How can you tell if a wall is a supporting wall?

Question

How can you tell if a wall is a supporting wall?

Answer 1

A supporting wall is solid. A partition wall is not. Knock around the surface to find out if it's solid or hollow in parts.

You can take a partition wall down in full, and can even knock your way through a solid load bearing wall provided that you place a lintel above the opening you have created.

Lintels are usually made from concrete or steel so they can take the strain that the missing wall once took.

Good luck ~

Answer 2

try this site

http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/loa...

Answer 3

Checking  the house plans would be the best way. If can't get hold of them second best would be getting it assessed by an engineer.

Answer 4

welll you would have too knock it down and if the house follows it is a supporting wall.

Answer 5

Do you know in which direction your floor joists run?  Any load bearing wall will run perpendicular to the joists.  A bearing wall will also be "stacked" over the beam in your basement.  You may or may not be able to use the attic to determine direction.  Many times, roof trusses span the entire width of the house, and don't need a bearing wall underneath the center of them.  This means that they may not run in the same direction as the floor joists.  If you know a carpenter, he/she should be able to help you figure it our out pretty quickly.  Otherwise, you can call your building inspector or an engineer.  Hope this helps.

Answer 6

try destroying your wall and the house will tumble if your right

(p.s wear a helmet)

Answer 7

you need to check in the attic and see were the major beams are at if your wall is directly under a beam it is a load bearing wall.

Answer 8

Knock it down and if the house follows, it was a supporting wall.

Answer 9

It will be at right angles to the run of floor boards above it.

Answer 10

Knock out the top brick .. do the bricks continue up? if not then it's maybe not a supporting wall.

Answer 11

Here’s how to identify a supporting wall. Do not assume that supporting walls are only made of brick or stone. Even a stud partition wall could be load bearing.



If you can gain access to the blueprints for the house this can be a quick and easy way to identify supporting walls. If these are not available there are a few simple observations which will determine if the wall is supporting.

Check to see what is above the wall. If the wall is on the ground floor then what is above it? If there is another brick wall then this wall would most definitely need supporting by a steel beam or similar.

If there is nothing above the wall then you need to look down to the floorboards and see which way they run. If they run across the wall then the wall could be supporting joists (a small beam arranged parallel from wall to wall that supports a floor, ceiling, or roof) in the ground floor ceiling. In this case you will need to add extra support.

If the joists above the wall are ending then the stone or stud partition wall will be supporting the end of the run of joists. These joists will need supporting in some other way.

A dead giveaway is posts if you have a post in your house, then this will typically be supporting a ceiling.

Answer 12

if you have to ask the question you dont want to be touching any wall in your house..