Is this a bearing wall?

tsg234

I would love to remove this 6 foot wall that separates our living room from the kitchen, but I'm not sure if it's a bearing wall. It is on the upper level of a small split entry house, the house is about 22' deep with the roof trusses(not rafters) and floor joists running perpendicular to the wall, above the wall in the attic are just the trusses, below the wall is nothing. There is an 8' unsupported area on the one side of the wall where the dining room is, and a 2 1/2 foot unsupported area on the other side. Could anyone help me to figure this out, or do I need to have a carpenter come look at it to tell me?

Here are the links to the pictures of the area

<a href="http://s721.photobucket.com/albums/w...t=IMG_2423.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/w...4/IMG_2423.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s721.photobucket.com/albums/w...t=IMG_2425.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/w...4/IMG_2425.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

jlhaslip

Best to get an on-site inspection.
From here, assuming the information you provided is accurate, I would consider removing it, but best to have a second pair of experienced eyes.

__________________

daveb1

I suggest an on-site inspection also.Since you have access to the attic is there any electrical or a plumbing stack in this wall?

Red Squirrel

I would be willing to guess it is load bearing but this is hard to tell just like this without a pro checking it.

Actually, check downstairs to see if it is sitting on a beam, or another wall. If it's not, then chances are good it is NOT load bearing. A wall like this in the middle of a house section is usually a good indication that it is bearing a load though but there are a lot of factors that could determine for sure.

tsg234

There is electrical in the wall, but there is no plumbing. There is nothing directly under the wall on the lower level, there is a load bearing beam about 4 feet away from where the wall is though.

I'm wondering if they just put the wall there so that they could have more cabinet space because there is a wall cabinet on the other side.

Snav

It's a general rule (which is sometimes violated) that your load bearing walls are suppose to run perpendicular to your floor beams - so if you go under your house/level and see that the floor beams are running left/right - and your wall is running in the same direction, then it shouldn't be loadbearing (because the load would be put on just 1 or 2 beams - not distributed across all of them)

But Different types of housing construction put the load in some odd places - like my cantilever attic beams, for example - they are not overtop of any direct wall, instead, they distribute the load equally to all hallway walls with a web of beams.

You can play it safe, regardless - because i think a solution would allow you to deal with taking away the wall and still give yourself adequate support.

So - if your wall is 6' and your doorway is 30" or so - then you have 8/9' of wall to deal with.
Don't think of it like 'taking down a wall' - think of it like 'expanding a doorway'

Constructing it as a doorway gives you a header, king and cripple studs - and thus distributes any load to the outer points, the left corner and the right existing portion of the doorframe, while adding a nice look - and finishing off the entry and room smoothly.

I think you could do it - load bearing or not - and have it look quite nice when you're done.

Attached Thumbnails

 

__________________

tsg234

There is electrical in the wall, but there is no plumbing. There is nothing directly under the wall on the lower level, there is a load bearing beam about 4 feet away from where the wall is though.

I'm wondering if they just put the wall there so that they could have more cabinet space because there is a wall cabinet on the other side.

Big N8

You can also go into the attic and take a look at how the rafters are attached. But like others have said an inspection would be the best. What city are you in? I can speak for Coon Rapids in saying they will come out and look at any building and give you a run down of what you can and can't do for free.