All any of us can do if give you our best guess. I could guess but would not want to cause harm to you if my guess is wronge.
We had a similar "is this load bearing" question a few years back, many said to get someone on site to look at it. Some said it was not load bearing. The op did have it looked at and it turned out is was load bearing.
Really need to look at the roof structure and if it uses that was for support. Something best done by crawling in the attic.
In some places interior walls are also used as shear walls.

The best advice is to have someone come look at it.

 

I think the unofficial DIYChatroom rule is: "If you have to ask on here, then you really need an expert to take a look."

 

I assume those studs are doubled and tripled for a reason

 

"Is this a load bearing wall" is a common question on this site, you can do a thread search and find dozens of similar questions. The answer is always the same. A load bearing wall carries more than its own weight. To determine if a given wall is load bearing, you need to look closely at all the framing above the wall to see if there are any load bearing elements supported by the wall. This include floor joists, roof rafters, diagonal braces, posts, or under certain circumstances trusses. You may need to open up some walls or floors to verify the framing, or it may be obvious (in your case it looks pretty open now).

There are also circumstances where a wall is not load bearing (no vertical load on it) but is used to stiffen the house against horizontal movement (wracking). This is known as a shear wall. This is particularly important in areas subject to high winds or seismic activity. You do not want to remove a shear wall without supplying equivalent shear capacity some other way.

I recommend that you have someone local take a look to verify whatever you determine, unfortunately this cannot be done effectively over the internet, even with good photos.

 

A flat roof... IF; the joist is rated for the span- remove the insulation, check for an ink stamp http://publicecodes.cyberregs.com/icod/irc/2009/icod_irc_2009_8_par027.htm?bu2=undefined,
IF; the joist is continuous and has proper bearing at ends with this wall in the mid-span somewhere,
IF there is no concentrated load above (swamp cooler, etc.),
IF that is just drywall backing scabbed on the joist sides because it is mid-layout (as it appears- just remove a ceiling section in the small room on other side of joist in question)
IF you cut the nails without removing meat from joist bottom from the top-nailed toe-nails,
IF your AHJ says to go-for-it as you need to move wiring anyway- permit required. May need interior shear walls, as said; eg; http://www.awc.org/pdf/WFCM_90-B-Guide.pdf

Gary

 

If it were load bearing, wouldn't the ceiling joists run perpendicular (and rest on the wall) to the wall and not parallel as they are? The only reason I can think it wouldn't is if that supports the roof of that room (which has its own flat roof) at mid-span?

 

Not necessarily

 

You really need to look in the attic and see if there is any load on that wall. a 6" wall can be a load bearing post that carries roof load to the basement.

Why not pull down that little bit of drywall on the ceiling, take out some insulation and take a look?

 

As i stated in the original post, there is no attic, it's a flat roof over an addition that was put on in the 80's long before I bought the house 10 years ago. As you can see from the photos , what you are seeing in the ceiling IS the roof support system - and as you can see I have removed drywall.

 

There could even be a beam at mid span under the rafters, and a brace under it going down and bearing on that wall. I have seen such things. Really can not tell without pulling insulation down and looking.

 

"The roof is flat and this is in the middle of the room and has 2 top plates (at least it looks like it does to me) and often this means a load bearing wall but not always. There is no attic, since it's flat, so this is all there is to determine if it is or not."
Bold is mine...

Gary
PS, yes, that is why he needs to remove some ceiling on other side of wall as it is between two running joists...

 

Just because it is a flat roof does not mean that what we are seeing is the bottom of the rafters. There could be rafters say 2" or 12" or whatever above the ceiling joists, to allow air flow. And I have heard people with a 2/12 slope refer to it as a flat roof.

 

What gets my about this thread and so many others just like it with the same question is how people get that far into the demo of a project without even considering the implications of things such as "is this wall load bearing".

I wonder how many times people have ripped half a room apart only to find out that they can't or are not willing to or can not afford to do what's needed to accomplish the task.

All of this because they decide for whatever reason to skip the most important part of any remodeling project...The Planning Stage.

 

No, I actually have plans for the entire remodel, and everything is planned to the T - the only uncertainty was this room's ceiling which I would address when we did demo. Once the determination was made as to whether it's load bearing or not, I would know whether to have it reframed (higher up with larger joists to create a "thicker" ceiling/roof, or if I could take it out and just drywall it. Never fail to have some asinine comments here, thanks for being ordinary.

 

Icon, if there is no perpendicular blocking between joists (to transmit a load from above) directly above/connecting the wall to joists, OR a joist (running with/above the wall), or other framing vertically from the wall to the roof plywood, it is non-bearing, IMHO. If continuous fiberglass insulation= non-bearing.

Gary
PS. Good point, Ron!

 

Thank you Gary, for the simple and straightforward and non-smart ass answer - I appreciate it. I feel it is non load bearing as well, and plan to rip out the remaining /drywall and insulation/etc,. to determine tomorrow for sure. I merely wanted other eyes on it besides my own and the opinion of others. Thank you!

 

My rule of thumb is to examine the wall and the framing that is or can be exposed above the wall and answer this question: is there any load bearing on the wall? If no, it is not load bearing. If yes, then it could or could not be.

There seems to be some confusion about what is pictured and what other framing/construction might be present that would clearly show a load bearing on your wall. Personally, I don't see any load atop your wall, just based on the pics.