Hi everyone, my name's Chuck. I'm newbie on this forum and I'm needing some advice on a paticular project I'm doing in my new/old retro house we just moved into.
In a nutshell what I want to do is replace a wall which supports ceiling joists from the coffered ceiling in the Living room and the adjacent dining room with an arched furr-down supported by columns. I'm going to try to find a nice Tuscn style column wrap. You can view the plans I've done to see what I'm talking about. The demo'd wall is dashd in red.
I know I'm gonig to have to have a beam supported by a column going across to what used to be the end of that wall.

Question.. can I use the upper part of existing wall construction (the top plate and upper vertical studs) to build a truss support and span say a new 2x10 (tying into the old contruction), all the way across to stiffen the truss. Would it be possible to beef up the end of that wall which is most likely(2) back to back 2x4s and have them perfom as the column?

Or is the right answer to demo everything in that wall but the top plate and use a 2x10 for the beam that will bear on a new 4x4 located at what used to be the end of the wall. Once I get everything supported correctly I can furr-out to what everything needs to be in order to look good. Take a look at my rendering to get an Idea of what I'm trying to do.
Any advice or direction would be appreciated.

Chuck

Demo - wall is dashed in red


Final


Rendering

 

You probably have to demo the entire wall, including the top place because chances are that you need a double or triple 2x10 or 2x12. That being said, you really should have an architect or structural engineer give you the exact design.

Build a temporary wall before you start.