Due to a last-minute change in roof pitch (my fault), we wound up with a structural beam at perfect head-bopping height at the top of our garage stairs. But today it was fixed!

Eric (6'-3") and Eli (5'-7") plan out the surgery:

Don't worry — we didn't carve out an LVL without checking first with a structural engineer. Eli consulted with engineer Ben onsite several months ago, shortly after the garage was built. Ben had a good laugh at our error and told Eli where he could safely cut.

"What's the problem here? This header height seems fine!"

(At 5'-6", I wouldn't have had a problem either. But I would not have enjoyed seeing Ted bump his head several times a day.)

Post-op photo:

It cleaned up real nice, no?