for the second floor and re-routed the electrical to new locations. Then we installed an LVL structural beam with the necessary posts at each end
The engineering report called for a new tele-post almost directly beside the existing post and the reason for this was this home that was built in the 40's had an old train track rail as an I beam for support and the engineering team just could be certain if this old rail would hold the two stories of housing load. Our new tele-post was directly under main floor LVL post to ensure all weight was carried down to the footing. We opened the slab basement floor to install a new footing when we found a cast iron drain line exactly where our footing was required to be located. Our plumbing team re-routed the drain line and we were able to pour the footing. We installed a tele-post on the footing and we were able to fill in the hole with crushed stone and new cement.
Temporary walls removed, City of Ottawa Building Inspection completed of the new 13' LVL beam and end posts supporting the 2nd story of the home
Time for the team to start drywall mudding, painting then start the installation of the new kitchen cabinetry. We took the time to replacate the original arches in the openings to maintain the look of the new space with the remainder of the home.
Dave
360renos Inc.
Really enjoyed working through this post — it's clear you put genuine thought into it. It's easy to overlook the basics, and you did a good job reminding readers why they matter. I shared a few of my own takeaways on this at blazeswaper.com as well, in case it's relevant.
Well written and easy to digest, which is honestly rare for a topic like this one. I think the part about avoiding common mistakes will save people a lot of wasted effort. There's a complementary piece I wrote about this at folksfinance.org that adds a bit more context.
I keep coming back to posts like this because they're genuinely useful rather than filler. Your point on measuring progress properly is something I genuinely wish I'd grasped sooner. I expanded on a couple of these points in my own write-up over at usualmoney.net recently.
You've explained this better than most of the longer guides I've seen floating around. There's a clarity here that comes from doing the thing, not just reading about it. If anyone wants to dig a little deeper, I put together some related notes over at portalbridges.com.
Thanks for laying this out so clearly; it actually made a few things click for me. I hadn't considered the angle you raised in the second half, and it's a fair point. I touched on the same subject from a different perspective at alt-layer.com a little while back.