Opening up the kitchen in a 70s model, raised ranch, 5/12 hip roofed ranch. Standard floor plan. Kitchen and dining area occupy back right corner of main floor. Appears the wall that makes up the kitchen wall and hallway is load bearing. All the drywall is down and we are ready to replace the current ceiling joists (doubled as rafter ties every so often) with 1 3/4" x 9 1/2" x 12 1/2' LVL beams (husbands choice). We are going to extend the load bearing wall up to the rafters and tie in. Will use 2x4 collar ties in upper 3rd of rafters (won't be visible).

The question is are the LVL beams ok to use for rafter ties? Is there a special way they need to be tied to the load bearing interior and exterior walls? Since there is no load on the main part of the beam from joists, is it ok to have a beam span the 12 1/2' from exterior to interior wall? Primarily using that size instead of the standard 2x6 for aesthetics but want to ensure its structurally sound.


Where the joist is is the span we would be adding the lvl beams. Every 48” to double as the rafter ties.