Are you wondering how to open up your interior space?
Most people strive to create some sort of open concept space for modern living. This kind of floor plan allows for more casual living especially between living room, dining room and kitchen. Conversations can be heard and people can be seen between the spaces allowing people to simply live together instead of in different rooms.
Many older homes have structural walls that follow the same direction of the ridge and surround the staircase. That leaves the ability to take down the other walls without concern to structural integrity of the home. But often these are not the walls that want to be opened up.
We are now able to open up structural walls by adding structural beams as long as the weight can be supported and transferred down to the foundation. It is a more costly the beam typically protrudes into the ceiling plane but often it is worth it to achieve an open concept.
In the home in the photo above, the home was a ranch with only a 7’-6” ceiling height and the windows were all hung very low. The goal was to open up the floor plan, raise the ceiling height and add windows on the gable ends. We were able to accomplish this by taking the entire existing roof off and designing a truss roof system with the cathedral ceiling line. The most amazing part is that this was all done in a matter of a week!
An open concept floor plan allows for open common space and defined private space. Which feels just about right for modern living.