When building a house, load-bearing and non-load-bearing walls are also built accordingly. The difference between these two types of walls is probably obvious: some support the structural weight of the building, while others simply serve to divide the rooms and do not support anything. Before making changes to the walls of your home, it is important to be "really" sure which walls are load-bearing and which are not, since removing or modifying a load-bearing wall can compromise the stability of your home and lead to potentially consequences disastrous. Start with the first step to find out how to identify the load-bearing walls of your home.
Steps
Method 1 of 3: Look for Structural Clues
Step 1. Start at the lowest point of your house
To determine what the bearing walls are, it is best to start with the most basic features of any home - the foundation. If your home has a basement, start there. If not, start where, on the first floor, you can find the lowest concrete layer in your home.
- Once you reach the lowest point of your home, look for walls whose beams end directly in the concrete foundation. Load-bearing walls transfer their structural weight to strong concrete foundations, so any wall that enters directly into the foundation can be considered load-bearing and should not be removed.
- Furthermore, most of the external walls of a house can be considered load-bearing. You can check this at the level of the foundations: whether they are wood, stone or brick, most of the exterior walls will go directly into the concrete.
Step 2. Locate the beams
Start looking for thick, sturdy pieces of wood or metal, called “beams”. They are responsible for most of the load in your home, which they take care of transferring to the foundations. Beams often extend across more than one story and can therefore be part of several walls. If the beams extend from the foundation to an overlying wall, then that wall will be load-bearing and will not need to be removed.
Except for the unfinished rooms, most of the beams will be inside a drywall, so be ready to consult construction documents or contact the builder if you can't find them. Beams are often easier to spot in an unfinished basement (or attic), where parts of the structure are still exposed
Step 3. Look for the floor joists
Look for places where a beam meets the ceiling (if you are in a basement, it will be the bottom side of the first floor of your house, while if you are on the first floor, it will be the bottom side of the second floor). You should see elongated supports running across the ceiling surface - these supports are called joists, or rafters, as they support the floor of the room above. If one of these joists reaches a wall or a main support beam at a right angle, it means that they load the weight of the floor onto the wall and that, therefore, the wall is load-bearing and should not be removed.
Again, since most of the wall supports are located inside a drywall, they cannot be seen. To understand if some joists in your home join at a right angle to a particular wall, it may be necessary to remove some tiles in the floor above the wall, in order to be able to see the supports inside without obstacles
Step 4. Follow the interior walls through the structure
Starting from the basement (or, if you don't have one, on the first floor), locate the internal walls which, as you can probably imagine, are the walls inside your four external walls. Follow each interior wall through the floors of your home or, in other words, locate exactly where the walls are on the lowest floor, then go upstairs to see if the wall extends across two floors. Pay attention to what is directly above the wall. If you see another wall, a floor with perpendicular joists, or other types of heavy construction, it is probably a load-bearing wall.
If, on the other hand, there is an unfinished space above it, such as an empty attic without a full floor, the wall is probably not holding any load
Step 5. Check for the presence of entire walls near the center of the house
The larger a house is, the further away the external bearing walls will be and, therefore, the more internal bearing walls will be used to support the floors. Often these load-bearing walls are located near the center of the house, as it is the furthest point from the exterior walls. Look for an interior wall that is relatively close to the center of your home. Chances are good that it will be load-bearing, especially if it extends parallel to a central support beam.
Step 6. Check for interior walls with wide ends
The internal load-bearing walls can incorporate the main support beams of the house into their own structure. However, since the support beams are quite wide when compared to the non-load bearing notches, the wall itself is designed to accommodate the extended dimensions of the beam. If an interior wall has a rather large section or has a widened column at the ends, it might just be hiding a structural support beam, which means it is a load bearing wall.
Some of these structural features may seem decorative, but always be skeptical: often painted columns or thin and decorative wooden structures can hide beams that are very important for the structural integrity of a building
Step 7. Check for the presence of main beams and posts
Sometimes, instead of relying on internal load-bearing walls, builders use special load-bearing structures, such as steel main beams and posts, to transfer part or all of the weight of a building to the exterior walls. In these cases there is the possibility (but not the guarantee) that the nearby internal walls are not load-bearing. Look for signs of large, sturdy wooden or metal structures across the room that should touch a load-bearing wall or exterior wall, such as horizontal box-shaped protrusions running through the ceiling. If you see these structures, the neighboring interior walls may not be load-bearing.
This method can tell you where a non-load-bearing wall might be, but remember to always check the wall itself. If you are not sure, ask the builder, so you can understand what kind of construction they have made
Step 8. Look for traces of changes made inside the house
Many houses, especially the older ones, have been modified, extended and remodeled several times. If this is the case with your home, a former external load-bearing wall may have become an interior wall. A harmless-looking internal wall, therefore, could instead be a bearing wall of the original structure. If you have reason to believe your home has been significantly modified, it's best to contact the original builder to make sure your exterior walls are indeed your exterior walls.
Method 2 of 3: Investigating the Building
Step 1. Find the original construction plan, if you have it
Depending on the type of construction, it may be impossible to accurately determine which walls are load-bearing and which are not. In this case, the original construction plan could represent an important resource. The construction plan of a house can give you an idea of the position of the support beams, what the original external walls are and much more. You can use this information to base your decisions and understand if a wall is load bearing or not.
-
It is not strange that an owner does not have a copy of the construction plan of their house. Fortunately, it can be found:
- In common
- In possession of the original owner
- In possession of the original manufacturer and / or the contracting company
- Finally, it is also possible to commission a new draft of the construction plan of your house by an architect. It could be quite expensive though.
Step 2. Study your building plans
Get your home's original construction plan and invest an adequate amount of time in determining whether or not the walls you are unsure of are load-bearing. Based on the clues listed above: Do they contain a main support beam? Are there any joists connected parallel to the wall? Is it an originally external wall? Never tear down a wall until you are 100% certain that it is not load-bearing, as even experienced renovators cannot always determine whether or not a wall is load-bearing simply by looking at it.
Step 3. Understand the effects of the changes you want to make
Generally, the more changes have been made to your home, the more difficult it will be to determine whether a wall is load-bearing or not. During renovations, non-load-bearing walls can become load-bearing (and vice versa). For example, mounting or removing ceiling joists, adding stairs, and building attics typically involve transforming a wall from non-load-bearing to load-bearing. Take these changes into account when determining which walls are load-bearing or not: if the construction plan shows walls that no longer exist, or if you see walls in your home that don't appear in the construction plan, try to understand what kind of changes it is. been carried out.
If you are unsure about the changes that have been made to your home, contact previous owners or builders for more information
Method 3 of 3: Ask Outside Help
Step 1. Contact the original manufacturer if possible
The person (or company) who built your house will be able to give you information on the exact structure of the house. If the construction is recent, they might not even charge you anything for a quick call or a quick consultation. Even if they were to ask you for a fee, however, keep in mind that it would be nothing compared to the disastrous structural damage that results from knocking down a load-bearing wall.
Step 2. Contact a construction engineer if you have any doubts
If you can't figure out which walls are load-bearing and which aren't and none of your contacts seem to know, it may be advisable to contact a professional to do an inspection. This is worth the effort if you want to make changes to your home safely.
Inspections by a technician can be quite expensive. However, the rates may vary depending on the market and the size of the home
Step 3. Hire a renovation company
There are several companies that offer their services to people wishing to modernize their home. These companies provide architects, interior designers and many other experts; if you are in doubt about the changes to be made to a wall, these experts can advise you and let you know which changes are possible, which are not safe, or let you know if any walls are load-bearing or not, all immediately. If you are interested in taking this path, research the companies operating in your area online to make sure you are contacting a credible and reliable company.
Step 4. Be cautious
Avoid removing a wall unless you are extremely sure it is not load-bearing. As mentioned before, removing a load-bearing wall can weaken the structure and potentially cause a collapse that endangers the lives of its inhabitants. Keep in mind that renovations are semi-permanent, so removing non-load-bearing walls could change the additions you can make to your home in the future.
