On a recent remodel job, the clients had asked for some extensive interior renovations and a first-story addition with a deck above. Access to the new deck would be through patio doors replacing the second-story living room windows. It all seemed pretty straightforward. Then they said, "We would like to remove this wall." "How much of the wall?" I asked, innocently. "All of it," they replied. As I glanced at 20 feet of first-story exterior concrete block wall with visions of glulams and temporary walls forming in my brain, the client adds, "And we would like the ceiling to be flat." My vision of a drop girder fades. Then inspiration strikes — I could use a glulam in place
