Engineer needed when planning to move telepost

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This article was published 26/01/2003 (8296 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Question — I have a 13-year-old house that I constructed myself. I have finished my basement and in the basement I have built a home theatre that is located under the living room area of the main floor.

I have a main beam in the floor structure that is supported by one telepost and the beam’s complete span is 19 feet. The telepost I have boxed around and I would really love to get rid of it and I would like to know what my options are. The telepost is nine feet, nine inches away from the basement wall. The two options I don’t want are tearing out concrete and/or relocating the telepost in a wall.

The other option I am considering is using four one-and-three-quarter-inch laminated beams, two on each side of the original beam, and supporting these beams by putting the support studs alongside the basement wall standing on the footings, if you get what I mean. This way I don’t have to put up a temporary wall to actually remove the original beam and notch in four one-and-three-quarter-inch laminated beams into the concrete where the original beam was.

Looking for some advice.

Thanks in advance.

–Steven Podolsky, e-mail

Answer — I applaud Mr. Podolsky for the hard work in building his own home and inquiry for help with a difficult situation. Whether teleposts can be relocated or moved in basements is a common question I receive during pre-purchase inspections. This is often desired for installation of a pool table, ping-pong table, or other recreational equipment. Extreme caution must be exercised in this case to avoid major structural damage to the home.

The majority of homes in this area are constructed on a poured-concrete foundation supported by a poured-concrete footing beneath. There are also poured-concrete footings below the posts that support the main beams. These footings are normally not visible, as they are covered by the concrete basement floor slab, but sometimes have exposed concrete caps or extensions above the basement slab. Location of these posts and footings is determined by standards set by local building codes, based on allowable spans, which take into consideration loads on the floor structure of the house.

These codes are determined by many years of experience by municipal building officials and from calculations by structural engineers. Moving teleposts from one location, over the original footing beneath, to another may violate the maximum allowable spans and prevent proper transfer of loads to the intended footings. This will often cause sagging in the main beam, floor joists and other structural components of the home. This structural damage may cause excessive cracking and damage to the walls of the home as well as sagging of the floors and roof structure. If a telepost is to be relocated or removed, as is the desire of Mr. Podolsky, the floor structure will have to be reinforced to accommodate the changes. The simplest way of accomplishing this may be to increase the size of the main beam, so that it can span the entire distance from one side of the foundation to the other. The amount of reinforcement required, type of material used, and proper installation method are not things to be determined by the homeowner. I would not even attempt a guess at the adequacy of the reinforcement suggested in the above inquiry.

Removing the middle telepost and adding direct support for the end of the newly expanded beam over the existing perimeter footing may put added load in this area. This may cause damage to the footing, which may not be designed for concentrated loads of this nature. If there is a concentrated load above the original centre telepost, such as a post or load-bearing wall, this will have to be taken into account in the alterations. Floor joists may have to be doubled up or added, as well as other changes to the floor structure, in addition to increasing the size of the main beam.

To summarize this rather complicated discussion, changes of this nature should not be done without consulting professional help. A licensed structural engineer should be retained to visit the home, take measurements of the existing structure and proceed from there. The engineer will do calculations and provide the homeowner with a proposal for the proper reinforcement and remedial action necessary to remove the offending post. Architectural drawings with the engineer’s stamp may also be required to apply for the appropriate building permit at the local municipal office. At this point Mr. Podolsky can decide whether the cost and work associated with the alterations is worth the unobstructed view he desires.

Ari Marantz is owner/inspector of Trained Eye Home Inspection Ltd. and is the P. R. Rep. for the Canadian Association of Home Inspectors- Manitoba (www.cahi.mb.ca). Questions can be e-mailed or sent to: Ask The Inspector, P. O. Box 69021, #110-2025 Corydon Ave., Winnipeg, MB. R3P 2G9. Ari can be reached at (204) 291-5358.

trainedeye@iname.com