Kitchen Remodeling
Layout changes andstructural openingsengineered, then inspected.
The wall between your kitchen and everything else is usually holding the floor above it up. That is a solvable problem, not a small one.
In detail
Layout changes & structural openings
In most post-war New Jersey houses the wall between the kitchen and the next room runs perpendicular to the floor joists above, which means it is carrying them. Removing it is entirely normal work, but it is engineering rather than demolition: our engineer calculates the load, sizes a header in steel or LVL, specifies how the load gets from that header down through posts to something that can carry it — often a new footing in the basement — and stamps the drawings the township will want to see.
On site the sequence is temporary shoring on both sides, the wall out, the header in and the posts landed, then the shoring struck and a framing inspection before anything is covered. Getting that inspection is the point: a header hidden behind drywall is a header nobody can check. This is also the step that decides a kitchen budget more than any finish choice, which is why we establish whether your wall is bearing at the first visit rather than after demolition.
What this covers
- Structural calculation and a stamped header specification
- Load path carried down through posts to adequate bearing
- Temporary shoring while the wall comes out
- Framing inspection before drywall closes anything up
- Part of
- Kitchen Remodeling
- Typical timeline
- 2–10 weeks
- Where
- All 21 New Jersey counties
Questions
Asked most aboutlayout changes & structural openings
How do I know whether my kitchen wall is load-bearing?
The reliable indicator is the direction of the floor joists above: a wall running perpendicular to them is very likely carrying them. Walls that stack over a beam or a foundation wall below are another strong sign. It is not something to judge from tapping, and we establish it at the first visit — with a hole in a ceiling if that is what it takes — because it changes the budget substantially.
Do I need a permit to remove a wall in a kitchen?
For a bearing wall, unquestionably — the work needs a permit, stamped engineering and a framing inspection. Even for a non-bearing wall, the electrical and plumbing alterations that come with a kitchen renovation require permits in New Jersey. We file them and meet the inspectors as part of the contract.
The rest of the scope
Everything else inkitchen remodeling
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