How to tell if a wall is load bearing in my house.?

Question

I am considering knocking a wall down between the kitchen and living area of my house. I have an older style house built in the 60's. How to I tell whether or not that it s a load bearing wall that would require more work to shore up? I have a tri-level house, but above the wall in question is only the roof.

Answer 1

I am not a qualified expert in this field but I have made structural changes to my house and learnt a few things.

1/ Ultimately because of building regs and for your own peace of mind you will need a structural engineer to examine your plans and the site and do some calculations on 4 or 5 sheets of A4 which he gives you so that you can present them to the Council for approval. This will cost about £300. Insist on these calculation sheets. This report will include a recommendation on any extra beams, pillars and foundations i.e. the recommended structure. A word of warning, I employed 2 structural engineers who drew contradictory conclusions about a change. To avoid this I would suggest that you get one recommended to you and who is experienced and therefore older. There are lots of them in semi retirement doing freelance work. In my experience when you deal via a practice, for a small job, you often end up with a greenhorn.

2/ If you are like me you will take no one's word for it so as an additional protection against being fed bull you need to get into the roof void and discover how the trusses are supported. If you are lucky they may rest on a large metal I(as in the letter I) beam which is directly above and longer than your wall. thus although it is load bearing, the load can be carried elsewhere, i.e. a small beam above the opening to support any brickwork above.

3/Another thing you can do is go to your local council planning department who will give you a copy of your house plans either free or for a nominal charge and this will identify the load bearing walls. Unlike so many Council departments I found these people very helpful and thorough. But a word of warning 60's builders often got away with submitting a plan for approval and then doing something different on site. So plans are not Gospel, they need careful double checking.

4/ A case history. I had a wall recorded as load bearing on the plans, the Structural Engineer agreed, based on the fact that the floor beams crossed it at a right angle, but in a moment of inspiration I decided to cut a hole in the plasterboard and discovered that it was possible to pass a sheet of card between the beams and the wall !!! It was not supporting the beams after all. The lesson from this is double check or watch what the builder does. Incidentally the Council Planning Dep't can tell you some key facts to look out for e.g. how much length of beam should rest on supporting brickwork.

Hope this gives you some good leads.

Answer 2

If you don't know, consult a builder or architect...it is an expensive mistake.

In general, load bearing walls are determined by what is above and below.

If floor joists, beams or roof rest on a wall, then it is load bearing. If you can;t see, before ripping the wall, open the top and see what rests on it.

X===========X ->if the wall connects at the X it is load bearing

X===========X -> if he wall touches the ceiling beam or joists
.......|..................... in the middle, it is not load bearing


X===========
................|......... -> This is the dangerous situation...an X is missing at the right end and the wall is now bearing the load.

If the wall is sitting on a beam or post under the house, it may be an indication also.

Be careful, even non bearing walls by design may now be supporting floors or roof by a cantilever, if a load bearing wall was ripped out by mistake. Taking the wall out could crash the ceiling. [the last example above]

Answer 3

Supporting Wall

Answer 4

You have to go into your attic. The load bearing wall can be or in most cases is the center of the house . It would be safer to shore up the wall in question anyway , having a tri-level house would most likely require this.. Then you would not have to worry about it. Older houses could all use some shoring on the load bearing walls, especially when removing or building up.

Answer 5

Crawl up into the attic and look to see if any of the truss's are attached to the wall. Like the other guy stated if the wall is running parallel to the wall it probably isn't load bearing. The truss is what the roof itself is attached to. It will have the basic shape of a triangle but for some houses it can have various shapes. If you have any doubt whatsoever, get a qualified inspector to look at it. Good luck.

Answer 6

Advise that you call a city housing inspector, he/she would be the ones to approve the work, in the final analysis. You may use a builder. It is VERY difficult to state on this website without seeing your home.

You need to look at the ENTIRE house, not just the attic as people are suggesting here.

Go outside of your home and take a look. The "loadbearing" walls will be:

1. ALL outside walls, including those going up to the soffits.

2. Look at the roofline--the inner center wall will be a "loadbearing wall, " the one that runs the length of the home and supports the roof line. (There will be joists above doorways that complete this "line of support" inside the home).

3. Then look at the roofline, any "crosswise" dormers or rooflines (eg front to back vs the lengthwise roofline) ??? Any interior walls in line with THAT roofline, from first floor to roof, can't be touched. Go inside your home and see if these first or second floor walls are in line with attic/third floor walls that support the roof.

4. Go in your basement. Look at the jacks running from the basement floor to the first floor. They support joists running under the supporting walls of the home.

5. Be sure to pay attention to walls that are adjacent to staircases. If you have a finished basement, you may not see these jacks/joists.

BTW how do you "shore up" a loadbearing wall. It needs to stay in place. Think about it. You'll end up with jacks and joists between the living room and kitchen where the wall used to be....

As other people have said, get an inspector or builder.

Answer 7

15 YEAR CARPENTER..............
OLDER HOUSE so it is probably a handframed roof and not a truss roof.Unless it is a very unusual house ,layout and roofline,it is very uncommon to see roof rafters bearing on interior walls.
go up in the attic and see what kind of roof you have.
Gte a contractor in anyway to assess if you are still unsure
however ,you may have ceiling rafters bearing on a wall.Check to see if there are 2 ends of 2 ceiling rafters meeting on the wall in question.
Even if there isnt ,the span may be long enough so that it is a ceiling load bearing wall.in which case you would have to put in a flush or a dropped beam.The supports for this beam would have to have their load transferred to the foundation

Answer 8

Oh, crap! You either have trusses, or rafters. Rafters leave a lot of open space in the attic, whereas you have to find a way through the trusses. Trusses transfer all the load to the outside walls. Rafters share the load with interior bearing walls. If you can't figure it out just put a header in where the wall was.

Answer 9

Go upstairs,Lift a floorboard near to the top of the wall in question.
If the joists are resting on top of the wall- then it is load bearing,

As you appear to be inexperienced,I would advise that you employ an experienced builder to carry out the project.
It may cost a few quid,but it will be cheaper than rebuilding your house.

Answer 10

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