Most projects here start with the same sentence: we want this wall gone. That is a structural question before it is a design question, and in Cottonwood Heights it comes with a second one, because homes here span several eras and many of them are built into a slope. What the wall carries, where that load has to land, and what is underneath the point it lands on are all part of one answer. We put Salt Lake County homeowners in touch with general contractors who work through it in that order.
The first question is never whether a wall can come out. It is what the wall is doing. A partition between a kitchen and a living room may be carrying nothing beyond its own weight, or it may be holding up ceiling joists, an upper floor, and a section of roof, and from inside the room those two look identical. The answer comes from above and below: joist direction in the attic and the level beneath, what lines up over the wall, and where the loads were designed to come down.
Once a wall is identified as bearing, removing it becomes a problem with a known shape. A beam replaces the wall, sized for the span and everything above it. Posts at each end take that load down. Something under those posts, whether a footing, a strengthened foundation, or a column line through the level below, carries it to bearing soil. Whether the beam sits flush in the ceiling or drops below it is a choice that affects framing, mechanical routing, and cost, and it belongs early in the process.
What homeowners rarely expect is that the work does not stop at the ceiling of the room being opened. Load that used to spread along the length of a wall gets concentrated into two points, and those points need a continuous path to the ground. Utah homes commonly have basements, so that path usually runs through the level below in the form of a post, and under the post a footing sized for the new concentrated load, which sometimes means cutting the slab and pouring a new pad before framing above can proceed.
Foothill houses complicate the path. A home built into a slope may have a partially exposed or daylight foundation, footings at more than one elevation, or a lower level that is finished on one side and unexcavated on the other. Any of those change where a post can reasonably land and what has to be added beneath it. It is not an obstacle so much as the reason the load path gets traced on site, in this house, before the opening is drawn and priced.
Not every wall removal needs a structural engineer, but the ones that change how a house stands up generally do. Once a beam spans a meaningful distance, carries an upper floor or roof, or lands on a foundation that has to be modified to receive it, the sizing is a calculation rather than a rule of thumb. The engineer specifies the beam, the connections at each end, the post sizes, and the footing underneath, and those specifications become part of what gets built and inspected.
That work happens before permitting rather than during construction, because the drawings are part of what is reviewed. Permit requirements for structural alterations are set by the city, and your contractor confirms what has to be submitted with the local building department for your specific scope. Homes here come from several eras with different framing conventions, which is one more reason the calculations get done for the house in front of you instead of borrowed from the last one. Call 801-644-9000 to be connected with contractors who work this way.
A contractor traces the framing from the attic and the level below: which direction the joists run, what lines up above the wall, and where the loads were designed to land. Anything ambiguous is confirmed with a small exploratory opening rather than assumed. Some walls carry nothing and come out quickly. Others carry a floor or roof and need a beam, posts, and support underneath before they can be removed safely.
For most bearing wall removals, yes. The beam size, its connections, the posts, and the footing beneath them are calculated for your specific spans and loads, and those calculations are typically part of what the building department reviews. The work happens before permitting rather than during construction. Non-bearing partitions generally do not require it, which is why identifying the wall correctly is the first step.
It changes what is underneath it. A stepped or partially daylight foundation can mean the level below offers no straightforward place to land a post, and footing elevations may vary across the house. That affects where beam supports go and whether foundation work is needed to receive them. The plan you want is usually still achievable. The route to it just has to be traced on site first.
Describe the house and what you are planning, or call 801-644-9000.
