Determine Load Bearing Wall From Attic

Load bearing wall removal facts.

Determine load bearing wall from attic. You can remove a load bearing wall but you should never do it without consulting a professional builder or engineer. Look inside the attic if possible to identify the direction in which the rafters or joists travel. You should see this at the foundation level whether wood. If it is a small home usually roof framing is in one direction only north south or east west.

Using this technique you ll get a better idea of the location of the load bearing walls in your house. If the wall in question is on the second floor look to see if there is a wall in the exact same place on the floor below. Load bearing walls typically run in. Once you ve reached your house s lowest point look for walls whose beams go directly into the concrete foundation.

Take a peek at the instructions on how your house was built. If you remove a load bearing wall without the proper planning it could quickly lead to disaster in the form of structural instability and ceiling sagging. Enter the basement and inspect the. How to find a load bearing wall 1.

A wall directly above those beams and any walls directly above those walls are probably load bearing. Additionally most home s exterior walls are load bearing. Any part of a load bearing wall that is removed must be replaced with a suitable structural support such as a beam and or columns to bear the same load that was supported by the wall. While the joists and beams of your home are a good start to identify load bearing walls there are other options.

A bearing wall is one which supports the structure of the house. If there is chances are the walls are load bearing. The primary bearing walls in most homes are the exterior walls. Load bearing walls cross roof beams in a perpendicular direction.

Note the direction the roof ridge runs. Larger houses have more interior bearing walls because the spans are greater between the exterior walls. There are secondary interior bearing walls which support a second floor or the attic above the first floor. Look at the floor joists if you can see the floor joists either from the basement looking up.

If you have remodeling plans that include removing or altering a wall you must determine whether the wall is load bearing or non load bearing. Look for extra wall support. You can usually get a copy of the. If the wall is located directly under the attic you can go up there to study the positions of the beams and joists.