Greetings,

I'm planning to remove a wall that separates my dining area from the living room. Upon inspection of the wall, it looks like a load bearing wall. The previous owner must have added the columns to the wall.

The photo shows the half wall with columns.

From what I've checked so far, it appears the wall has been reinforced. I attached some photos to illustrate. I made a small opening in the drywall right above the columns. Behind it, I can see what appears to be reinforced wood beams that span the opening walkway and the half wall.

The circled area is the closeup of the opening. Sorry for the poor pictures.

Is it safe for me to remove any section of the wall that is occupied by the columns.

Thank you for any input.

Sorry, not even close to enough information to be able to answer your question. It's best to have a qualified professional examine all of the many factors that are needed to answer the question, on site, in person, and give you an opinion.

The columns shown are not considered load bearing types in most cases. HOWEVER, You need to consult with a professional on this. Reason being. Even if they are not load bearing they may be there to remove some Bounce in the floor above. While beams can carry loads, Many builders just squeek by, by using the minimal size needed to support the load. With that said, once again. It is impossible to inform you if they can be removed, If the beam is weight bearing, And If it is, if its large enough to support any load imposed on it once these columns are removed is an anwser best left to an engineer or structural professional.

Just a side note, Many folks like yourself want to remove walls to give the house that open look. But what most folks do not understand is once the wall is removed and a beam is installed. This beam that is installed must be supported on each end. These end supports must follow a critical path down to the foundation. AS the farther the width is, the more the load is on each end. Thus the support below these beams must be stronger. Simply cutting out a wall, or in your case removing a few fancy colums to open up space may not be such a good idea as the load paths will change and so will the need to properly support the new loads on what is left holding the beam up.

I'm scheduling an engineer to look at the wall. Thanks for the replies.