[Dappdiy]

The doorway space I am looking to add would be approximately 32" x 8' 1st photo below shows the area in question from the living room, the other side of the wall is the hallway- the second photo being from the west end of the hallway (wall is to the right), the 3rd photo from the eastern end (wall in question is to the left).

It is an interior wall.

House was built in 1987- slab foundation, single story with tall ceilings and a rather tall attic. The portion where the insulation has been removed is about where the opening would be- I would like to remove the two studs closer to the left of the opening, and place one new stud right next to the lower middle electrical box- the box seen above this one is for the doorbell, this I will move.

The box to the right is for a phone jack and I will get rid of that. I would place another stud to the right of the existing right hand stud and attach it to the stud in the corner. I would then proceed to remove the other studs.

My question is about the diagonal 2x4 - I assume it is shear support, though I'm not sure why the lateral bracing is needed here, or if necessary. It does not go all the wall to the corner of this wall but ends in the corner of the vertical stud that is second most to the left (the next stud over from the one seen in the corner).
I am located in Northern California, a few hours south of Oregon border. Thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[oh'mike]

That 'let in bracing' has me a bit concerned---

Is that a load bearing wall?

 

[ront02769]

No concerns for me at all. I would have at it. Remembering to adequately support BOTh sides of the ceiling before installing a header if it is a load bearing wall. Ron

 

[Mingledtrash]

That 'let in bracing' has me a bit concerned---

Is that a load bearing wall?

obviously i cant know for sure from these pics if it load bearing but here is my thinking,

the wall in question is running parallel to the direction of the vault so it is likely not a bearing wall. I have built houses like this before and usually you build all the walls at the same height, usually 8', then you get your scissor trusses and they span from exterior to exterior with the vault starting at both exterior walls and going up. after trusses and roof is installed and sheathed we come back to the inside and frame up the space between the 8' plate line and the trusses. this allows you to have nice tall ceilings pretty much everywhere in the house and still only have 8' plateline which saves money on lumber because the interior walls top plate wont be attached to the trusses sometimes you put in braces like this to stiffen everything up.

edit:
Notice the vent directly above one of the studs i would bet money the stud layout above the plate line is on 24" centers. and i am pretty confident its not load bearing but to know for sure you would have to see in the attic.

 

[Dappdiy]

More Photos

Went up in the attic, took some more photos best I could in the darkness, using the flash and my headlamp. Side note: I am 6'3" and a couple of these photos were taken standing up, our house is a single story, anyone have an idea on why the attic is so massive?

In the first image below (photo #5) you can see the duct (lefthand side of photo) that corresponds to the air vent, and the top of the wall above where I had been eyeing to place a door. The truss seen closer to the camera is actually running diagonally downward, I was standing up between trusses for this photo.

The second photo below (photo #6) you can see one portion of insulation removed and the drywall on the other side

The third image below (photo #2) shows a close up of that area with the insulation removed.

The fourth image (image #1) shows an even closer-up view of the close up of the area.

The last 2 images (photos #3,4) show the areas above the wall in question. The ventilation seen on the right-hand side, heading down is what connects to the vent seen on the living room wall in the photos on my original post.