The bottom floor of our home consists of 3 bedrooms, a kitchen, a full bath, utility room and a large open space. The open space used to be 2 bedrooms that were removed by the previous owner. They had to leave a couple of posts to support the structure above.

We use the space as a recording studio and for parties enjoying the pool table. We needed to be able to open the space, move the pool table to the side and make room for musicians.

One post we easily removed but the other was supporting a 20 foot span of the main floor above. To fix this we needed some engineering help from the professionals. I spoke with an architect then called Husky Lumber in Franklin, Tn. They were able to price me a beam solution that would be more than enough to cover whatever crazy party of people we might ever have in the living room above.

The post colored red needed to go!

Fortunately I have strong friends. It took us an hour to get the first of the twin beams in place. The second took only 15 minutes... because after almost dropping the first beam and being crushed....we had the process figured out. I did actually have a rope holding this beam though it looks like my friends are doing all the work! They would tell you the rope was for show only.

And finally the beams are installed!

The resulting beams sandwiched together are 8 inches thick. The next step was drilling a few holes through 8 inches of wood to run some wire through. After the ceiling tiles were put back in place I was able to move things around in the studio area without those pesky poles! Look at the before photos to see the way we opened up the room.

Before and after

And after

This shows the post as it connects to the next level above. When these beams arrived by truck they were HEAVY! I could have rented a beam lift to help get them into place. Noooooo. I had other ideas that would save money. I should have rented the beam lift!

Before I could install the beams I had to cut slots for them next to the existing 2x10 beams. The photo below shows the space to the right of the existing beams ready for the new beams.

There is still plenty to do but being able to use the open space is amazing.