Attic Bearing Wall

Look inside the attic if possible to identify the direction in which the rafters or joists travel.

Attic bearing wall. If the wall in question is on the second floor look to see if there is a. Some bearing walls are easy to spot see the central wall in figure b. Exterior walls are almost always load bearing. Exterior walls are walls that form the perimeter or outer footprint of a house.

Additionally most home s exterior walls are load bearing. Using this technique you ll get a better idea of the location of the load bearing walls in your house. If your wall conforms to the situation shown you can be sure it s load bearing. So how do you know whether a wall is load bearing.

In a multi storey building load bearing walls usually line up with each other from floor to floor but this is not always the case. The important thing to remember is that if a wall is load bearing it is transferring that load to something underneath it. If a wall doesn t have any walls posts or other supports directly above it it s far less likely that it s load bearing. How to find a load bearing wall 1.

Once you ve reached your house s lowest point look for walls whose beams go directly into the concrete foundation. A load bearing wall transfers load all the way down to the building s foundation. Examine the roof structure from outside. Look for these from the attic.

If you have an unfinished. This is also true when looking in the attic. You should see this at the foundation level whether wood. Walls that are stacked may be load bearing.

Where there are windows and doors the walls include beams or headers spanning across the tops of the openings. Load bearing walls typically run in. If the wall is located directly under the attic you can go up there to study the positions of the beams and joists. The floors above roof structure people and furniture are the loads that the wall has to support.

To confuse matters further some types of construction such as post and beam or steel girder may not have any bearing walls at all except for the outside walls. Load bearing walls cross roof beams in a perpendicular direction. Ceiling or floor joists that are spliced over the wall or end at the wall mean the wall is bearing. Adding a room in an attic can change the entire load bearing status of the walls below.

Posts on either side of the openings support the beams. Climb up to the attic. Note the direction the roof ridge runs. A load bearing wall is any wall that holds up the weight of the structure above and the people furniture supported by that structure.