Another engineering question

ManglerYJ

ManglerYJ

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
Lexington, NC
Trying to figure out if a wall is load bearing. House was built in the 70's with trusses. House is the most unimaginative floor plan ever. It's a rectangle with a center wall that divides the kitchen from the living room. Trusses and floor joists run parallel to the short sides of the rectangle, but wall I want to remove part of runs perpendicular. The webbing of the trusses "meet" the bottom stick in the middle of the rooms, so I can tell that there is no "support" needed in the middle of the rooms. I'm fairly certain that the dividing wall between the kitchen and the living room is not load bearing as I think the trusses are supported by only the exterior walls. Is there a way to tell for sure?

I'm getting ready to begin a kitchen remodel that involves (hopefully) blowing out half the wall that divides the two rooms. I do not have access to the blueprints.
 
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Bear in mind, I'm not an architect and it's not to scale, but hopefully you can get the idea. Red lines are trusses and same orientation for floor joists underneath.
floor layout.jpg
 
Wear a helmet and knock it down. Trust me, I'm an engineer :p
 
Realistically, you would either need the original plans and truss data, or to take the existing truss design and have it reviewed by an engineer. I'm sure it gets done all the time without reengineering, but thats the right way to do it.
 
Used to be a truss designer.

Do you know if the webs come down in line with that wall? A sketch of the truss with some approx dimensions would help.

Most trusses are designed without intermediate bearing points, but this is not always the case. The trusses to the right of the area you want to modify appear to clear span from one side to the other. If they do and are identical to the ones in question, you should be fine.
 
broncosbybart said:
Used to be a truss designer.

Do you know if the webs come down in line with that wall? A sketch of the truss with some approx dimensions would help.

Most trusses are designed without intermediate bearing points, but this is not always the case. The trusses to the right of the area you want to modify appear to clear span from one side to the other. If they do and are identical to the ones in question, you should be fine.
Click to expand...


In the attic, they all appear to be identical and the web portion doesn't align with any of the walls.
 
Take a picture of the attic space and post up and identify where the wall is. Also, if there is a girder under or very close to that wall, it's very possible the wall is load bearing
 
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