How to Determine if a Wall Is Bearing or Non-Bearing

hi again this is Marcel Papen with intelligent design engineering with another video tip this time we're going to be dealing with load-bearing and non load-bearing walls it's a common question definitely for new homebuyers are going to do it to some older homes you know back then they used to have rooms very compartmentalized and now we nice we like nice open spaces so this is a perfect example because there's three walls that they want to remove and they're wondering is it load-bearing is it not can they go ahead and take the solange hammer and get rid of it or not and that's what we're here to help in this pâtisserie living room we're just coming from the entrance here and we want to remove this entire wall they want to make this living room bigger so is it load-bearing is it not memory can they take it out we don't know this became a case if we had another wall here that they want to remove you know is this a little bearing wall are they both little bearing walls how do we know so this is one wall then the other one which you'll see here is a closet wall which you probably see me through here is it plausible separating the two can we take that out make this room bigger without any problem so again it's one of those those requests we get every day is it load-bearing is it not little wearing how do we find out in these particular cases he's going to take this wall out so it's important to have an engineer because now I'm going to tell you if it is or is not load-bearing we're also going to let you know what size of beam do you need in order to create that space so the next step is to go upstairs figure out what's coming down on these walls and so there can one calculate the beam which is Lane oh yes go ahead and take the sledgehammer it's ready to go so we'll go up in the Edit now all right so now we're up in the attic this is basically what we're going to see what is bearing on that wall just to give you a point of reference this is the wall down below that was separating the living room and they were wondering hey is this a load-bearing wall or not so before I get into that just a little bit of terminology when you're dealing with structure the what's the joists that form a ceiling are called ceiling joists and that's what these are right here they're the horizontal member that it goes across the ceiling okay the other one is a raft or crafter so obviously is supporting your roof that's the what's on the diagonal and these are just braces that are brain seeing the rafter okay so looking at this wall is it a little bearing wall or not well we see that my roof is being braced down directly onto this wall so yes it is a little bearing wall and it is also but these joists you see how they are spliced here it's placed what I mean by that is that they're cut and they're actually bearing on top of this wall okay so it's not like my ceiling joist goes from the end of the house all the way across they actually have to splice them or cut them and bury them on the wall so this one here is is load-bearing going on for this next one same thing this is that other side of the whole way we decide to hit our both walls bearing well the same thing happens here ceiling joists are cut and not only just for this attic but they're actually cut all the way through here I know you see board so it's a little bit harder to see my rafters are also bearing on this so yes those are that's the load that I'm gonna have to try and calculate to figure out okay what kind of beam do I need to be able to support all this weight so that spans will be your opening now the last one probably need a flashlight here this is the this is the closet wall so what you want to look for is the ceiling joists are actually running parallel with the wall and in fact if you look down here you can see this plate this little 2 by 8 plate that sits on top of the wall is just there so that can fasten the sheetrock to it but there's nothing bearing on everything is parallel to it there's no roof on it very common things that you'll see some plumbing lines come right through it some vent lines back there not sure if you saw that but that's what I'm looking for in this case here that wall can be blown out you know just make sure that you're making sure your Plumbing's good there's no plumbing in the wall before you go ahead and start getting a sledgehammer happy but those are the things to look for so in this particular case yes we have the joists that come across the air load bearing walls this one here non low bearing go for it alright so we're back down in the living room here so we've determined that this wall is load-bearing the other solenoid side of the hallway there's also low bearing and the closet wall is not illuminated now in this particular case we have an attic above makes it a lot easier to figure that out that's not always the case you know if you got a two-story structure and you can't see because all your flooring is there so just a couple tips to look for again I would consult a professional make sure you know you have an engineer out there and make sure that it is little bear but just something to consider if you're just wondering you know is it going to be feasible or not look at the joy the the direction of the room size of the room you know in this particular case this is 11 feet this way and I'm 18 feet dia this way so it's a good chance that the joist with the seen the drugs are going this direction okay and if you can't see that if you have hardwoods upstairs a lot of times you know there should be installing hardwood floors perpendicular to the joists there across direction so if this was if I was upstairs and I'm looking down my hardwoods are going this way so it's a good chance that my joists are going this direction perpendicular to it's not always the case but it's just another something to consider looking and then finally if you wanted to you know cut holes of course that's the most important thing to do make sure it's not barren but if you had a wall that's in between this one it gets a little bit more professional are we dealing with a 5-foot span or a 15-foot span you know what size four joists are we dealing with can it span that far so those are the things that we look at you know as a professional so again just to wrap this video up I hope it was helpful again consult an engineer before you go ahead and start cutting studs out

Channel: IDEcharlotte

Views: 1,247,551

Keywords: bearing wall, load bearing wall, remove wall, removing walls, remodel, renovation, stud wall, 2x4 wall, engineer, beam size, residential wall, dyi project, blow out wall, marcel papineau

Id: WaNxJmotIeI

Length: 6min 10sec (370 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 06 2016