A family vacation home was in desperate need of a total overhaul. First, there was no stairway to the second floor, which is a clear problem. Secondly, they wanted to remove the main load-bearing wall on the first floor and create an open floor plan, uniting the dining room, kitchen, and living room.
We opened the first-floor ceiling into an above dormer and built them some stairs. Next, we built shoring walls, removed the load-bearing wall, and installed an 18ft steel beam to support the second floor and roof. Grinding through plaster and wire mesh is a messy business, but in the end, it added much needed natural light and turned out exactly how they wanted it.
