1 story, cbs, do the sistered joists need support?

nosh0es4u

I am buying my first house wednesday!! I have a lot of experience but not sure about structural support. The house is an A frame roof made in the 60's and the walls are CBS. I am looking to remove a wall to open up the kitchen. I'll be taking out an 8' wall and above that are sistered 2x6x12' beams perpendicular in the attic to the wall in question. The wall itself is not a support/structural wall. I busted into it and there are no 2x4 combo support beams anywhere in the wall except for the usual single frame of a non structural wall.

I am very grateful for any input or anyone reading this and learning a bit from this!

Daniel Holzman

I am very confused by your post. First off, most support walls are built using single studs spaced approximately 16 inches on center. I do not understand what you mean by a "2x4 combo beam". If you are referring to double studs, they are not called combo studs, and double studs are not beams, and you do not need double studs in a load bearing wall.

Then you mention that you have sistered 2x6x12 foot beams in the attic. Do you mean that you have attic floor joists perpendicular to your wall? And exactly what do you mean by sistered? Possibly you are referring to floor joists which overlap your wall, and are nailed together. From the description, you may have conventional floor joists supported by the wall, which would make the wall a load bearing wall. Best to post some pictures, maybe a scaled diagram of what you have.

Finally you mention that your walls are CBS. I am not familiar with the term CBS as a structural term, there is a television network called CBS, but not sure what you are referring to. Anyway, post some pictures, and make sure in your descriptions that you are using correct terminology for the structural elements in your house. Vertical supports in the wall are called studs, rafters typically support the roof, joists support floors, and beams are typically large lumber that support joists.

nosh0es4u

OSorry I do not know all the proper terms.I will get pictures today.
CBS is concrete block structure.
Its a single story house.in the attic there are two 2"x6"x16' beams tied together tospan from the front of the house to the back. I thought this was called sistered.The wall in question spans about 10 feet under where these are tied together in the attic.the wall contains just basic 2"x4"x8' frame needed for drywall. It doesn't contain extra 2"x4"s that are usually inside a support wall. What concerns me is the spot where the attic beams are connected are directly above the wall in question and that they may want to sag if the wall below them where removed.
Thanks for all input.

GBrackins

a wall built with 2x studs at 16" o.c. can be a load bearing wall, and does not typically require any additional framing members including headers/beams, except where openings occur within the wall such as doors or windows.

post some photos later and you can get better feedback.

__________________
Gary

"You get what you pay for, and sometimes free costs more!"