How am I able to tell if the wall I wish to knock out is load-bearing or not?

Question

We want to move our giant freezer into the utility room closet but we have a wall in the way. I was wondering if there was a way to tell if the wall was load-bearing or not (since I have absolutely no experience in construction or carpentry or anything of the sort).

Answer 1

there are many varieties of load bearing walls here are a few examples:

walls that support your floor joist - check the direction your floor joist are running/spanning if they are spliced atop a wall then the wall is bearing.  now if they are spanning along the top of the wall and not spliced it may also be a bearing wall depending on the joist size and the location of the wall.  

(for instance, max span of a 2x12 joist is about 14'6".  so if a bedroom wall is 10' away from the exterior wall where the end of the joist is bearing on and you have a hallway wall 3' away from the bedroom wall,  you can remove the bedroom wall as long as there are no splices atop the wall you are removing and assuming there is not heavy load being transfered atop those joist from above.

walls that support your roof load - walls that roof rafters sit on.

wall that support a beam or a bearing post above.

(a bearing post can be used for many structures, such as to support a ridge, a beam above, or to transfer a load down to the foundation or another beam - steel or wood)

knee walls along the perimeter of your home.

the list can go on and on.

if you really want to move this freezer, do this, get your self a 8' of 10' - 2x6 or 2x8 (temporary header) nail it along the face of one side (or get two and nail on both sides) of the wall under the ceiling (with 16d nails at every stud, one high one low or s***w with timber screws or lags, don't use drywall screws), this will temporary support any joist above.  remove a 4' or 5' section of the wall (drywall, studs and just hope no electric or plumbing is running through the studs).  move the freezer and replace the finishes.  

a floor section will not collapse by removing two or three studs from a wall as most walls in new homes have a double top plate and the floor sheeting is spanning across the joist.  the plates and sheeting will hold the joist in place. but adding a temporary header will ease your tensions.

now some older homes have what we call balloon framed walls (these are walls that are full height from foundation to "said" floor or can run all the way to the roof to support the rafters.  most balloon walls will have a 1x notched into them for the floor joist to rest on, again just install a temporary header, remove finishes, cut out studs, etc.

it is rare to see interior balloon walls with a 1x notched into them.

upon completion install a new plate along bottom of cut stud still in place and add new studs directly inline with the old ones.

hope this helps

Answer 2

please first off if you end up having doubts do not do it serious damage to your structure and injury could occur!! Now here is a couple of ways. IF you have a second floor and could see the floor joists the bearing woill always run at 90degree angle to the direction of the floor joists same thing on first floor either load bearing wall runs thru the first floor all the way down to the foundatin or perpindicular to joists. another rule of thumbusually the bearing partitions run parrellel withe longest,running dimension.watch for buried load bearing beams that take the place of a wall when a wall would not work architectually for instance a door bearing wall will have a beam spanning door opening. at least talk to local contractor to make sure you bracing and shoring properly

Answer 3

In addition to the suggestions already posted, look in your basement and if you can see the floor system for the 1st floor, look for things like supporting columns and a place where floor joists are resting. It would be very common for floor joists to only span half way across the floor and for the joist ends in the middle of the house to be resting on some kind header or carrying beam supported by a masonry pier or metal column. Even more than the attic, this will give you a good indication of where the load bearing walls above it would be.

Now, you're doing all this to move a large freezer into a utility room? Without having seen the layout of your place, you may be able to get away with removing one stud from the load bearing wall (if the wall in the way does turn out to be load bearing) and still get your freezer through.

But before doing anything, ask around and get a builder or architect over there who can tell you, if you're not confident making the call yourself. I wouldn't be cavalier about it as you could be seriously injured and your home badly damaged if you're wrong.

Answer 4

Are you sure you want to tackle this with no experience?  It's not easy!

To answer your question, you have to climb up in the attic and crawl over to the wall in question.  Check to see if the beams are resting on the top of this wall.  If they are, it is a load-bearing wall.  Then, if it is, you would need to put a very large beam above the wall (size depends on local regulations) to attach the cross beams to, so they will have support when the wall is removed.  This is a very big job and needs someone who knows what they are doing.

Answer 5

Load bearing walls are typically Front, rear and center partition walls. You may also get in the attic and look to see if the ceiling joists join on top of that wall. Just do not remove any wall where a corner would have to be removed.

Answer 6

i need  more info...how much u want to take out...single story or 2 story...slab or crawl foundation?  email me and i'll help ya..

lic. gen. contactor