How do you tell? I live in a small house, I think the proper way to describe it is a one story with a loft. There is a proper stairway dividing the house in half. When you go up, on one side, you look down on the living room. Downstairs underneath the loft, there is a kitchen, bedroom, bath, and dining room. So some of the walls are load bearing I'm sure.
I am gearing up for a remodel and I would love to look at the possibility of reconfiguring some of the space on the ground level. Knowing which walls are necessary where they are will definitely impact the new floorplan.
2007-12-18 10:24:25 · 5 answers · asked by musicimprovedme 7 in Home & Garden ➔ Do It Yourself (DIY)
ide have to say that the wall in the middle of the span would be load bearing. if you have a beam going across the main room. you dont need a wall to bear the w8.
but if not. the outter stair wall would be load bearing.
2007-12-18 10:49:45 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
What the others are forgetting to mention is. You could have a roof bearing load on these walls that don't have joists bearing weight on them. The only way you can no for sure without demo. Is to go into your attic and look. See what structural members are on the top of the wall itself. If you don't have an attic or a crawl space above the walls in question. Slight demo would be your only course of action.
2007-12-19 13:06:05 · answer #2 · answered by Smarty Pants™ 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Easiest way I know is all outside walls will be loadbearing. Look at roof where there are peaks, in most cases will be a load bearing wall underneath, running in same direction. This is a simplistic way to get a good idea where they are.
Get a builder, who you trust, to have a look thru and they will be able to tell you where loadbearing walls are and give you some options. Depending on what builder says and/or local building rules you may need to get a structural engineer to prepare a report on what you plan to do
2007-12-19 00:02:55 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
In most cases you can tell if it is a load bearing wall by determining what is above it. Like the ends of floor joists as described by others, or the eaves of the roof.
This should as least get you started.
2007-12-18 23:04:32 · answer #4 · answered by Ed 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you won't necessarily need to have any demo. Lifting a corner of carpet to see which way joists run etc. often will suffice. You will of course need to see it, so ask a builder you can trust to come and have a look at it, make your plans, then have surveyor and engineers rubber-stamp it
2007-12-18 19:03:10 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋