Structural demolition.
Load-bearing wall removal is the job that turns a 1960s house into an open plan and the job that goes wrong when someone skips the engineer. We shore both sides of the wall to the engineer's drawing, remove the wall in sequence, and leave the opening ready for the beam and posts. Stairs, floor openings for a new staircase, and rear walls for additions follow the same rule: drawing first, shoring second, saw third.
On the ticket.
Temporary shoring both sides of the wall, built to the engineer's drawing
Load-bearing wall removed in sequence; opening prepared for beam, posts and bearing
Floor and roof openings cut for new stairs, skylights and additions
Rear and side walls removed for additions, house tarped the same day
Staircases removed and the opening protected
Dust containment and floor protection on every route; debris out the same day
Lines, not guesses.
| Driver | What we look at |
|---|---|
| Span and load | Length of the wall and what sits on it. |
| Shoring | Temporary posts and beams stay in until the new steel is set. |
| Permit and utility locates | Whether we pull the permit and book the locates. |
| Engineering | [Kam confirms: quoted separately or by owner's engineer] |
The number comes from a site walk. The beam, posts and footings are the contractor's or [Kam confirms whether Breaker installs steel]; engineering is quoted separately after the walk.
Paper first.
- Any wall that carries load needs a building permit and an engineer's drawing before it comes out. No exceptions.
- We work to the engineer's shoring plan; the engineer is [Kam confirms: ours or yours].
- Openings in floors and roofs, and rear walls for additions, are part of the addition's building permit.
- Pre-1990 buildings: a designated-substances survey comes first (O. Reg. 278/05).
The plates on every truck: WSIB, insurance, demolition permits, asbestos survey, utility locates, crew training.
You do not, without looking at the framing, and neither do we until the site walk. Walls running perpendicular to the joists, walls under a beam or another wall above, and walls at the centre of the house usually carry load. The engineer confirms it.
[Kam confirms whether Breaker supplies structural engineering or works to the owner's engineer.]
[Kam confirms whether Breaker installs steel or hands over to the contractor after the opening is shored.]
It depends on which walls come out and how the shoring runs. We answer that at the site walk after seeing the drawings.
One to two days for the shoring and removal on a single wall. The beam installation and inspection follow.