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Is this wall load bearing?
Planning on breaking this wall down, was hoping for some advice online. Thank you.
I marked the wall in question in red in the floor plans. Its the wall separating the kitchen from the family room on the main floor.
Discussion
Probably
It appears to be on the same plane as the exterior wall. I would say yes, it is.
Aren’t all the interior walls in plane with an exterior wall on a rectangular structure!
Go to the basement and see if there is a support underneath with large I beam. or go to the second floor and measure if there is a wall directly on top.
There is a wall in the basement that is directly underneath, but no wall above it on the second floor above it
Hmm it probably has to bear the second floor. The good news is if you have the money a good i beam can be very attractive.
This intrigues me, like - a rustic sort of decorative actual I beam? Any pics I can use as reference? I figured the I beam would be hidden behind drywall.
No, my brother did it in his house between his kitchen and dining room. It was a fairly expensive renovation in seattle.
That wall is most likely catching joists from the family room. The joist may have gone the other way to the exterior wall on the kitchen side due to the span. Pop that ac vent out, you might be able to peek in there. Either way it’s bearing. You’ll have a beam sitting in that wall from the stair case in the foyer. You have walls upstairs offset on each side sitting on top. If you plan on doing what I think you want to do, opening up that wall to the family room, it can definitely be done. I would cut open a couple of exploratory holes to verify and have an engineer design the support beam needed there. Do you plan on doing it yourself? I’ve done this several dozen times over the years. I’m a framer, there’s a lot of things involved to get it done properly and safely. Definitely hire someone who’s done this regularly.
If that's the middle of the house that sure is, no expert needed
It’s load bearing
Sho nuff
What happened in the comment section lol, I'd say theres a very good chance its load bearing, might want to get a structural engineer in
I thought it was not load bearing because it runs parallel to what I imagine the joists in the attic go. But im glad I asked
You have a floor between your attic and this wall. The attic has little to do with it. You would need to know how your floor joists run above this wall.
I'm no structural engineer but if the floor joists run across this wall then it's likely supporting that load. If they run parallel to this wall then you might be in the clear. Best best is to have a pro come in and do some investigating.
I see, my googling confused myself. In the basement, I can see the floor joists to the family room and they run perpendicular to the wall in question. So likely load bearing?
Really depends on the floor joists above the wall in question. What's below the wall doesn't necessarily tell you what it's supporting above it.
Oh then I don't know. I am pretty convinced im gonna hire a GC anyways.
Was your home built relatively recently (like in the last 20 years or so)? I only ask because your city might have the structural drawings on file from the permitting process.
Mine had the structural, mechanical, and info on the exterior detention basin system. They emailed me pdfs of everything. It was super helpful when we added onto the home. Worth asking.
Mine is old and in NYS so likely they are useless
It probably is but I would still go through with taking down the wall. Have a structural engineer size the beam. I did this and it wasn’t that big of project. I built temporary walls on each side about 2 feet away from the existing wall, cut out the drywall, bought the beam and then hired a contractor to come in cut the ceiling joists and insert the beam and hang the joists off of the new beam. It took two guys about 4 hours to put the beam in for me.
Wow you make it sound so simple, what did u make the temporary walls from?
Reddit is not the place for this question. You will need to hire a structural engineer.
Yes
You would need to look in the attic/between floors to see if that wall is tied in to any large framing. It looks like you are 3 stories so I'd say probably. Ask an engineer or contractor about your options. You may be able to span it with a glue lam beam.
Probably not! but would have to see how the floor joists are running. Would have to take a small piece of drywall off in the ceiling to be sure
I believe so. Best is asking a contractor.