Basement – How big of a beam for a load bearing wall

basementbeamload-bearing

I have a wall in my basement that is load bearing. Right now, they put a door opening in there (and probably overdid the header for it). I would like to remove a 7 foot section and open it up for a bit more storage.

I have been searching online, and most tell you how to do something like this, but not how big of a beam you'd need for a span of X feet. How do I figure something like that out?

wall with markings

Best Answer

When modifying load bearing walls and betting your house on the results, you are well served to hire a civil engineer to analyze the situation and tell you what will work, rather than guessing. It should not be terribly expensive.