# California, Maximum beam spans



## sickac (Mar 27, 2014)

Hi!

I am planning on removing some loadbearing walls in my house. I took my drawings to Building Department and was told that my beam spans are too long. Person I spoke with was quite nice and helpful, at the same time I could not stop myself from thinking "Does he really know what he's talking about…". He eventually gave me a copy of a table called _"Table R502.5(2) GIRDER SPANS AND HEADER SPANS FOR INTERIOR BEARING WALLS - Maximum spans for Douglas fir-larch, hem-fir, southern pine and spruce-pine-fir and required number of jack studs"_ as a guideline for a new design (it is from 2010 California Residential Code). I have managed to move a few things here and there, so spans do not exceed maximum lengths per table, but I would be much happier without those changes. Can someone confirm that it was the right table to use in this case? Maybe I am misreading it, but the longest allowed span for:

	- one floor only

	- building width 36ft

	- (4-2x12)

 is 9'-1". Does that make sense to you? I really mean no disrespect, just want to be 100% certain.

Please, let me know what you think, if needed, I can send PDF with actual drawings.

Thank you in advance!

Cheers,

Sic


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## Mark K (Mar 27, 2014)

Recommend that you hire a  structural engineer to assist in sorting out the problem.  These tables make certain assumptions that can only be verified by looking at the actual conditions.

No guarantees but a structural engineer may be able to find a solution that does not require that you make the changes you find undesirable.


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