Your Trusted Choice for Quality Renovation & Remodeling Since 2016
Your Trusted Choice for Quality Renovation & Remodeling Since 2016
Steel (W-shape or built-up plate beams) takes over when the span exceeds 18 feet, when the headroom constraint requires a shallower beam depth than LVL can provide for the load, or when point loads from two stories above transfer down through the wall. A typical 22-foot residential span with a second floor above runs a W8 by 31 or W10 by 22 depending on tributary load. Material is 1800 to 3200 dollars but the install requires crane access or sectional fab.
The investor mistake we see most often is over-specifying steel where LVL would have done the job for a third of the cost. The other direction happens too: families try to value-engineer their way into LVL for a 22-foot span and end up with bouncing floors above. Match the member to the span, do not match it to the budget.
– Elijah Mercer Boone, Lead Project Manager
Steel wins on headroom every time. A W10 beam buried in the floor system above takes 10 inches of depth. An equivalent LVL takes 16 to 18 inches. For Camillus capes and ranches with low ceilings already, the steel often pays for itself in not requiring a dropped soffit. Whenever the project also calls for a cathedral ceiling ridge beam vault, the steel-vs-LVL conversation has to happen at both the wall removal and the ceiling vault simultaneously.
Any wall removal requires stamped engineering drawings for the Onondaga County permit. The structural engineer fee runs 800 to 2200 dollars depending on complexity. Skipping the engineer is how investor projects end up unable to refinance or close at sale, especially when the wall removal is part of a broader kitchen renovation or home additions scope.
Steel Beam vs LVL for Load-Bearing Spans
SAP Construction has been sizing beams for CNY wall removals since 2016. Schedule a consultation and our project manager will measure the span, confirm the load path, and deliver a transparent estimate within 24 hours.
Liverpool's older lots typically include a detached garage at the rear of the property, often built to lot-line setbacks that were legal in 1955 but no longer apply for habitable construction today. Investors who buy a Liverpool property hoping to convert that detached garage into an ADU first need to understand whether the existing garage location even allows the conversion. The detached garage adu setbacks for habitable space are tighter than those for the original garage, and the math has to be done before the deal closes.
Marcellus's deeper rural lots make it one of the few CNY submarkets where the detached versus attached workshop conversation is actually open. On a tight Solvay lot the answer is forced (attached or nothing). On a Marcellus 2-acre parcel you have real options, and the workshop addition cost spread between the two paths is meaningful enough that the decision deserves a careful look.
DeWitt's Lyndon Road corridor of midcentury splits and 1970s colonials is exactly the housing stock that benefits most from a two-story rear addition. The original homes have decent first-floor footprints, livable bedrooms upstairs, and rear yards deep enough to absorb 400 to 600 square feet of new build on each floor. The rear addition workflow we run is the same on every project, refined over hundreds of completed home additions across CNY.
Lyncourt's small urban lots have the same problem on every block. The family room is too small. Whether it is a 1950s ranch off Court Street or a 1920s bungalow closer to the cemetery, the original family room footprint is rarely more than 12 by 14 feet, and modern furniture, modern televisions, and modern family life simply do not fit. A bump-out can solve it in 8 to 12 feet of new exterior wall, but in Onondaga County that bump-out is not just a construction project. It is a permit project. Get the permit path right and the build is fast. Get it wrong and you wait three months for paperwork that should have taken three weeks.
Our experts are here to help. Contact us directly for a consultation or any specific questions about your project.
Our experts are here to help. Contact us directly for a consultation or any specific questions about your project.
