Pole in Garage

My husband wants to have the middle pole in our garage removed but I am against it because I have heard many horror stories of collapse. Has anyone ever had it done and did they contact an engineer first?

Re: Pole in Garage

That pole is supporting the floors above it. Not something I would remove.

We had one in our lower level (high ranch) that we had removed - AND we had a team of structural engineers in to have a steel beam put up in it's place. It was a pretty huge job and I couldn't believe how many men they needed to hoist the steel beam up and into place to support the floor above.

The one in our garage is still there!

Re: Pole in Garage

It CAN be removed, but to do it safely, it has to have some type of beam put across the garage, even if there isn't a floor above it. There's still a heavy roof if it's just a garage. A beam that spans a two-car garage is going to be expensive.

You definitely need an engineer to tell you what you need to put in as a support. You may be able to get away with just a couple of 2x10s, or you may need a steel beam. Possibly an engineered beam. I have those for the addition in my house. It looks like a steel i-beam, but it's made of wood on the top and bottom, and plywood in the center. Not expensive, fairly light (2 people were installing each of the 20 foot beams in the house), and very strong.