Span Question...

jcease10

a buddy of mine wants to open up his kitchen into his enclosed breezeway leading to the garage. to do so he needs to cut out the wall dividing the 2 rooms. the wall is on the gable side of his home so it is not a bearing wall. the problem i have is the roof over the breezeway is also a gable (just a little smaller and tied into the gable side. the opening is going to be around 15'. I dont know if he needs a steel beam or a lam beam or what? i think its too long of a span regardless of load for just pine. BTW the home is a single story. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

neolitic

If you aren't leaving anything out,
(like a second story, brick veneer...)
It sounds like you would design it just
like an overhead door header.

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(Sorry....it seems there really are dumb questions)

jcease10

thats what i had originally thought to do but for the sake of saving head room and the fear of any settling and drywall cracking i was a little reluctant to just use pine. I guess it would be a pretty big savings from a lam beam or steel though.