How to Cut a Pass-Through in a Load Bearing Wall | Ask This Old House

[Music] this is a great room I bet you guys spent a lot of time in here yeah we spend a lot of time in here between Nathan playing and us watching TV yeah you're the only thing that's frustrating Tommy is we feel very disconnected from the kitchen while we're in this space it'd be nice to try to open that up a little bit open it up you mean like put a hole in this wall over here that would be perfect all right well I think we could do that but first I have to look and see what kind of wall this is all right I checked down to the basement and I know what kind of wall you have here okay now there are actually two different types of walls and let me show you with this board game right here now if I take this piece right here I can remove it and nothing happens that's a petition wall and that does nothing but divide the space up you can cut a hole in it you can remove it without any problem perfect there's another type of wall right here now this would be a load-bearing wall I have to worry about all this weight up above and where is it gonna go when I come down so I have to worry about the floor up above or maybe even some of the roof coming in on us if you cut into a load-bearing wall and you don't know what you're doing okay all right what you have is a load-bearing wall seriously seriously so does that mean we can't put a hole in the wall no no we can cut into it but we have to know how to redistribute that load above okay all right now inside the walls there's structure it studs in this case two by fours that not only define the wall but are also carrying the weight of the floor above the studs are set 16 inches on center but those studs are in the way of the new opening but I can't just remove those studs because the load above won't be supported by installing a header across the opening it gives the load a path that load will be spread across the header and it will be carried by two new studs on either side of the opening called Jack studs the same style framing is used for door openings windows or even a simple pass-through like this now the next thing I look for is any ductwork water lines are electrical in the wall don't have any ductwork you don't have any water lines but we do have a left so the electrician is on his way to take care of that but we can still get started great all right now before we cut a hole in the wall I have to temporarily support this floor above and take the load off of this wall to do that I'm going to put this plate up against the ceiling I have another one on the floor and you guys take a 2x4 and push them in between all right so let me have it right over here all right now put the bottom in push it right about there okay now we're gonna pull the top over towards you nice and tight tight make them you know just want to make them nice and now we're gonna cut the wall with a reciprocating saw I want you to stay close with a vacuum to keep the dust down all right let's get this wall board out of here we've located the hole-in-the-wall and where you want it but what I want is a stud in the wall to end my header - but I don't have a stud until it's way back here so what I've done is I've pieced in some two by fours to bring that closer to my opening I'm gonna put my last piece in right now but before I put it in I've attached a small piece of 2x4 so when it goes in the wall it'll be at this height right here so the plate will rest on it perfect all right now we're ready to put the sill plate in slide it into the opening all right jack on the past me that second silk plate all right this is your new header and it's actually two two by twelves that I cut to Lane rip down a piece of half-inch plywood and sandwich that between the two two by twelves the reason I say much the plywood in between the header is because the two two by twelves together are only three inches a 2x4 is three and a half inches so the half-inch plywood actually makes up that extra width that I need it also stiffens the beam so I glued it and screwed it and it's nice and strong now we're ready to put it in place I'll put my end in first and I have to go up high you stay down low push it up think you want to grab that ya can put it under there with an annoying angle okay now we can just hammer those in and the beam will go up with the header in place we can remove the temporary wall oh wow that's awesome it's only halfway [Music] there you go all right now the doorway here has an arch in it so I replicated that around the new opening into the kitchen now all I have to do is finish off the inside with a little bit of plaster work and around the inside of the perimeter of the arch and it's all done this is perfect Tommy thank you [Music]

Channel: This Old House

Views: 1,702,062

Rating: 4.8711882 out of 5

Keywords: Tom Silva, pass-through, load bearing wall, 7-10 minutesThis Old House, Ask This Old House, DIY, Home Improvement, DIY Ideas, Renovation, Renovation Ideas, How To Fix, How To Install, How To Build, Kevin o’connor, kevin o'connor house, kevin o'connor this old house, kevin o'connor ask this old house, kevin o'connor interview, tom silva this old house, tom silva house, tom silva construction, tom silva tools, tommy silva

Id: xQT_ZasSdos

Length: 7min 12sec (432 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 04 2018