Load bearing walls? all 2nd floor interior wall non-load bearing?

jsunsun

I was told by my home inspector that the way the roof of my house is made, it is fully supported by the perimeter walls of the house, hence all interior walls on the 2nd floor are not load bearing walls. Can someone confirm this before I start hacking away at some of the 2nd floor walls?

More specifically, I want to knock out the 2 walk-in closets in the master bedroom and create one bigger giant closet room. So the walls in question are the walls that currently encloses the 2 walk-in closets. I made some cuts on the drywall to have a look inside. Attached are 3 pictures:

-Picture #1 is picture of of the attic,
-Picture #2 is picture 2nd floor plan showing location of the walk-in closet I wish to knock out, alone with another sample cut in the drywall to show what is behind it
-Picture #3 is picture of another location where I've made another drywall cut to see what's inside

On picture #2, the black thing appears to be a vapour barrier (which I've accidentally slices as well when I cut out the drywall). If I can remove this wall, can I also remove the 2x4 that is wrapped with the black plastic?

On picture #3, I was expecting to see a hollow cavity when opened the drywall, instead it was filled in with lumber. This worried me, why would all that be there is it's not load bearing?

So from this, could someone help me? is this load-bearing or not? Thanks all!

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joecaption

Forget about taking the work or a home inspector.
Hire a real engineer.
All those top plates and headers all look like there load bearing to me.
Even the way the roof was built it's counting on that center support to hold it up.

GBrackins

Joe is correct.

Have someone such as a professional engineer evaluate the roof. I cannot tell if you have a truss roof or not (cannot see how the connections are made). Sometimes roofs are stick framed in this manner and where the king post (vertical member that comes down from the ridge) would typically require a load bearing support (beam or wall).

An inspector may or may not know, a professional engineer would.

Good luck!

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Gary

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

Daniel Holzman

Joecaption and GBrackins are correct, you cannot use information from a home inspector for critical structural decisions. Frankly I am amazed that a home inspector would even offer such an opinion, it violates their code of ethics, it almost certainly goes beyond their contractual obligations, and it opens them to liability in the event you accept their opinion and your house falls down. Unless of course the individual you refer to was not in fact a home inspector, but was a professional engineer or architect, in which case their opinion carries substantial weight, and they have the credentials to accept the liability associated with such an opinion.

As to your framing, I agree with GBrackins, that looks like stick framed king post framing, however it is possible that it is a truss (unlikely). A professional would immediately be able to determine if it is a truss or stick framed based on the connection details. I believe the large piece of lumber you see in picture three is a header, which may in fact support the center beam in the attic. Again, this would be determined by the professional you hire. Nice looking house by the way.

federer

is that a spiral stair case???!

jsunsun

It's just a curved staircase.

jsunsun

Thanks for all the replies! I'll definitely look into getting an actual engineer to have a look.

Meanwhile I have anther picture of the attic. I took a pic of the attic that appear to correspond to that header. Would that give more information?

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gregzoll

Taking word from a Home Inspector is like asking the kid doing burgers at your local Micky D's, what they think about that ticket you got for speeding, or if they think the mole on your neck is cancer or not.

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federer

can you post pic of this too it looks awesome!

hand drive

those verticals land right where you want to move the wall and the one roof has the angled braces landing at the same spot on the wall as well. it looks like it is holding weight. not to confuse the situation but have the inspector there when you get the engineer and have them compare notes

md2lgyk

I agree. When we built our log home (did it ourselves), the wife wanted a look I guess you could call "rustic industrial." To access the loft, there's an all-metal circular staircase that's painted black, with diamond-tread steps. Built it myself from a kit. The loft railings (also black) were made to her design by a local blacksmith. All the appliances are stainless steel. Even has a stainless steel countertop on the kitchen island (the rest of the counters are dark granite).

Some jurisdictions do not allow a spiral staircase to be the primary means of access, so you should definitely check first if you're contemplating one.

jsunsun

Here it is! is this not common in US? I see this frequenty here in Toronto.

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kwikfishron

Not in my neighborhood.

Looks great though.

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gregzoll

Common in my area, along with some areas in Old money parts of Chicago, and other areas throughout the U.S..

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federer

wow that looks awesome. it goes 3 levels too