Is this a non-load barring wall?
pedersjo
| Posted in General Questions on
Hi,
I have been trying to get someone out to look at this, to answer my question. They want between $1000-$1200 to do so. So, I thought I’d ask. Just wanted to knock down the upstairs room wall and open it up to the living room. Is this wall load baring, would it be safe to remove some or all of the studs? I do want to keep a few, like the one that supports the stairway of course.
Thank you!
John
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Replies
Structural review by internet forum is not the best idea. I definitely would not take some random internet dudes advice when it comes to supporting the roof.
On houses with complicated details, is very hard to tell what is load bearing and what is not. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to do this without a site inspection. Even then, sometimes you need to strip back ceiling sections and walls to see the whole structure.
I agree with Akos. None of us on here can say with certainty if the structure in those pics is load bearing or not. You need someone who knows what they’re doing to be onsite with you to find out for sure, and this is NOT something to take chances with.
What I can tell you is it looks like you probably have a structural ridge beam holding up that roof there, and that beam will need to be supported somewhere. It’s possible that wall might have some studs acting as columns helping to support that beam and that makes it very important you are SURE what is carrying load before you remove anything.
Take this as a “yes, it’s very possible at least part of that wall is load bearing”. Any more detail would really need a site visit and possibly opening up a few other places to see how things are put together.
Bill
I did have someone out who said it wasn't, but not sure he was qualified. It does have a ridge beam yes, and I thought I'd keep some of the studs for support. Okay, I'll do some more callings. Don't want the roof to fall in that's for sure.
Looks weight bearing to me. Enough so that I agree with the above posters - if someone joins this thread and says they’re certain it’s not... I’d think long and hard about before demoing it.