Every load-bearing wall removal in the GTA reaches the same decision point. The engineer has the load numbers, the span is known, the bearing points are marked, and now there are three materials on the table. Laminated veneer lumber (LVL), structural steel (usually a W8 or W10 wide-flange I-beam), or glulam (glue-laminated timber). All three can do the job.
All three have very different price tags, install complications, and aesthetic consequences. This post is the honest framework we use to pick between them, with the real 2026 numbers and the real tradeoffs.
Before anything else — the engineer's calculation sets the lower bound. If the engineer tells you a span needs 18,000 lb-ft of moment capacity, none of the three materials is 'wrong' as long as the section you pick hits that capacity with the required safety factor. The engineer hands us three or four options that'll work, and then the call is about install complexity, cost, and whether the beam is going to be visible in the finished space. We make that call with the client, not for them, because the right answer depends on what they want to live with.
Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) — the default for most spans
LVL is what we spec on roughly 75% of the load-bearing wall removals we do in the GTA. It's engineered lumber — thin veneers of 1/8-inch-thick Douglas fir or southern yellow pine laminated under pressure and heat into a continuous beam, typically 1 3/4 inches thick per ply. We stack plies — 2-ply, 3-ply, and 4-ply are the common residential configurations — bolted together with structural lag bolts per the engineer's spec.
The three brands we see in Ontario are Weyerhaeuser Microllam, Louisiana-Pacific LP SolidStart, and Roseburg RigidLam. Functionally equivalent for our purposes.
LVL is the right answer for most residential spans under 18 feet carrying a single-storey load above. A 3-ply 1 3/4"x9 1/4" LVL (total 5 1/4" wide by 9 1/4" deep) handles most single-storey wall removals in a GTA bungalow, costs about $900 to $1,300 in materials, and can be carried in through a front door by four people. A 3-ply 1 3/4"x11 7/8" covers spans up to about 18 feet on the same load.
Above that — or if a second storey is also bearing on top — we usually step up to a 3-ply 14-inch LVL, a 4-ply option, or we switch materials entirely. The second-storey scenario is covered in our second storey addition cost breakdown.
The install advantages on LVL are real. A 3-ply LVL can be carried into the house through a window opening if the front door is blocked by the wall we're removing. The plies can be assembled inside the room on the floor and lifted together, or assembled in place one ply at a time. We can cut LVL with a standard circular saw if the engineer signs off on a modification. And LVL is forgiving on bearing — a Simpson LUS or HU hanger at the end connection, or a 3 1/2" minimum bearing length on a post, and the beam is in spec.
- Most common residential beam material in the GTA — used on ~75% of wall removals we do
- 3-ply 1 3/4"x9 1/4" LVL: $900 to $1,300 in material, handles most single-storey 14-foot spans
- 3-ply 1 3/4"x11 7/8" LVL: $1,400 to $1,900 in material, handles single-storey 16–18 foot spans
- 3-ply 1 3/4"x14" LVL: $1,900 to $2,800 in material, handles second-storey + roof on 16–18 ft spans
- Carried into house by hand — no crane, no lull, no equipment rental
- Install time on a standard wall removal: 4–6 hours for the beam itself
Structural Steel — the answer for long spans and flush framing
Steel wide-flange beams — typically W8x18, W10x22, W10x26, or W12x26 in residential work — come into play when LVL can't do the job for one of three reasons. Reason one: the span is too long for any reasonable LVL depth. Anything over about 20 feet with significant load above wants steel or glulam, because LVL gets impractically deep.
Reason two: the homeowner wants a flush-framed ceiling with no beam drop, which is much easier with a shallower steel section than with a deeper LVL. Reason three: the load is high enough that the required LVL would need 4 or 5 plies, which starts to be ridiculous to install.
The install cost of steel is significantly higher than LVL, and most of it is equipment rental, not material. A W8x18 for a 16-foot span is $1,400 to $2,200 in material. A W10x22 for a 20-foot span is $2,800 to $4,500. But a 16-foot steel beam weighs roughly 300 pounds and a 20-foot beam is closer to 440, which means it's not carry-in-by-hand territory.
We typically rent a lull or a small crane for $800 to $1,800 depending on access, which is where the real cost jump lives. On a tight urban lot in the Annex or Cabbagetown where a crane can't set up, we sometimes have to hand-pack steel in with a team of six and a genie lift, which adds labor.
Steel is the right answer for flush-framed openings. A flush-framed installation means cutting every joist back to the face of the beam, hanging each one on a Simpson Strong-Tie joist hanger bolted to the web of the steel, and letting the beam disappear into the ceiling plane. No beam drop, no painted MDF wrap, no visible structural element in the finished room.
The ceiling reads as flat across the former wall. It's the prestige install, and it's a pain — two to three extra days of labor and about $6,000 more than a dropped LVL of the same capacity. On jobs where the homeowner has 8-foot ceilings and can't accept a 12-inch beam drop, flush-framed steel is the answer.
- W8x18 (8" deep x 5 1/4" flange): $1,400 to $2,200 in material, good for 16-ft spans
- W10x22 (10" deep x 5 3/4" flange): $2,800 to $4,500 in material, good for 18–20 ft spans
- W10x26: $3,400 to $5,200 in material, good for 20–22 ft spans with heavy load
- Crane or lull rental: $800 to $1,800 depending on access
- Flush-framed install (joist hangers welded or bolted): +$4,500 to $8,000 labor premium
- Install time on a flush-framed steel job: 2 to 3 days longer than LVL equivalent
Glulam — the honest middle ground, underused in residential
Glulam (glue-laminated timber) is the option most homeowners have never heard of and most GTA contractors don't spec. It's engineered timber — multiple 1 1/2" thick kiln-dried softwood or hardwood laminations glued under pressure into a continuous beam, typically 3 1/2" to 6 3/4" wide by whatever depth the engineer specifies. The dominant brand in Ontario is Nordic Structures out of Quebec, which makes structural glulam from black spruce and is the product we spec when glulam is the answer.
Where glulam shines: exposed ceiling applications where the homeowner wants a warm wood appearance instead of a painted drywall wrap. A 5 1/8"x12" glulam beam in an open-concept remodel reads as an intentional design element in a way that a wrapped LVL never will. The wood grain is visible, the glue lines show as horizontal strata, and the beam feels like architecture instead of structure. For homeowners doing a modern-rustic or Scandinavian-influenced reno, glulam is often the right material for an exposed beam that carries real load.
Where glulam is not the answer: anywhere it's going to be wrapped and invisible. Glulam is about 25 to 40% more expensive than LVL of equivalent load capacity — a 5 1/8"x12" glulam beam that replaces a 3-ply 1 3/4"x11 7/8" LVL costs roughly $1,800 to $2,800 versus $1,400 to $1,900 for the LVL. If nobody's going to see it, the LVL is the sensible call. If the beam is the architectural feature, the glulam is usually worth the premium.
- Engineered softwood or hardwood, kiln-dried, glued under pressure
- Nordic Structures (Quebec) is the dominant Ontario-market brand
- 5 1/8"x12" glulam: $1,800 to $2,800 in material, equivalent to 3-ply 1 3/4"x11 7/8" LVL
- Premium use case: exposed beam applications where grain and warmth are architectural features
- Not recommended for concealed applications — LVL is 25–40% cheaper for equivalent load
- Requires specialty hangers (Simpson HGUS or similar) for some connection details
What actually drives the decision on a real job
The reason we walk homeowners through all three options at the first site visit is that the decision is usually not what they expect. Most clients come in assuming steel is "stronger" and therefore better. It's not. For the spans and loads in a typical GTA wall removal, LVL is equally capable and significantly easier to install. We've talked more homeowners out of steel than we've talked into it, and the conversation always starts with the same question: will the beam be visible in the finished space, or will it be wrapped in drywall?
If the answer is wrapped, LVL is almost always the right call. It's cheaper, faster, and the customer never sees the difference. If the answer is visible, the question becomes what aesthetic the homeowner wants. An exposed stained glulam reads warm and timber-y. An exposed painted steel W10x22 reads modern-industrial. A painted MDF-wrapped LVL reads as a traditional drop-beam feature. The engineering is equivalent across all three; the finished look is completely different.
“You pitched us on the LVL, and three months later I'm glad we didn't spend the extra six grand on steel just because it sounded fancier. You can't tell the difference.”
The beam decision is one of the places where an honest contractor saves a client real money without compromising anything. Most residential spans under 20 feet do not need steel, and the homeowners who assume they do are paying for the phrase "steel beam" when they could spec LVL for $4,000 to $8,000 less and get exactly the same load capacity.
The exceptions exist — flush-framed ceilings, spans over 22 feet, two-storey-plus-roof loads — and those are real reasons to spec steel. But defaulting to steel because it sounds more impressive is the most common expensive mistake on this whole list. Our framing and structural service handles all three materials.
