We have a short wall in our kitchen perpendicular to an exterior wall. Our original plan with the builder specified the wall should be no longer than 30″ in order to accommodate an adjacent full size refrigerator. However someone missed the memo and put in a 42″ wall with a beam on it. The beam spans ~11 feet to an internal wall. My first impression was to just shorten the wall – no big deal.
Based on the images I am seeing (building the house from 1800 miles away) it looks like the beam ends about 3′ from the exterior wall – which means they need to either shift the beam down (with additional support in the form of a partial wall on the far side) or they would need a longer beam. I guess my questions are 2 fold:
1. Should a beam like this extend out to the exterior wall? Other LVL beams in the structure all seem to tie into exterior walls on at least one end.
2. Is this fixable? It seems like it would be pretty expensive to make any adjustments here to move that partial wall back enough to accommodate the original kitchen design we paid for.
I attached 2 images to help with the explanation. The closeup shows the end of the dark colored LVL beam. The further away shot is from the opposite side.
Replies
The beam does not need to span the entire length, but there’s a point load that should be taken into account in floor below to transfer load properly.
It is fixable and good on you to bring it up now. It will become a lot more expensive and complicated for your contractor to alter later. Contractors really appreciate bringing things like this to their attention right away, so they don’t waste more time and $ later.
Check your paperwork. The plan you signed off on may have indicated the 42” wall. Often verbal communication is not recorded and forgotten. Need to go off of written record for everything. This is why I communicate with my clients via email and texts as much as possible.
You may actually want the extra space for fridge. I don’t know the specifics of your design, but you often need some room for finishes, door swings and air circulation for fridge to perform properly.
Thank you for the fast response!
I did double check our paperwork. In our original kitchen design signed off with the builder it actually called for a 24" wall. This would have allowed a counter-depth refrigerator to have the proper clearance to open the door. We later extended it to 30" because we decided counter-depth refrigerator tends to be a little small for hungry/growing families! That extension change was done through text. However it would seem someone missed both memos.
They initially pushed back this morning and told us we should just change our kitchen design to accommodate the mistake. However it is not exactly easy to rework a kitchen to move a refrigerator. This is not exactly the response I was expecting.
Based on what you are saying it seems the fix would be that the beam needs to be swapped out with a longer one. The longer beam could either just go to ~20" from the exterior wall assuming the right structure underneath (full basement) or it would need to extend to the exterior wall. I'm trying to reach the builder this morning to see if they agree with that (again building from 1800 miles away so can't go check)
Yes, you are correct with your structural statements. I would talk it out with your contractor. You should not have to re design your kitchen due to a mistake made by the contractor (or his sub). If the plans they worked off of indicated 2’ they are off. If they did not install to the dimension you requested they are off. If they did not receive the text it can be a bit complicated to resolve, but if that is the case the plan is calling for 2’ regardless, so they did not install as they should. It happens, sometimes the framer or contractor will make on the fly decisions (which are often for the better), but they are still legally obligated to follow the plans. If they find a problem or change they need to communicate that beforehand. They can’t make the change w/out talking to you first.
Stop a structural beam less than four feet from an exterior wall? A beam that only spans eleven feet? That's absolutely, completely, ridiculous. Make them do the job right.