Open-Plan Kitchen Remodel in Torrance: Load-Bearing Wall Removed

This Torrance home had a kitchen closed off from a formal dining room and a living room on the other side of a hallway. The owners wanted one open space where the kitchen, dining and living areas connect. That meant taking out a load-bearing wall.

Project at a glance

Location	Torrance, CA
Project type	Kitchen remodel with structural wall removal
Structural	Load-bearing wall removed and replaced with an engineered beam
Scope	Demolition, beam and framing, rough electrical, drywall, new cabinets and island, quartz counters, appliances, flooring, lighting

Before

The dining room was a separate room with a chandelier and a doorway into the kitchen. The living room sat beyond a hallway. None of the three spaces could see each other.

Demolition and structure

We stripped the kitchen and dining room to the studs and removed the flooring. The wall between them was carrying roof load, so an engineer sized a beam to replace it; the photos show the new framing with the beam pocket and the rough electrical run for the island and new lighting. Temporary shoring carried the load while the beam went in.

The new kitchen

With the wall gone, the layout became a long run of white shaker cabinets against the exterior wall, a full-height pantry wall beside the refrigerator, and an island long enough for four stools. Recessed lighting replaced the single fixtures, and the new flooring runs continuously from the kitchen into the living room.

The result

One bright room instead of three small ones. The island is where the family eats, and the person cooking can see the living room.

How you know a wall is load-bearing

Homeowners are usually told to look at which way the joists run, and that is a reasonable first test — a wall running perpendicular to the joists above is more likely to be carrying them. It is not a conclusion. Walls also carry point loads from above, support ridge or purlin framing in the roof, or act as shear walls resisting lateral movement, and none of that is visible from inside the room.

The only reliable answer comes from opening the ceiling and looking, and then having the load path checked properly. A wall that carries nothing vertically can still be doing structural work laterally, which is the case people most often miss.

What replacing a wall with a beam involves

• An engineer sizes the beam. Span, the load above, and the material decide the depth. This is a calculation, not a rule of thumb, and it is what the building department wants to see.
• The load has to reach the ground. A beam transfers what the wall was carrying to posts at each end, and those posts have to bear on something continuous all the way down — through the floor framing to a footing. Frequently that means new footings under the post locations. This is the part homeowners do not expect and it is often the largest single cost.
• Temporary shoring goes in first. The load is picked up on temporary walls either side before the existing wall comes out, and stays there until the beam and posts are in and fastened.
• The beam can be flush or dropped. A dropped beam sits below the ceiling and is cheaper. A flush beam sits within the ceiling framing and disappears, which is what most people want and which costs more because the joists have to be hung off it.
• Inspection before it is covered. The framing and its connections are inspected before anything closes up.

Why the price range on this work is so wide

“Removing a wall” covers everything from a short non-structural partition to a thirty-foot opening carrying a second storey. The variables that actually move the number are the span, whether the beam is flush or dropped, whether the posts land somewhere that already has support, whether new footings are needed, and what services are in the wall.

That last one catches people. A wall that is not structural at all can still be expensive to remove because it contains the plumbing vent, the electrical for half the room, or a duct — all of which have to go somewhere else.

These are typical Los Angeles budgeting estimates, not a price list or a quote. Your project can come in lower or higher depending on the house, the scope and the finishes; the only real number is a written proposal after a site visit.

Before, during and after

Related: Kitchen remodeling · Remodeling services · Kitchen remodel cost guide

How an open-plan kitchen is permitted

Opening a kitchen to a dining or living room usually means taking out a wall, and that turns a cosmetic remodel into permitted structural work: a beam and posts sized by an engineer, footings under those posts, and inspections at rough framing and again at final. Any electrical, plumbing or gas that moves goes on the same permit. Our guides to kitchen remodel permits in Los Angeles and removing a load-bearing wall set out what the building department asks for. We remodel kitchens across Los Angeles County and the South Bay from our Van Nuys office; see kitchen remodeling for the full scope.

Questions about removing a wall

Can I remove a load-bearing wall without a permit?

No. This is structural work, it requires engineering and a permit, and it is inspected. Beyond the legal position, it is work where the consequences of getting it wrong are borne by the building — and an unpermitted structural alteration is a problem at every future sale, refinance and insurance claim.

How long does the house stay open?

The wall itself comes out and the beam goes in over a small number of days, with temporary shoring in place throughout. What extends the timeline is everything around it: engineering and plan check beforehand, then re-routing whatever was in the wall, then ceiling and floor repair where the wall used to be.

Will there be a bump in the ceiling?

Only if you choose a dropped beam. A flush beam disappears into the ceiling plane and the ceiling reads as continuous. It costs more because the existing joists have to be cut and hung from the new beam with hangers rather than simply resting on top of it — but it is usually the reason people wanted the wall gone in the first place.

What about the floor where the wall was?

There will be a strip where the wall sat — the flooring stops on both sides and the subfloor may be different underneath. Plan for it. Either the floor is being replaced anyway, or you are looking at a repair that has to blend into two existing directions of material.

More kitchen remodeling work, our structural and addition services, and the Los Angeles service area page.

Thinking about a similar project?

Removing the wall between the kitchen and dining room is one of the remodels we are asked for most. We design the structure, pull the permit and build it. Green Design and Build is a licensed residential general contractor (CSLB #1110975) based in Van Nuys. We reply within one business day.