How to Know if a Wall is Load Loading

Start at the lowest point in your house. To begin with determining which walls in your home are load-bearing walls, it’s best to start at the most basic load-bearing structure of any home – the foundation. If your home has a basement, start here. If not, try to start anywhere on the first subfloor where you can locate your home’s “floor” concrete.

• Once you’ve reached the lowest point in your home, look for walls with beams that connect directly to the concrete foundation. Your home’s load-bearing walls transmit the structure’s pressure on it to the solid concrete foundation below, so any wall that is in direct contact with the foundation, can be considered a load-bearing wall. and should not be removed.
• Besides, most of the walls surrounding the outside of the house are load-bearing walls. You should consider it at the foundation level, whether wood, stone or brick, nearly all of the outer walls will connect to the concrete foundation.

Position the beams. Start looking for thick, and sturdy, wooden or metal slats called “beams”. The beams are what account for the load-carrying capacity in your home, the load being transmitted by them to the foundation. Beams often extend over several floors, and can therefore be part of multiple walls. If the beam connects from the foundation to any wall above it, that wall is bearing and should not be removed.

• With the exception of unfinished rooms, most beams will be behind drywall, so be prepared to consult building records or contact your builder if you can’t find one. Beams are most often found in unfinished basements (or attics), where part of the structure is exposed.

Look for horizontal beams. Look at the point of contact between the beams and the ceiling (if you are in the basement, that will be the underside of the first floor of your home, while if you are on the first floor, it will be the underside of the second floor). ). Look for slats that extend all over the ceiling, known as these “beams,” because they support the upper floors of the room. If any of the beams are in perpendicular contact with the wall, or main bearing beam, it is transferring the load of the upper floor to the wall and, therefore, the wall is bearing the load and should not be removed.

• Again, because most of the load-bearing parts of the wall are behind the drywall, they can’t be seen. To determine whether a beam is in perpendicular contact with a given wall, you need to remove a sufficient number of floorboards on the upper level of the wall to obtain an unobstructed view. “down” the load-bearing parts.

Trace the internal walls through the floors of your home’s structure. Starting in the basement (or the first floor if you don’t have a basement), locate the internal walls, which, as you might have guessed, are the interior walls of the four outer walls. Trace all the internal walls through to the floors above your home – in other words, pinpoint exactly where a wall is located on the floor below, then go upstairs to that location. to see if that wall would extend through two floors. Focus your attention on something placed directly on the wall. If it’s another wall, a floor with perpendicular beams, or other heavy-duty structures placed on top of it, it’s probably a load-bearing wall.

• However, if there is an unfinished void such as an empty attic with an unfinished floor, the wall may not be a load-bearing wall.

Check for internal walls close to the center of the house. The larger the house, the greater the distance between the external load-bearing walls, and therefore, the more internal load-bearing walls are needed to support the floors. Often these load-bearing walls are located within close proximity to the center of the house. Because the center of the house is the furthest point from any outer wall. Look for internal walls that are relatively close to the center of your home. There is a high percentage of these walls as load-bearing walls, especially if they run parallel to the basement’s central bearing beam. ^[1]

Look for internal walls that have a larger end point than others. Internal load-bearing walls can incorporate the building’s load-bearing beams within the structure itself. However, because these load-bearing beams are relatively larger than other non-load-bearing posts, often the walls will be designed to accommodate the additional girder size. So if an internal wall has a large boxy section, or a column is made larger at the end, it can be hidden inside a main structural beam, an indication that this is the case. load-bearing wall.

• Some of these structural features may appear as decorative elements, but beware – often painted columns, or heavily embellished wooden structures can hide closed beams. very important role in the structure of the building. ^[2]

Look for steel beams, beams, and columns in the structure. Sometimes, instead of relying on internal load-bearing walls, construction contractors will use special load-bearing structures such as steel beams, beams, and columns to transmit some or all of the building’s load. house on external load-bearing walls. In this case, it is possible (but “not” guaranteed) that the nearby internal walls are not load-bearing. Look for signs of large, sturdy structures of wood or steel that run through the ceiling of the room and intersect with a wall you know to be a load-bearing wall or an outer wall, like boxy protrusions horizontal rectangle through the ceiling. If you see them, nearby internal walls “may not” be load-bearing.

• This method can give you a clue about places that are likely not a load-bearing wall, but you can’t be sure without double-checking the walls. If you are unsure, check with the contractor to make sure this is the type of structure used.

Look for evidence that the building has been remodeled. Many of the houses, especially the old ones, have been modified, expanded, and restyled a few times. If your home falls into this category, a former outer wall can become an internal wall. If so, then this seemingly innocuous internal wall could be the load-bearing wall of the old architecture. If you have any reason to believe that your home has been significantly remodeled, it is best to contact a previous builder, just to make sure that your current exterior walls are in good condition. the “real” outer walls.