It's Possible!!

OK, here's my first lesson for all you crazy kids attempting to be a DIYer without any previous experience. Make sure you can make the changes you want BEFORE you buy the darn house!

All I want to do is take down two perpendicular walls between the kitchen and living/dining rooms. It's the whole reason we bought the house -- to open it up and make one big living space. So no problem, right? Removing walls is like brushing teeth on HGTV.

And I knew one of the walls would be load-bearing (you know, holding up the entire second floor). Although I'm not sure why everyone makes such a fuss about ensuring proper support if you tear down a wall. I just watched an episode of Love It or List It on the aforementioned HGTV, and an entire second floor had been supported by a mere 2x4 for 90 years!

But I know, I've checked the internet ... gotta make sure the second floor is supported, yada yada yada ... don't want to have your head crushed by a plummeting toilet, blah, blah, blah. No worries.  Just stick in a beam and/or column, and you're good to go, right? Not so fast there, beginner buddy. Did you know it's possible to have perpendicular load-bearing walls?? That's exactly what we are the proud owners of -- and we found out by chance. Our cabinet maker noticed it when he was over to discuss my kitchen design (well, "design" may be an exaggeration -- more like my attempt to jam in a bunch of cupboards in some semblance of order). He happened to notice the floor joists, and the next thing we know, I'm calling a structural engineer and worrying that our 1970's kitchen may be sticking around until it's retro-popular again.

Mr. Swift, the structural engineer without a sense of humor, comes to the house. Why do I think he's low on the laugh-o-meter? I asked if he was related to Taylor Swift and didn't even get a response. He was too busy verifying that our cabinet maker was right and that he needed to check out the basement and second floor toot-quick.

So after about an hour of him walking around, grunting things under his breath (like "Are these people crazy?" "Why does no one hire me BEFORE they buy?" --well, at least that's what I think he said), he tells me it's possible for us to remove the walls!!! Glory be!! But we're going to need beams the size of Delaware and a post akin to those in the Parthenon, not to mention the crane that will have to be in the basement holding up the whole darn house.

Lord only knows how much this is all going to cost, but what can we do?? It's GOT to be done (OK, "got" may be a strong word, but I want it!!).

So here I am, patiently awaiting Mr. Swift's specs and a list of contractors who worked on building the Great Pyramids. I think my budget is about to go down the proverbial toilet that, by the way, currently has dead bugs floating in it and desperately needs to be replaced ...