If a wall is marked as “S” in the blueprint, this means “structural,” thus showing it’s a load-bearing wall. Check your ceiling — Take a look at your ceiling to identify any load-bearing beams that run across the house. Any walls beneath these beams are probably also load bearing.

What is the easiest way to identify a load-bearing wall?

To determine if a wall is a load-bearing one, Tom suggests going down to the basement or attic to see which way the joists run. If the wall is parallel to the joists, it’s probably not load-bearing. If the wall is perpendicular, it’s most likely load-bearing.

Where do you usually find a load-bearing wall?





Exterior walls are almost always load-bearing walls. Some homes built in the past 50 years only use the front and back exterior walls as load-bearing walls, while most older homes use all the exterior walls to bear loads. Any exterior wall that stands on the foundation sill can be considered load bearing.

How do you tell if a wall is a load-bearing wall?

Generally, when the wall in question runs parallel to the floor joists above, it is not a load-bearing wall. But if the wall runs perpendicular (at a 90-degree angle) to the joists, there is a good chance that it is load-bearing. However, there are cases where a bearing wall is parallel to the joists.

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

If a wall runs at a perpendicular angle to the joists, it is load-bearing. Any wall that doesn’t support another wall is most likely not a load-bearing wall. If a wall provides direct support to the structure of a house, it’s a structural wall that you should not remove.

How can you tell if a wall is load bearing with trusses?

If you only have access to the wall framing and not the ceiling/attic space to see the joist/truss direction, then tightly spaced or deeper wall studs could be a sign that it is load-bearing since a heavily loaded wall would require more studs and a larger stud area to resist the applied loads.

How can you tell if a wall is load bearing in a single story house?





Look for walls above



Load-bearing walls usually have posts, supports, or other walls directly above it. The small knee walls that support the roof rafters are also usually located directly above load-bearing walls. Floor and ceiling joists that meet over the wall are also an indication of a load-bearing wall.

Do load-bearing wall run parallel to the joists?

Walls that run parallel to joists are not typically load bearing, whereas walls that run perpendicular to the joists are most likely load bearing.

How can you tell if a wall is structural?

Quote from the video:
Quote from Youtube video: Has joists running perpendicular that means that it's coming in at 90. Degrees. If they're running parallel. That means that the wall is definitely non-load-bearing.

Can a house have no internal load-bearing walls?

A: You can build a multi-story home with no bearing walls. It’s been done for decades. Amazingly, it’s done using regular 2-by-4s to solve the problem. No, that’s not a typo.

Can a 2×4 wall be load bearing?



If a joist is running perpendicular to the wall, or happens to fall directly above/below the wall, it can be load bearing. If there’s a single top plate, the wall most likely isn’t load bearing, unless the wall uses deeper studs than 2×4 (such as 2×6).

Do load-bearing walls run perpendicular to trusses?

The direction of the wall in relation to other elements of the house is an indicator. Walls that run perpendicular to the ceiling/floor joists are typically load-bearing.

Does a house with rafters have load-bearing walls?

Most exterior walls are load bearing, but not all. It all comes down to where the roof trusses/rafters and floor joists/trusses are bearing. Long skinny homes may only have two exterior load bearing walls. To learn more about this, click here.

What happens if you knock out a load-bearing wall?



Removing a load bearing wall may create structural problems in a home, including sagging ceilings, unleveled floors, drywall cracks, and sticking doors.

Can I remove one stud from a load-bearing wall?

As pointed out in the comments, you can’t simply cut a load bearing stud without any issues. Some sort of temporary support must be put in place to carry the load before you cut into existing structure and not removed until the new structure is in place.

How much of a load-bearing wall can you remove?

After all, in most homes you can remove as much as you wish of a load-bearing wall, but it has a lot to do with what’s inside the wall, and how you plan to redistribute the weight. Load-bearing walls are critical to the structure of your home.

Do I need a structural engineer to remove a load-bearing wall?

If the wall is not load-bearing, then it shouldn’t be a problem to remove, provided you know what you’re doing and take all the necessary precautions. If, however, the wall is load-bearing, you may need to get help from a structural engineer who can provide you with a structural engineer’s report.

Do I need permission to remove a load-bearing wall?



Do I have to get planning permission for removing a load-bearing wall? As a general rule, you don’t need planning permission for removing internal walls. But, if you are renovating a listed building, then you need consent for any external or internal work.

Do I need Building Control approval to remove an internal wall?

In most cases, knocking down an internal wall will require Building Regulations consent, although there are times when it may not be required. When removing internal walls, Building Regulations will usually apply if they’re providing any protection in the case of a fire.