Expert: Bruce E. Johnson - 9/8/2009

Question
QUESTION: I have a L shaped wall dividing my kitchen and dining room that I want to remove.   The long side runs parallel to the floor joists and perpendicular to the rafters above (one story house).  Its about 5 ft long.  The short wall runs perpendicular to the floor joists and parallel to the raftes and is about 3.5 ft long.  In the corner there is a large cutout/shelf that leaves only about 3 ft on the long wall and 2 ft on the short wall of solid wall.  There are also 2 main beams in the basement supported by steel posts.  Neither wall sits directly over either beam.    The roof has a very mellow slope to it.      Is it safe to assume that neither of these walls bears weight??

ANSWER: Hi Nick, reasonably these walls aren't seemingly long enough to be bearing walls unless there is a hidden support beam bearing on them somehow.  If you open up your ceiling at the walls you can tell if they are supporting any hidden structural elements.  I hope this information helps please feel free to write again regarding this or other matters, sincerely bruce e johnson..bejohnsonconsulting.com

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QUESTION: Bruce,   Thank you.

I can access the attic,  what should I look for in terms of hidden support beams etc??   I can also access the basement if that is necessary.      Also to clarify  I wrote the question wrong the short wall is perp. to the floor and ceiling joists and the long wall parallel to both.  Thank you

Answer
Hi again nick,  If you can get in the attic and position yourself approximately in the area of the walls below you can pull back some insulation and just see if your ceiling joists are connected to any beams and if the beams are bearing on these walls you want to remove.  If it looks like there is no beam then you should be okay.  If you have engineered roof trusses then your rafters will be built out of 2x4's and held together with squares of metal called gang nail plates.  If this is the case then the only bearing walls at this level is the outside walls.  I hope this information helps please feel free to write again regarding this or other matters, sincerely bruce e johnson..bejohnsonconsulting.com