Removal of beam options

[dalecyr]

I have done what you want to do, in a manner similar to what you describe above.
I'll tell you how I did it.
I understand you intend to engage a licensed structural engineer, as I did.

I also understand that you will take my story as it applies to my residence,
and not necessarily yours.

Using house jacks, properly rated for the intended load (plus safety factor),
I put a railroad tie on each side of the existing beam, using a house jack at each end of each tie,
for a total of 4 house jacks.
Weight distributing footings were placed under the house jack feet.

This will take a couple of your buddies to do safely.

Carefully adjusting each jack, paying attention to the sounds, number of turns on the jack(s),
measurements of the beam to the floor, we lifted the floor overhead off the existing beam about 1/8 inch.

Leaving the supports in this condition, we widened the existing opening.
A few days later, we demo'd the existing beam (which had no load on it),
cut the joists to length, installed a new beam on new supports,
added joist hangers in the right places,
(keeping an upward tension on everything to take up the slack),
and carefully and slowly lowered the house jacks / rail road ties until the new
beam took the load.

No cracks in sheet rock, no leaks in plumbing (there is a bathroom directly overhead),
no fires, explosions or any other deleterious effects.

We did this in the middle of summer, so snow load was not a consideration.

In my case, supporting the joists using joist hangers was structurally no different than
having the ends of the joist sitting on top of the beam.
Your mileage may vary, your kitchen may flood, your house may explode...

or

You might end up with some more headroom, just like you want.

[jdavidson]

Thanks for your info. It's good to hear that it is indeed possible.
Did you happen to take any pictures of the install?
I'd love to see the result. Also, did you have to use any heavy duty joist hangers?

[dalecyr]

Sorry, I did not take pictures. I wish I had.
The joist hangers were spec'd by the SE,
I just used what he spec'd.
But I do not believe they were anything special.

That job was completed a couple of years ago.
No sagging or other bad effects yet.
It was really a pretty small part of a larger project.