Load bearing wall removal in Highland Park

Highland Park homes are built to last, and their owners tend to keep them a long time. When the layout no longer fits, the answer is often one wall: between a kitchen and a family room, a dining room and a den, or a living room and a sunroom.

We remove load bearing walls with a beam designed by a licensed engineer, a Town permit and a crew that treats a finished home with care.

A planned town with homes from many decades

Highland Park was laid out as a planned residential town, with Turtle Creek running through it and parkland set aside from the start. Much of it was developed in the 1910s and 1920s, and many original homes still stand alongside newer houses built on the same lots.

Center-hall plans and formal rooms

Older homes in traditional styles often follow a familiar plan: a center hall, a living room on one side, a dining room on the other and the kitchen and service rooms behind. It’s an elegant layout, but it leaves the kitchen cut off from the rest of the house.

The most common change is opening the kitchen to a family room or breakfast room at the back, while keeping the formal rooms at the front intact.

Butler’s pantries and service walls

Some older homes have a butler’s pantry, a back stair or a small service hall between the kitchen and the dining room. Those walls are tempting to remove, but they frequently carry the floor above.

The engineer checks each wall separately. Sometimes removing one and keeping another gives you most of the openness with a simpler beam.

Preservation in Highland Park

Unlike Dallas’s historic districts, Highland Park doesn’t have a preservation ordinance for private homes, and the landmark plaques some homes carry from Preservation Park Cities don’t put restrictions on a house. Even so, many owners of older homes want any change to look original.

We plan openings that preserve plaster cornices, arched doorways and original trim wherever the structure allows, and keep the finished opening in step with the rest of the house.

Sunrooms and rooms added later

Over the decades, many houses have gained a sunroom, a family room or a larger kitchen at the back. The original exterior wall often stays in place between the old house and the new space, still carrying the roof.

Removing that wall connects the addition to the rest of the house. The engineer looks at how the two roofs meet and sizes the beam for both.

Engineered, stamped plans

The Town expects structural plans to carry an engineer’s stamp, and we provide them on every job. The engineer’s plan shows the beam size, post locations and any support needed below the floor, so the Town’s inspector can check the work against it.

Permits with the Town of Highland Park

Structural changes like removing a load bearing wall need a permit in Highland Park. We file it with the Town’s Department of Building Inspection along with the engineer’s plan, schedule the inspection and close it out.

Construction hours in town

Highland Park limits construction to daytime hours Monday through Saturday, with no work on Sundays or major holidays. We schedule your project inside the Town’s hours, which can make the work day start a little later than it would elsewhere in DFW.

Parking and trucks on your street

The Town pays close attention to construction parking on residential streets, and on some projects the building official can ask for a parking plan. We keep our vehicles to a minimum, bring materials in on a schedule and leave the street clear at the end of the day.

Floors and foundations in older homes

Dallas-area houses from the first half of the last century were commonly built on pier-and-beam foundations. When the wall above comes out, the new posts need solid support beneath the floor.

We check the crawl space during the estimate. If the engineer calls for new piers or a beam under the floor, it’s included in the plan and the price.

Steep roofs and raised ceilings

Traditional styles like Tudor often have steep roofs with usable space above the main floor. In a one-story section of the house, that can make it possible to raise or vault the ceiling where the wall used to be.

Whether it works depends on the roof framing, insulation and any ducts in the attic. We look before we suggest it.

Steel beams for long openings

Larger homes often have wide rooms, and opening them up can mean long spans with a full second floor above. In those cases, the engineer may call for a steel beam set flush in the ceiling, with posts concealed inside the walls at each end.

Loggias, porches and covered patios

Covered porches and loggias are common features of traditional houses, and their columns sometimes block the view to the yard or pool. Replacing two columns with a longer beam opens the space while keeping the roof properly supported.

Protecting hardwood floors and finishes

We cover floors from the front door to the work area, seal the room with plastic and run dust control through the day. Where the old wall stood, we patch the floor with the closest available material, and we tell you up front if a refinish will be needed for a seamless look.

Staying home during the work

Most families stay in the house while we work. We close off the room, keep a clean path to the kitchen and bedrooms, and remove debris through the shortest route outside. Pets and children stay on the other side of the plastic, and we tell you each morning what the day involves.

What it costs in Highland Park

Every quote covers engineering, the permit, shoring, the beam and posts, and the drywall or plaster, ceiling and floor patch. Steel beams, work under pier-and-beam floors, trim matching and rerouted plumbing or ductwork add to the scope. You get a written price before any work starts.

How long it takes

Most walls come out in one day of work. Engineering and the Town permit come first and set the overall timeline, and the Town’s construction hours shape the daily schedule. We give you a clear plan before we start.

Questions Highland Park homeowners ask us

Does my house need special approval because it’s old? Highland Park has no preservation ordinance controlling interior work, but a building permit is still required. We handle it.

Can you keep the original moldings? In most cases, yes. We remove only what the opening needs and leave the rest of the room untouched.

Will the neighbors notice? We work inside the Town’s hours, keep trucks to a minimum and clean up the street each day.

Book your estimate in Highland Park

Call or text (469) 436-5680 with photos of the wall and the attic or floor above it, or book a free on-site estimate. We work across Highland Park, from the streets along Turtle Creek to the neighborhoods west of Preston Road, plus University Park and Dallas.