I need some serious help! When we remodeled the kitchen, we added a wall to close off the 'formal dining room' which we never used. The intention was to take out the wall in the adjoining bedroom to make a master bedroom. We had put in french doors so that the deck could be acessed from the bedroom. That was five years ago. I currently have a room of no return and the same small bedroom. The room created when we remodeled the kitchen you can enter from the deck and the french doors, but it goes no where. My husband can't decide if the wall between the bedroom and the room of no return is a load bearing wall. He won't proceed any further. I am frustrated and need some very specific or detailed instructions on determining a load bearing wall. I am not a carpenter so don't know a lot of the lingo. I have done a lot of construction over the years and would gladly tackle this project if I could determine what kind of wall it is. I appreciate any help you can give.
Your safest bet would be to consult a structural engineer or atleast someone who designs or builds houses for a living. There is no simple way to find out if it's a load bearing wall or not. And other things need to be taken into consideration besides it being load bearing, pipes and electrical in the wall would have to be moved, ect.
Alot of things need to be investigated before attempting to even knock it down. You need to look at the floor joists, roofline, trusses and other things. If it's an outside wall, it is more than likely a load bearing wall. It's not as simple as finding out if the interior wall runs perpindicular to the floor joist or not. And not all home builders build to code.
Without being able to see your house, we cannot give you the answer that you want. Follow your hubbies gut instict and have someone come out to your house and investigate it for you. Maybe even contact your local building inspector, because in some areas, things like this need a permit to even do.
Really need more info, what style of house is it, a Ranch or a two story colonial, a Bungalow. the easies way to tell load barring is they run with the ridge of the roof. also depending on what year your the way it was built could make it easier to figure out. but when it comes to this wall you'll need to install LVL Beam to carry the weight.
thank you for your reply. it is a type of ranch built in the late 1960's (1968). i live in a rural area that has few building codes so it's a crap shoot how things were done. this wall runs about in the middle of the house but does not run the entire length of the house. it would be close to lining up with the peak of the roof. what does LVL stand for?
You say it runs the roofline. Which way are the floor joists going? Do you have trusses in the attic? It sounds like it could be a load bearing wall, even though it does not run the whole lenght.
On my ranch, I have one wall that runs though 75 percent of the house on the roofline. This is the main load bearing wall. Through the remaining 25 percent I have a beam that runs the rest of the length.
I do urge you to research further as it does sound like it is a load bearing wall. You can then decide what option next. You could still tear down the wall, but you would have to install a main beam, or some type of support. A structural engineer would have the best plan specific for your needs.
LVL is laminated veneer lumber. It is an engineered product made of layers of thin wood and adhesives. They are used to support load bearing walls, for headers, beams, etc.. Because they are manufactured, they are extremely strong, and can sustain a great load. Properly supported a lvl could support a very large opening.
thanks to all who have answered. the part of the wall that i would remove would span approx. 12 feet. can an lvl support this length? i do have a man coming to see it next week but there arent any structural engineers around my neck of the woods.
