How to ensure you don't remove a load bearing wall during a remodel
Introduction
When it comes to home remodeling, the trend right now is to create more open spaces. Often times this means the removal of a wall or two in order to accomplish a free-flowing look. People wanting to save some money by doing this kind of work themselves are unpleasantly surprised when they accidentally demolish a wall that is bearing the load of the house, therefore compromising the integrity of the entire home. Before planning any demolition work in your home remodel, make sure that you can accurately identify any load bearing walls and make sure that those supports remain untouched.
Instructions
Removing walls and changing the floor plan of your home may require a permit and inspection by a structural engineer. Remember that such costs may be inconvenient but the safest way to sleep at night is to hire a professional structural engineer who can give you the peace of mind that the demolition that you have planned is not going to leave you with the possibility that your house might fall down around you.
Steps to ensuring that you don't remove a load bearing wall
Gain access to the floor plans to the house. Having access to these plans can save a lot of time when determining what walls are load bearing. But be warned that sometimes changes are made to the homes that are not reflected on the floor plans.
Load-bearing walls transfer the weight of whatever is above them to the foundation. Houses typically have three types of load bearing walls. The outside walls of your home are always going to be load bearing because they are the walls that hold up the roof. Interior walls that run perpendicular to the rafters support the roof. And in homes that have two or more stories, the interior walls or beams that are perpendicular to an upper story's floor joists are load bearing for that upper story.
You have to know what is above a wall and what is below the wall in order to determine whether or not it is load bearing. Just looking at the wall is not enough to make a decision.
You can tell a lot about load bearing beams by looking at an unfinished basement beneath a ground level floor. If the wall that you are planning on taking down has a bean below it in the basement, chances are it is load bearing.
The attic can also be telling in finding load bearing walls. If the floor joists in the attic are running perpendicular to the wall below, the wall in the floor beneath is bearing the load above it.
Other tips
Sometimes you will not have access to the floor above or below the wall that is in question. If this is the case, you may need to chip away at the ceiling or floor above or below the wall that you are considering for demolition to get a better look at where the wall goes and if there are any support beams that extend beyond the floor that you are working on. Also remember that there are additional concerns besides whether or not a wall is load bearing that you will need to consider before you tear anything down. Plumbing, gas, and electrical lines could run through just about any wall even if there are no obvious clues to their presence in that wall. As you start to peel back the wall and find that there are lines there, make sure that you get professional help in redirecting them. Don't let your enthusiasm for tearing down walls put you in a position where your safety could be compromised.
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