Expert: Ted Barnhill (Principal, Design45 LLC) - 1/28/2008

Question
I have prefab roof truss in an A frame roof. The ceiling or bottom of the truss are 2x4's The prefab roof truss span 24 ft across my living room and kitchen. I would like to remove the wall between the two rooms and move the kitchen where the living room is. Then i can have the living room area all together with my den that is off to the side of the kitchen now under a separate roof.

So my question is can I remove this wall and let the room span the whole 24 feet. I was told I could from a someone selling a 24 x 24 garage to my friend... there span is open but they have 2x8's across the ceiling

If and when I do this I would have an engineer confirm if I can do this.

Thanks

John  

Answer
John,

Most residential roof trusses are clear span, meaning that all of the load is on the outside walls, and none is transferred to walls in the middle of the span.  With only 24' of span it is very very likely that this is the case in your house, and you will be able to remove the wall.

You are certainly wise to have an engineer review your particular situation in case there is some unusual exception in your house.

Good luck.  -Ted