Destruction of the Beam

In the kitchen, there was a beam running along the width of the ceiling. Nicole hated this beam; it was painted dark brown and gave the room a dark, heavy look.

Nicole was sure that the beam was not structural and told me we could easily tear it out. I was skeptical -- it looked pretty solid to me. Since we wanted to install a skylight in this room, we really did need to get rid of it. So, tools of destruction in hand, we went after it.

The beam. The fact that it was located directly above a window indicated to Nicole that this probably wasn't a load-bearing member. Also, as you can see it had a light fixture sticking out of it, further evidence that perhaps this thing wasn't a solid piece of wood.

We've removed the lamp fixtures, and used the reciprocating saw to cut away part of the beam. Sure enough, it's hollow. Doesn't look like it could be bearing any weight, either.

The blue tape shows where the skylight will be located.

Chunks of the beam. Nicole later took great delight in busting down the wood and she built a nice warm fire in the wood stove with it.

Going at it.

Plunk.

Notice the smile Nicole sports in these photos. She really hated that beam.

It's almost gone.

After we removed the last of the beam, we found that there was drywall under it. We didn't even have to patch up the ceiling!

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