so, just bought our first home and would like to open up kitchen by removing half of wall and adding breakfast bar. my question is how do i approach this project? in the pictures i added i show the area i want to remove. the house has vaulted ceilings and in one picture with an arrow showing, is that part some kind of support beam? can i still cut wall if i leave that support? and do i need to add a thicker support? the one there seems kinda thin. any advise would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.

 

Is this a manufactured home?
Look under the floor and see if there some form of support all the way to the ground for that support.
Any of that wall with no support above it can go.

 

No its not a manufactured home. And what do you mean look under floor.

 

The carpenters will be around shortly Roberto. From my experience is that support is just to give the wall lateral support. That little tiny 2x4 I dont think is holding the roof up...

But wait for a few of the pros to come on and give you a definitive answer.

 

Roberto, welcome to the forums! Do you have access below? Say a basement or crawlspace? What we need to know if there is a wall running under this wall parallel to it. If so, weight is carried from that post to the footing. In all likelihood, since there are no other supporting members, the one you have there is just holding your 3/4 wall from falling over. It is definitely a diy project, BUT with that comes the caution to enlist the services of a structural engineer for a few hundred bucks to be on site and give his blessings to remove such a support. As you say, the support is spindly and doesn't look very vertically supportive, but it is always a good idea to be on the safe side, especially when we aren't there. Also, there is the contingency of the bar sized wall being unstable on that end should you remove that vertical support, so keep that in mind. If you were to leave that support in place and shorten your wall, it will have stability and you would not need further investigation as the wall itself is non supportive.

Keep us posted on the progress as it looks like an interesting one.

 

well finally decide to go ahead with the project. the post that i was worried about ended up just being a support for the wall. it was just two 2x4 put together, nothing bad. her is some updated pics. getting ready to sand down and texture wall. also getting ready to paint walls on living room and kitchen. still working on the counter top, i will keep y'all posted.