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Want to remove two small 'wing walls' that I know were not original construction (from the plans). Simple job I think, until I remove the drywall and reveal someone drilled a vertical hole to route electrics through what I assume is a structural beam.

Now my concern is that the 2x4 stud is potentially carrying vertical load and removing the that will potentially lead to collapse.

I presume the answer is get a structural engineer's opinion, but I'm curious what others think.

enter image description here

Edit: Some more info, the span that I can measure is 185 inches, the beam is 3.5 inches wide and 9 inches high.

The whole in the plate is 1.5 inches and it appears that the hole in the beam is smaller (1 inch) and offset to indicate they were drilled at different times.

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  • More pics - postimg.cc/gallery/9XBZjyf
    – Chris Wills
    Commented Aug 17, 2023 at 15:43
  • Please edit your question to include the additional images. Also, it's strongly preferred to use the site's default image hosting partner (as you did with the first one you posted).
    – FreeMan
    Commented Aug 17, 2023 at 16:05
  • Diameter of the hole (in the beam, if beam and plate have holes of different sizes) and width of beam?
    – Ecnerwal
    Commented Aug 17, 2023 at 16:16
  • The hole doesn't concern me but it's possible the beam was sized with the wing wall in consideration. In fact that seems likely, why else would that little wall be there? OTOH you'd expect more than a 2x4 at the end of a wall doing that job. So ..... ya, engineer time.
    – jay613
    Commented Aug 17, 2023 at 17:14
  • @jay613 Question states that the wing walls are not in the original plans.
    – Ecnerwal
    Commented Aug 17, 2023 at 17:16

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Based on the updated question and comments: If there are two of these walls, one of them was in the original plans, and you want to remove both you need a structural engineer to determine if the beam is sized for the entire span without either wall, and if it can meet that demand with the hole.

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