Determine Load Bearing Wall From Attic

Larger houses have more interior bearing walls because the spans are greater between the exterior walls.

Determine load bearing wall from attic.

Load bearing wall removal facts. Take a peek at the instructions on how your house was built. Look inside the attic if possible to identify the direction in which the rafters or joists travel. There are secondary interior bearing walls which support a second floor or the attic above the first floor.

The best way to tell if a wall is load bearing is to go in the attic ceiling space to see if there is any framing joists rafers trusses supported by that wall. Load bearing walls cross roof beams in a perpendicular direction. Reinforcement posts and columns are. A bearing wall is one which supports the structure of the house.

Enter the basement and inspect the. You can usually get a copy of the. 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. If it is a small home usually roof framing is in one direction only north south or east west.

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. Additionally most home s exterior walls are load bearing. You can remove a load bearing wall but you should never do it without consulting a professional builder or engineer. Note the direction the roof ridge runs.

Once you ve reached your house s lowest point look for walls whose beams go directly into the concrete foundation. The primary bearing walls in most homes are the exterior walls. You should see this at the foundation level whether wood. Load bearing walls typically run in.

Look for extra wall support. 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. A wall directly above those beams and any walls directly above those walls are probably load bearing.

If there is chances are the walls are load bearing. How to find a load bearing wall 1. Examine the roof structure from outside. Look at the floor joists if you can see the floor joists either from the basement looking up.