Can anyone tell me what these ceiling tiles are made of?

Hello, I'm new to this forum and am seeking some advice/suggestions for purchasing and installing the proper sized LVL beam for a 23'4" wall opening. I just purchased a 35 yr old ranch home and am completely remodeling and renovating the inside. I want to remove a load bearing wall between the kitchen and living room. The length of the opening is 23'4". This is a ranch home, so nothing but an empty old unused attic, 2x6 ceiling joists, sheetrock, insulation, and roof up there. The top of the roof is about 5.5' above the ceiling joists. 2x6 rafters with collar ties attached to every other rafter in the top 3rd of the attic space. The wall i want to remove is exactly in the center of the house running in the length of the house direction (the house is longer than this wall) There is a metal I-beam that runs directly under this wall in the basement that does run the whole length of the house. The basement is broken up into 3rds, one is full basement, while the other two are 3-4' high crawl space. The ends of the 23'4" span fall directly over the cinderblock foundation dividers between the three basement divisions. So plenty of support underneath this beam in the basement. I'll add more support under the new posts as well. The beam will need to support 13'5" of space on either side. So essentially 24' long by 13'5" wide areas of space. Again, only thing above is just the 2x6 ceiling joists, sheetrock, and empty attic that's not being used for storage. The 2x6 ceiling joists are currently sistered together overtop of the load bearing wall. Rather than cutting them, I'm thinking about keeping them intact, and sliding the 24' LVL beam above them into place, using 4x6 posts on either side as support, and attaching the connecting joists to the beam with THA218 hangers. I don't care if the beam sticks up high in the attic, its not used for storage. I just want the ceiling to be seamless in the main area between the kitchen and living room. Since the beam will most likely be wider than the 2x4 plate being used below the ceiling joists, i think i can attach the hangers without having to remove the load bearing wall. Once the beam is in place and attached, I'll then take apart the existing wall and close up the ceiling with sheetrock. What do you think of this approach, and what sized beam do you think I'll need? I was suggested by someone that a 5.25" x 14" x 24' LVL beam would be good for this job with very little to none deflection. Are blind headers used often over spans like this in ceilings? Will those hangers hold up fine? I've attached a diagram of the foundation of the home and the location the beam will be. Thanks for any suggestions. _mike

My livingroom has a see through window in the interior wall between the livingroom and entry way. My walls are sheetrock and wallpaper. The window is probably 4 x 2. I'd like to remove it and make this a solid wall but how do I do that? What I mean is, how do I make that part of the wall match the rest of the wall? I'm not sure I can find the same the wall paper. I thought about tearing out the window and sheetrock, putting up new sheetrock and covering it in that airstone stick on stone but I really don't want a rock/stone wall there either. Ideas?