Attic Bearing Wall

The floors above roof structure people and furniture are the loads that the wall has to support.

Attic bearing wall.

You should see this at the foundation level whether wood. Look for these from the attic. So how do you know whether a wall is load bearing. Once you ve reached your house s lowest point look for walls whose beams go directly into the concrete foundation.

What s a mother to do. Where there are windows and doors the walls include beams or headers spanning across the tops of the openings. Additionally most home s exterior walls are load bearing. Exterior walls are walls that form the perimeter or outer footprint of a house.

Climb up to the attic. Look at the structure of the house and ask the following questions. The important thing to remember is that if a wall is load bearing it is transferring that load to something underneath it. If you have an unfinished.

Load bearing walls cross roof beams in a perpendicular direction. 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. 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. Walls that are stacked may be load bearing.

If your wall conforms to the situation shown you can be sure it s load bearing. Examine the roof structure from outside. Look inside the attic if possible to identify the direction in which the rafters or joists travel. If the wall is located directly under the attic you can go up there to study the positions of the beams and joists.

Posts on either side of the openings support the beams. If the wall in question is on the second floor look to see if there is a. 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. A load bearing wall transfers load all the way down to the building s foundation.

This is also true when looking in the attic. Using this technique you ll get a better idea of the location of the load bearing walls in your house. Enter the basement and inspect the. Some bearing walls are easy to spot see the central wall in figure b.

Note the direction the roof ridge runs. How to find a load bearing wall 1. Exterior walls are almost always load bearing. Ceiling or floor joists that are spliced over the wall or end at the wall mean the wall is bearing.