Load Bearing Walls , Atta Boy Property Inspections.
A very popular question I get asked,
“can this wall be removed”
People love the open concept and that’s fine if you are building a new home or moving into one built in the last 25 years or so, but it gets a little bit tricker with older homes.
In fact, it’s impossible to achieve that look in older houses without taking down a few walls. Since some of those walls might be keeping the rest of the house standing, it’s important to understand how load-bearing walls work and be able to identify them. A load-bearing wall or bearing wall is a wall that is an active structural element of a building, that is, it bears the weight of the elements above wall, resting upon it by conducting its weight to a foundation structure.
Generally, when the wall in question runs parallel to the floor joists above, it is not a load-bearing wall. But if the wall runs perpendicular (at a 90-degree angle) to the joists, there is a good chance that it is load-bearing. However, there are cases where a bearing wall is parallel to the joists.
Starting from the roof, weight presses downwards as well as out. This weight being transferred down a structure is called the load. So, a load-bearing wall supports this weight and transfers it safely from the ceiling down through the foundations. Before any renovation when moving or removing walls always refer back to a structural engineer.
