2:11 - - Which way the joists run (perpendicular to structural wall, ≠ parallel) 2:47 - - Dimensions of the house (structural wall runs the longer length) 3:07 - - Gable roof / peak (joists run perpendicular to the peak)
I have a decorative wall that has two columns in the middle that runs parallel to the joists but is sitting right on top of a joist. That means it’s not load bearing?
@@alexcantrell4794 please don't attempt to remove a wall yourself - - please have a licensed architect or licensed construction contractor look at it. You could probably find a licensed instructor at a local college or trade school to help you at no cost (maybe a cup of coffee or lunch 🙂). Good luck.
I'm a framer/carpenter. I have been doing this trade for 20 years. I build high end, custom houses and remodels. I always crawl under houses to view everything. I crawl or walk around the attic. Look at everything!
I know nothing about construction. After watching this video, I identified all supporting walls, and likely locations of hidden beams, within minutes. Pretty cool. Best use of 9 minutes and 48 seconds today!
Wife and I are thinking of knocking down a wall and we don't want to start demolition until we know if it's load bearing or not. This helps a lot, thanks!
I used to work with a contractor while in college remodeling homes and small businesses. Learned when you are removing a wall, take off the drywall and hit each stud with a hammer to see which ones had a load bearing on them. The loaded ones we left in place and reinforce it into a column. He was successful with this method, and I had the oppurtunity to see some of his work from years earlier and they all withstood the test of time. If I work any remodeling jobs, I still tap the studs to double check they aren't load bearing, even with an engineering report.
As a structural engineer, I kept thinking of exceptions to his rules of thumb that could lead you to remove a load-bearing wall in error. His advice will be right much of the time. Hopefully your house is not the exception. Just ask a structural engineer. It’s cheap insurance, and he can answer tons of questions for you about anything you want to ask about your house or your plans.
@@ey5373 I know this is a year old now but the structural engineers that I’ve done business with typically charge $100-$150 USD per “opinion”. So it’s pretty reasonable
I’m in the foundation business. Sales. I tell clients all the time to get a structural engineers advice. Usually about 300-400 bucks. Then 150 per hour for designed drawing. Usually a grand all said and done. That’s a no brainer when your looking to spend tens of thousands.
Couldn't I go up in the attic to see which way the beams run ? Plus, like someone has said, how do you support that stuckture before you take down the wall ? Hello
Don't forget that by installing that large beam you just put large point loads on the basement beam below. The basement beam most likely was designed to hold a uniform floor load. Point loads can crush the structure below if not adequately supported.
One quick way to determine a load bearing wall (if it's not covered and you can see the framing) is to look at the openings. If the opening has a solid header above it, I can guarantee that the wall is load bearing. Non-load bearing walls will have open framing with short studs (known as "cripples") above the opening. Also, in older homes (80's and before) the interior non-load bearing walls only had one top plate, while load bearing walls had two, just like the exterior walls. However, in today's construction, many builders just double top plate all of the interior walls so they can use the same pre-cut stud height for both load bearing and non-load bearing walls. Great video! I enjoyed it!
Good info. Main take - load bearing is running perpendicular to rafters for single stories and perpendicular to joist for multiple stories. For people who are still confuse, the easiest way is spend few bucks getting a drawing copy of your house at your city planning department.
I think we went from “you will know EXACTLY how to tell if a wall is load bearing” to “these are typical situations where the wall will bear weight.” Leaves too much up to chance. If you can’t be 100% certain, get a structural engineer and don’t risk it.
a structural engineer is not going to know either. You expect him to come to your house and look? You could look just as easily. An engineer is used for designing supports, not finding them.
A little knowledge can be dangerous. A load bearing wall may also serve as a shear wall. When you “open up” a room by removing a bearing wall, you also remove the shear capacity of the building- not good, especially in high wind or earthquake region.
I appreciate that. Make sure to check out the next video this week that goes through an 8000 sqft, $4Million home line item breakdown! Thanks for watching!
I use a neodymium magnet as a stud finder. It will locate the screws/nails in the drywall to show you where the studs/joists are and is way more reliable than a stud finder. Doesn't work so well on plaster and lath though. I haven't used a electronic stud finder in many years. If you use a magnet to locate a stud always check more than one location to be sure the fasteners are in a straght line, drywallers don't always hit the bulls eye and will leave a screw that has missed the mark which can lead you astray. Sorry for the repeat comment, didn't see that Jerry Strader also made the comment. For plaster and lath walls, the magnet can work to find studs in a wall if you use it on the base trim to find the nails used to attach that which is usually nailed on before the lath and plaster so most of the time the nails in the base molding are dead on the studs.
Good clear explanation. This will hopefully help home potential homeowners know what they are getting into before buying a home that they plan on renovating.
Thanks for walking us through that! In the process of buying a home that has this strange space of about 4’ dividing 2 bedroom walls. Each wall has a door you can walk through to the adjoining bedroom but the space in between the two walls/doors is unfinished it’s like you’re able to walk in between the walls of these two rooms. Of course one of these walls needs to go once I complete the purchase, not just for the extra room but to get rid of the creepy hidden wall space; totally old horror film set up. Now I should be able to tell if one or both of these walls can go. Thanks
6:59 DON'T rip the drywall off. The EASIEST way is to turn off all the lights, stand on a step ladder and cross-light the ceiling with a flashlight. You'll easily see the joists' direction. (You'll be surprised at how wavy your ceiling is too.)
Yes i can see my Joists under the plaster as they look lumpy or pressing down on the plaster boards also if you tap on the plaster you can hear the sound differently.
You can also use those small button style ,rare earth magnets to locate the fasteners in your drywall. You can quickly determine your joist direction based on the layout of the drywall seams. All without damaging or cutting out any drywall at all. Hope this tip helps
I have a wall that fits all your categories as load bearing. However, in the attic space (vaulted ceiling with a shallower pitch than the roof) the wall terminates without contact to the trusses. I had suspicions it was non load bearing. For $400, a structural engineering firm confirmed my thoughts and I am insured up to 1 million. Honestly, get a structural engineer. Small price to pay for peace of mind.
Good video! My tract ranch home has trusses going from north to south and floor joists from east to west. I have a doorway I would like to open up about 6”. The door is going east to west, is the support above the door load bearing, and the wall? Thanks!
Question: my home had a double garage but at some point half was converted to a bedroom towards the back section and a small mud room directly in front of the bedroom, the other half remains as a single garage . in the mud room there is a closet which id like to remove. I believe I am ok as there would not have been any support when this was a full double garage? Just making sure before I fire up the sawzal!
Wonderfully simple to understand. I’ve always considered finding a generally simple way to determine a load bearing wall and your clear, yet simple to understand, direction gave me the confidence to move forward with installing a small, recessed medicine cabinet. Much appreciated.
HELLO, from chihuahua mexico, yes it is real, is a state in the north of Mexico, I just like to say that, this video is very good and helpful, thank you and GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY.
Thank you for your videos, they are constructive and more important they are full of knowledge, I'm from chihuahua mexico and I'm living in Las Vegas Nevada in this moment, I'm 51 years old and I'm learning from the future. Thank you and GOD bless you and your family.
What about creating a window in a partition wall to connect 2 rooms? I think our wall is non load bearing but thinking creating a window vs knocking it all down will be an easier job?
This was so helpful and now I know more about the bones of my house so I can do all sorts of projects, starting with removing a terrible wall that was put in haphazardly and crooked. I now know this wall serves no purpose other than to annoy me!
Ya, I know right.. Im a licensed GC in Ca for 25 yrs now and all I got was "Thank you captain obvious" on a few things he said. B- for effort, and here's some actual useful advice - hire a structural engineer if you dont know things like trusses distribute the load to the exterior walls, or single story shear walls carry about 60 pounds per foot and 120 pounds for those with 2 stories. Also, if a wall runs parallel to the joists, it absolutely can be load bearing, it depends on how the loadpath was designed. You cannot simply explain away "load bearing wall removal" in a five minute TH-cam video. This is the perfect recipe for a major catastrophe, some guy telling everyone they can definitely remove a wall if its running parallel to the joists. Scary. Like I said, 25 years building and modifying homes in some of the strictest cities and counties in the US and I still get a professional opinion on this. Not cool bro. Not cool at all. Someones house gonna fall down on their head cus you got em all confident they can DIY their own homes structural engineering.
Wow grea to knjow. I have a garage with two 8x7 doors and want to have one big door. all i know is the joist run parallel with the garage doors. Still curious if my Center pillar is load bearing or most likley itls not
You will definitely need a structural engineer to figure out the size of header required to do a change like that. The center pillar is definitely load bearing in modern framing for garage doors. Each seperate door will have an individual header (beam) and the center pillar will rest on the garage grade beam/footing/foundation. Thanks for watching!
I built my own house with a double and single garage door on the garage. There is virtually no weight above the garage doors, but the main door beam that was engineered was huge! It was a glulam the width of a 2x4 but was about 24" height. It was a beautiful piece of art and I hated drywalling over it.
my daughter hired a structural engineer to determine if the wall she wants to remove is a load bearing wall. He came out and inspected her home and told her he was 80% sure it wasn't, but wouldn't say for sure until he got back to his office and verified all of his data running it through his computer. BTW the price was a lot less than I thought it would be. If a structural engineer can only claim 80% by looking, I'm glad my daughter didn't just go with her gut and the advice in this video.
Whats in the basement under those heavy verticals you built to hold each end of the beam? Wouldn't they transfer that well-distributed load onto just two random points on the main beam in the basement? Does it need support posts under your new load points? But if you can't just put a post anywhere because it needs a special foundation to be poured for it, do you start by cutting into the basement floor to pour the footers for the posts that support the main basement-beam directly under your heavy verticals that hold the beam upstairs? Or would you build-up the basement beam so it could transfer the point loads laterally to the existing posts?
Knock out the wall, if it's load bearing, you will know soon... Seriously though, the fastest way is to go into your attic or crawl space and look at the direction of the joists. If the wall runs in line with the joists then it is almost certainly not structural. If it does run perpendicular to the joists, then it might be structural. The next check is to open up the drywall where the wall connects to the ceiling, if the wall is poorly attached to the ceiling, it probably isn't structural. "What if the wall is perpendicular to the joists and is fastened securely?" Then you need an engineer. Don't play games with this, the risks of being wrong are to much to be worth paying the couple hundred bucks an engineer will cost you.
I have a question Say you have two bedrooms and between them are two load bearing walls that makes a long closet and only one person going to live there like myself could I say about in the middle of the walls cut out like a double door a Joining the two rooms and making two short closets is this possible?
You did an excellent job of explaining how to know if a wall is load bearing. I have read some of the comments and just as expected the Mr. Betterthanyous are adding their two cents. Don't let that bother you, and thanks for the video.
Yeah, don't listen to the critics, just follow this guys advice and everything will be great, I mean sure, if you're unlucky you'll tear down a wind stabilizing wall which isn't mentioned here and your house will fall down upon you in time. But hey, why be such a sourdough and talk down this fine gentleman with such boring things.
@@Ergil89 oh this is getting good. Would you say he's incompetent. I mean I need to know this things. And remember you can point out mistakes and still remain classy and respectful sir :)
Load bearing walls do not always sit exactly on top of a beam below. I have had many cases over the years of where a wall holding the floor or roof above were off by as much as 3'. It seems to be more common in newer construction. Maybe due to better engineering in products. Engineer has saved my ass several times over the past few decades.
@@EmmettLeoHomes Why are you recommending people cut holes in ceilings or pop sheetrock screws or mess around trying to find old house plans with the city when they could simply go into the attic to look at the rafters without causing any damage and it would take less than 30 seconds???
I used to frame houses and honestly, it's not that hard to tell. The peak of the roof will tell you everything you need to know, 90% of the time, because the rafters/trusses are perpendicular to the peak and parallel to the joists; so the load bearing walls are parallel to the peak.
Yeah. That’s the easiest way for 90% of simple homes, however people focus more on the 10% of roofs that don’t fit into that. Ahhhh TH-cam. Thanks for watching!
But just because a wall is parallel to the peak doesn't mean it's load bearing. That only tells you which walls *might* be load bearing. Our house has five different walls that run parallel to the peak. All five are offset from each other. I don't even know if all five walls are original to the house. Maybe if I could get into the attic I could tell whether any of the walls were load bearing. But that really depends on the type of truss. And that's above my pay grade.
Good explanation on determining if wall is bearing or not. But there is s huge problem with the concept that it is acceptable to remove any non-bearing wall. The wall could be non-bearing and still be a shear wall, which is part of the lateral load resisting system for the structure. Removing a shear wall, even if it is non-bearing, could render a building unsafe in case of large wind or earthquake loads.
Correct. Just an overview. Where we are, residential structures don't often require shear wall strength other than exterior sheathing/structural framing. But I agree. Nothing should be removed without the proper diligence. Thanks for watching!
great video, I used to watch this old house and the old houses broke a lot of rules but they still stand the test of time. not to mention balloon type construction used about 100 years ago. these building codes of today are just now being considered "time tested"
A stud wall that is not vertically load bearing can still have a structural function as a shear wall for racking stability. They may have diagonal bracing or ply/osb sheathing in addition to drywall to increase racking resistance.
@@EmmettLeoHomes Why don't you update your video with all these exceptions, warning, and potential dangers before people go ripping apart their houses on false promises? It's very irresponsible to claim any unskilled homeowner watching "will know exactly what is a structural wall by the end of this video!" because clearly they will not, and there's far more to home engineering than you can cover in a 10 minute TH-cam video.
Interested in what size post to use for holding up beam on first floor and in basement. You showed the post but could not see how many 2 x 4 were used,
It's usually typical a center wall will be your load bearing wall. But it can also depend on the shape and size of your roof. Smaller houses don't typically have load bearing walls unless the span of the roof extends over your house to encompass a deck or exterior room like a garage.
Would there ever be (ceiling) drywall between a top plate and a ceiling joist? I have a truss roof. Wall is running perpendicular to the ceiling joist (middle of house). Seems like it is non load bearing?
metalmassacre84 good observation. Partition walls with drywall between the two means that they installed them after the initial ceiling drywall was up, and then someone else renovated and left the small drywall piece there (and the wall). Granted, there are times where people do stupid things, so beware and confirm prior to remove especially if it’s perpendicular to the trusses, but you have the right idea. What does the support directly beige the wall look like? In the basement or crawlspace. That will be your best indicator. Thanks for watching!
Emmett Leo Homes its a 1960s house. This wall separates the kitchen and dining area. Im trying to open it up. It seems to me that the load goes to the outside walls (not this interior wall). At first i thought it was load bearing but took off the wall drywall and saw the ceiling drywall sandwiched between top plate and ceiling joist. This makes me look around more. Im thinking its not load bearing
On just about any home with interior drywall you can hold a bright light against the sheetrock and spot all of the patch marks from the original compound / tape job. (likewise the nails / screws) This was pointed out to me by an old painter who said that's how he finds places that need touch up before the paint goes on.
If this is true then a new set of plans must be submitted to the Building Authority for review and approval. If this is not done, your construction can be halted.
Not mentioned. You need to be careful and it's a good idea to temporarily reinforce an area that is load bearing BEFORE you dismantle that wall. (It's also a good idea to take measurements from the beam to the floor whether in the basement or on the floor in critical spans.) This may eliminate any deflection in that beam, before you've installed the permanent reinforcement. Any movement due to shearing may possibly affect the finish in the dwelling, e.g., finish trim (Miters and so forth), dry wall, (Screws popping and butt joints appearing.) and possibly tile, etc.
Thanks for this. I knew most of this before, but you gave few good additional tips for sleuthing it out. I'll mention one of my own personal hang ups. I cringe at the phrase "open concept". A concept is an idea. TV shows have made the phrase popular. It is the same as saying, "open idea." No, it is not an idea, it is an open floor plan. Do we say, oh it has a "front yard concept" or a "basement concept" or a "two story concept?" Sounds a bit odd, right? Yes it does. It's an open floor plan.
blaster 0416 thanks for the comment. Yes I agree, however “open concept” is colloquial solar people understand its meaning, albeit not entirely correct. Thanks for watching!
hey!!! I have 20 ft span btwn 1st and 2nd floor (open floor concept 1st floor) I like to do hiding lvl beam 2x10x20 2pices pls let me know if it's enough?
You need that stamped by an structural engineer before doing any changes. And no, that’s probably not enough over a 20’ span with 2 levels. Make sure to get a professional in there before doing any work. Thanks for watching!
Another way is using a magnet. I carry strong but small magnets in my truck, plus a harbor freight camera. The harbor freight camera has a small head and only requires a quarter inch hole to view what's behind the drywall.
Nice video! When we wanted to know if an interior wall between the living room and kitchen was load bearing, we had to do some looking. It was floor to ceiling on the main floor. Below that, the downstairs rafters and the trusses in the attic were running from outer wall to other outer wall which spanned kitchen and living room. So, on the one hand, our kitchen wall was sitting right on top of the steel girder running across the rafters but on the other side, that section of our house had the two sided roof with the centerline and the wall was only a partial wall (there were trusses that lacked that support - maybe 10' of them on one end. On the basis of no reason to imagine one one truss should be different than the other and 4 of them spanned the roof without any fuss, we removed the kitchen wall and made it into an island. We let the city engineer agree with us after we got a carpenter and our own pictures and we've had no issues even with a fair bit of ice and snow load (the back part of the house has an extension where they kept the original roof and went from the centreline of the house and just put another roof over it at a lower slope. Our slope is actually low enough we need torch-on instead of shingles (if it were me, I would have popped a half stub wall at the centerline to keep an appropriate slant on the extended rear roof section, but hey, what do I know?). For those who want to have low slope roofs in high snow and rain areas... torch-on is MUCH more expensive than shingle because of the insurance issues (ie your house could catch on fire).
Cenddie Alaban well if it’s a wall, the studs should be 16-24” apart and the screws should be 1 foot apart... just pretend you are erasing a chalk board and you will find the screws.
When checking a ceiling to find the joists direction a very easy method is finger tapping. tapping the ceiling creates a hollow sound were no joist is and a more dull sound where the joists lies. Another tip is to unscrew the ceiling rose and look closely in the gap as the electrician will try to fit a rose to a joist when possible
after watching this video, my load is downloaded inside a peak joist perpendicular beam 2x4 supporting a span in the frame structure nailed to wood in the basement and juxtaposed to the roof and since nothing was covered by drywall, wood doesn't matter so long as it is next to a beam that is next to stairs, then I found a nail in my foot and removed it and then looked for another perpendicular wall which ran the same way as the nail that went through my foot then I decided I don't need drywall in my house because if I cover up my studs I can't see the wood which can cause problems when I am looking for a load bearing wall but the structure of my house is open floor plan and there are no beams, but I would like to add them in 6 years so I need to plan to load another open living room without wood and flooring is optional since I float like a butterfly but I was thinking about moving so this all might be moot.
A man purchased a small one story house two doors down from me. He tore it down and built a two story home on top of the old foundation. Last year we had an extremely windy day her in Toronto (100km/hour+) and the house FELL DOWN!! It shifted and collapsed like a house of cards - my entire house shook and my cats got terrified from the “boom”. Everyone was out on the street in seconds because it sounded like something crashed from the sky. Thankfully no one was inside (it was still under construction) and the home next door got minor damage. I assume the inside had a complete open concept without proper beams to support the weight. Or maybe the old foundation wasn’t fixed to hold up a two story. It’s been over a year and there is just an empty space there now. I often wonder what’s going to happen with the space. The man was really nice - i think he was re-doing it to resell. Now he has a nightmare on his hands. Moral of the story, call a qualified engineer and contractor. I only ever saw him and two- three buddies working on the house - I assume they tried to DIY it. If in doubt, call a professional!!
Is there always the support and concrete pad under the floors? I have log post, would there be these supports under the house of the posts that would be supporting? There is not way to see this open valted area in the attic, as the walls to the area go all the way up.
Hungry by Nature why? It’s the new standard you’ll find if you google info about load bearing walls. My building inspector told me that as they started to run out of the old growth wood. The span lengths would shrink. My house is framed with 2x6 (full dimension lumber) and has unsupported 17’ spans. Under the modern code, I couldn’t do that without supports.
Billy bob Smith I just googled it and it said for decks. That’s funny because my friend is suing his contractor for building his house floor joists based off of decking info. It’s terrible advice because you can just google the international residential code (IRC) and get the correct information on floor joist construction for houses. Also, not all wood species are the same. Anything after that is irresponsible information because the average person does not understand live load, dead load, or tributary area.
Great question. The only way for that is to stick your head up in the attic and look at the framing. YOu can also tell by the spans and how wide they are, but the simplest is just looking at the framing. If you don't know what you are looking for, bring someone in that does. Thanks for watching!
So I just bought a rancher. The wall between the living room and dining room is the load bearing wall. It has a standard size doorway between the two, but I want to open it up about a foot and a half on each side. Is that something I can do or would it have adverse affects?
Christopher Spencer is it is load bearing, the opening will have a header above the opening. This has to be elongated for the new opening. However, and this is the most important part, the structure underneath which is currently holding the posts or carrying the load of the wall must be analyzed and if you are moving any weight point load, they have to be carried down to whatever foundation structure is below. Best to start at the foundation and plan up from there for load bearing. Best to consult an engineer or architect, and they will be able to draw a plan, and stamp it to avoid any liability issues for yourself. Make sense? Thanks for watching.
@@EmmettLeoHomes Thanks for responding. It is a load bearing wall but the support column in the basement isnt directly under the door opening. The door is directly over the beam however
Even with all of this, you may have trusses designed as clear span trusses, as in my house. In that case, there are no load bearing walls, on the upper floor. Of course, the only way to know is to have access to the original plans. Plans were submitted to your regional building authority. You may get that info from them.
I live in an end townhome with a flat roof. I’m getting so many mixed answers. I have none of those posts in my basement. And the wall I want to remove runs perpendicular to the joists and aligns with the room wall above.
Yes simple answers are best for your piece of mind with several tons of material above your head. Don't want to be troubled with a few simple details. Mechanno Toy 101 is sufficient.
Hi Emmett , Excellent video man . I found it really Helpful and respect that you shared the knowledge for others Much thanks for us all . Best wishes from Canada
2:11 - - Which way the joists run (perpendicular to structural wall, ≠ parallel)
2:47 - - Dimensions of the house (structural wall runs the longer length)
3:07 - - Gable roof / peak (joists run perpendicular to the peak)
Was coming here to make a similar comment.
👏👏👏
I have a decorative wall that has two columns in the middle that runs parallel to the joists but is sitting right on top of a joist. That means it’s not load bearing?
@@alexcantrell4794 please don't attempt to remove a wall yourself - - please have a licensed architect or licensed construction contractor look at it. You could probably find a licensed instructor at a local college or trade school to help you at no cost (maybe a cup of coffee or lunch 🙂). Good luck.
Great break down and recap on the topic. With video/subject location. Big thanks.
I'm a framer/carpenter. I have been doing this trade for 20 years. I build high end, custom houses and remodels. I always crawl under houses to view everything. I crawl or walk around the attic. Look at everything!
All well and good IF blueprints are available; often, they are not; hence, doing a visual inspection
Thank you!
I'm on a slab, and trying to figure out which first floor walls are load bearing is driving me crazy!! 😂 I WISH I had a crawl space to inspect in!
my house has no basement. I guess i have to go in the ceiling
I know nothing about construction. After watching this video, I identified all supporting walls, and likely locations of hidden beams, within minutes. Pretty cool. Best use of 9 minutes and 48 seconds today!
Now go build a house! lol. Thanks for watching!
Wife and I are thinking of knocking down a wall and we don't want to start demolition until we know if it's load bearing or not. This helps a lot, thanks!
Our home is a ranch on a slab with roof trusses how do we know
I used to work with a contractor while in college remodeling homes and small businesses. Learned when you are removing a wall, take off the drywall and hit each stud with a hammer to see which ones had a load bearing on them. The loaded ones we left in place and reinforce it into a column. He was successful with this method, and I had the oppurtunity to see some of his work from years earlier and they all withstood the test of time.
If I work any remodeling jobs, I still tap the studs to double check they aren't load bearing, even with an engineering report.
The easiest way to tell is to knock the wall down. If the ceiling comes down with it, it was a load-bearing wall. 😆😊🤣
😂🤣
Yea baby!!!😂
Exactly.
Sounds good to me can I try it with your house first lol or should I try the nabiour's that name is Karen ?
In contracting I've seen guys try but was to way to nice just watch that
As a structural engineer, I kept thinking of exceptions to his rules of thumb that could lead you to remove a load-bearing wall in error. His advice will be right much of the time. Hopefully your house is not the exception. Just ask a structural engineer. It’s cheap insurance, and he can answer tons of questions for you about anything you want to ask about your house or your plans.
Yes let the pros do what they do, for your safety. Just don't hire the guy if he's your wife's ex
How much to have a structural engineer just tell me where the load bearing is? I’ll just take it from there
Can you please let me know if I can talk to you over the phone?
I need an advice about my house...
Thanks in advance!
@@ey5373 I know this is a year old now but the structural engineers that I’ve done business with typically charge $100-$150 USD per “opinion”. So it’s pretty reasonable
I’m in the foundation business. Sales. I tell clients all the time to get a structural engineers advice. Usually about 300-400 bucks. Then 150 per hour for designed drawing. Usually a grand all said and done. That’s a no brainer when your looking to spend tens of thousands.
Since I want to create a shelf in my living room, I wanted to learn more about the studs in my walls and this helped me. Thank you for sharing.
Best, simplest, and most comprehensive explanation I’ve found on TH-cam so far
Wow, thanks! Make sure to check out the next video this week that goes through an 8000 sqft, $4Million home line item breakdown! Thanks for watching!
Couldn't I go up in the attic to see which way the beams run ?
Plus, like someone has said, how do you support that stuckture before you take down the wall ? Hello
Don't forget that by installing that large beam you just put large point loads on the basement beam below. The basement beam most likely was designed to hold a uniform floor load. Point loads can crush the structure below if not adequately supported.
Allen Robinson that’s what engineers do. Thanks for watching.
Good point Allen. I needed this knowledge before an interior remodel. Old Plaster walls so the structure is crazy thick ......
Excellent job explaining that, so many people do a lousy job and completely forget about all levels of the load transfer and it blows my mind.
One quick way to determine a load bearing wall (if it's not covered and you can see the framing) is to look at the openings. If the opening has a solid header above it, I can guarantee that the wall is load bearing. Non-load bearing walls will have open framing with short studs (known as "cripples") above the opening. Also, in older homes (80's and before) the interior non-load bearing walls only had one top plate, while load bearing walls had two, just like the exterior walls. However, in today's construction, many builders just double top plate all of the interior walls so they can use the same pre-cut stud height for both load bearing and non-load bearing walls. Great video! I enjoyed it!
Thanks for the comment and watching!
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What about a mid 1970s ranch with engineered truss? 1000sf small ranch with crawl
That's some pretty based "rules of thumb" that I could contradict with most of the homes I've owned.
How much does the design and installation of the new beam cost? Can you share an estimate? Thanks
Good info. Main take - load bearing is running perpendicular to rafters for single stories and perpendicular to joist for multiple stories. For people who are still confuse, the easiest way is spend few bucks getting a drawing copy of your house at your city planning department.
I think we went from “you will know EXACTLY how to tell if a wall is load bearing” to “these are typical situations where the wall will bear weight.” Leaves too much up to chance. If you can’t be 100% certain, get a structural engineer and don’t risk it.
He clearly showed how to tell if a wall is load bearing and gave different situations that would require a load-bearing wall.
a structural engineer is not going to know either. You expect him to come to your house and look? You could look just as easily. An engineer is used for designing supports, not finding them.
It's really not that hard to figure out.
Anybody with SOME INTELIGENCE, higher than ANY DemocRAT, can figure it out without GOVERNMENT HELP.....
Sure 🤡🤡☝️
A little knowledge can be dangerous. A load bearing wall may also serve as a shear wall. When you “open up” a room by removing a bearing wall, you also remove the shear capacity of the building- not good, especially in high wind or earthquake region.
I was skeptical watching a 10 minute video, but you hooked it up with all the knowledge. Perfect, ty.
I appreciate that. Make sure to check out the next video this week that goes through an 8000 sqft, $4Million home line item breakdown! Thanks for watching!
I use a neodymium magnet as a stud finder. It will locate the screws/nails in the drywall to show you where the studs/joists are and is way more reliable than a stud finder. Doesn't work so well on plaster and lath though. I haven't used a electronic stud finder in many years. If you use a magnet to locate a stud always check more than one location to be sure the fasteners are in a straght line, drywallers don't always hit the bulls eye and will leave a screw that has missed the mark which can lead you astray. Sorry for the repeat comment, didn't see that Jerry Strader also made the comment. For plaster and lath walls, the magnet can work to find studs in a wall if you use it on the base trim to find the nails used to attach that which is usually nailed on before the lath and plaster so most of the time the nails in the base molding are dead on the studs.
Only confused why so many commenters are confused. I found this super helpful and easy to understand. Thank you so much!
This was very informative! I am studying Civil Engineering with a concentration in Structural Engineering.
Awesome. Best of luck. Thanks for watching!
Good clear explanation. This will hopefully help home potential homeowners know what they are getting into before buying a home that they plan on renovating.
Absolutely. You are right. Thanks for watching!
Thanks for walking us through that! In the process of buying a home that has this strange space of about 4’ dividing 2 bedroom walls. Each wall has a door you can walk through to the adjoining bedroom but the space in between the two walls/doors is unfinished it’s like you’re able to walk in between the walls of these two rooms. Of course one of these walls needs to go once I complete the purchase, not just for the extra room but to get rid of the creepy hidden wall space; totally old horror film set up. Now I should be able to tell if one or both of these walls can go. Thanks
you really cleared the idea of load bearing and non load bearing walls and I really appreciate that!
6:59 DON'T rip the drywall off. The EASIEST way is to turn off all the lights, stand on a step ladder and cross-light the ceiling with a flashlight. You'll easily see the joists' direction. (You'll be surprised at how wavy your ceiling is too.)
Yes i can see my Joists under the plaster as they look lumpy or pressing down on the plaster boards also if you tap on the plaster you can hear the sound differently.
Thank you thank you thank you thank you. Have been wondering this for so long 👏🏻 you did such a good job explaining
This guy explained everything so simply. This was a huge help!
I appreciate that. Thanks for watching!
Great job describing by details how to find load bearing walls . You have a new fan .
I appreciate it. Thanks for watching!
You can also use those small button style ,rare earth magnets to locate the fasteners in your drywall. You can quickly determine your joist direction based on the layout of the drywall seams. All without damaging or cutting out any drywall at all. Hope this tip helps
Jerry Strader great suggestion!
What if you have plaster?
What happens if the joist have been batten out with either steel battens or with timber battens running perpendicular to your joist?
Unless the wall or ceiling is strapped.
You can also cross-light the ceiling with a flashlight if it's dark enough.
Thank you! This information was presented perfectly.
I have a wall that fits all your categories as load bearing. However, in the attic space (vaulted ceiling with a shallower pitch than the roof) the wall terminates without contact to the trusses. I had suspicions it was non load bearing. For $400, a structural engineering firm confirmed my thoughts and I am insured up to 1 million. Honestly, get a structural engineer. Small price to pay for peace of mind.
Yes!
$400? You got ripped off!
Interior wall partition are NOT allowed to contact lumber above it, giving a false sense of security.
@@etimesoyyosemite6673 good to know!
@@etimesoyyosemite6673 what if a joist is parallel on top a partition wall?
Good video! My tract ranch home has trusses going from north to south and floor joists from east to west. I have a doorway I would like to open up about 6”. The door is going east to west, is the support above the door load bearing, and the wall? Thanks!
a Nagy in the wild! looking to remodel in our home and stumbled across this video. I come from a Nagy family as well.
One quick way of finding out load bearing walls is start cutting the wall out if the ceiling doesn’t cave in it’s not load bearing 🤗
Haste makes waste!
J Liz please don’t 😂
i seen that episode on the three stooges.
@@SSJIndy Not for the guy who makes money cleaning up the mess.!
🤣🤣
Question: my home had a double garage but at some point half was converted to a bedroom towards the back section and a small mud room directly in front of the bedroom, the other half remains as a single garage . in the mud room there is a closet which id like to remove. I believe I am ok as there would not have been any support when this was a full double garage? Just making sure before I fire up the sawzal!
Boy, I wish I had invisible drywall like you
clarker011 😂😂😂
Wonderfully simple to understand. I’ve always considered finding a generally simple way to determine a load bearing wall and your clear, yet simple to understand, direction gave me the confidence to move forward with installing a small, recessed medicine cabinet. Much appreciated.
Very knowledgeable to understand the structure
HELLO, from chihuahua mexico, yes it is real, is a state in the north of Mexico, I just like to say that, this video is very good and helpful, thank you and GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY.
juantransportador thank you and I appreciate you!
Thank you for your videos, they are constructive and more important they are full of knowledge, I'm from chihuahua mexico and I'm living in Las Vegas Nevada in this moment, I'm 51 years old and I'm learning from the future.
Thank you and GOD bless you and your family.
What about creating a window in a partition wall to connect 2 rooms? I think our wall is non load bearing but thinking creating a window vs knocking it all down will be an easier job?
Thank you for making me more confused.
Our bad!
Great video. It’s been over 10 years since I’ve done anything of this caliber!
Thanks for watching!
This was so helpful and now I know more about the bones of my house so I can do all sorts of projects, starting with removing a terrible wall that was put in haphazardly and crooked. I now know this wall serves no purpose other than to annoy me!
Great. Glad I could help. Make sure to confirm prior to removing any walls. Good luck. Thanks for watching!
Good information for beginners. Good work and thank you
You are welcome
Nothing "easy" about this explanation, I'm more confused now than I was before
Ok. So I'm not alone on that. Sorta kinda thunk i get it
Ya, I know right.. Im a licensed GC in Ca for 25 yrs now and all I got was "Thank you captain obvious" on a few things he said. B- for effort, and here's some actual useful advice - hire a structural engineer if you dont know things like trusses distribute the load to the exterior walls, or single story shear walls carry about 60 pounds per foot and 120 pounds for those with 2 stories. Also, if a wall runs parallel to the joists, it absolutely can be load bearing, it depends on how the loadpath was designed. You cannot simply explain away "load bearing wall removal" in a five minute TH-cam video. This is the perfect recipe for a major catastrophe, some guy telling everyone they can definitely remove a wall if its running parallel to the joists. Scary. Like I said, 25 years building and modifying homes in some of the strictest cities and counties in the US and I still get a professional opinion on this. Not cool bro. Not cool at all. Someones house gonna fall down on their head cus you got em all confident they can DIY their own homes structural engineering.
Wtf did he say?!
Right? at 02:27 he says the joists run perpendicular from the said wall, when they were actually parallel. WTF?
@@mrchedda loll i thought i was the only one who heard that . wtf
Wow grea to knjow. I have a garage with two 8x7 doors and want to have one big door. all i know is the joist run parallel with the garage doors. Still curious if my Center pillar is load bearing or most likley itls not
You will definitely need a structural engineer to figure out the size of header required to do a change like that. The center pillar is definitely load bearing in modern framing for garage doors. Each seperate door will have an individual header (beam) and the center pillar will rest on the garage grade beam/footing/foundation. Thanks for watching!
Your outside wall there is indeed load bearing.
I built my own house with a double and single garage door on the garage. There is virtually no weight above the garage doors, but the main door beam that was engineered was huge! It was a glulam the width of a 2x4 but was about 24" height. It was a beautiful piece of art and I hated drywalling over it.
my daughter hired a structural engineer to determine if the wall she wants to remove is a load bearing wall.
He came out and inspected her home and told her he was 80% sure it wasn't, but wouldn't say for sure until he got back to his office and verified all of his data running it through his computer. BTW the price was a lot less than I thought it would be.
If a structural engineer can only claim 80% by looking, I'm glad my daughter didn't just go with her gut and the advice in this video.
Me too. Thanks for watching!
Whats in the basement under those heavy verticals you built to hold each end of the beam? Wouldn't they transfer that well-distributed load onto just two random points on the main beam in the basement? Does it need support posts under your new load points? But if you can't just put a post anywhere because it needs a special foundation to be poured for it, do you start by cutting into the basement floor to pour the footers for the posts that support the main basement-beam directly under your heavy verticals that hold the beam upstairs? Or would you build-up the basement beam so it could transfer the point loads laterally to the existing posts?
Very well described and narrated video. Clear to understand and it’s the way it’s done in professional construction.
Ru Le thank you. That’s very kind!
Nope
WOW. He made finding a load bearing wall so confusing the way he did it. He is right on what he said basically but did it in the most confusing manner
Thank you for the video!
Quick question: what’s the fastest way to tell if a wall is load bearing?
Knock out the wall, if it's load bearing, you will know soon...
Seriously though, the fastest way is to go into your attic or crawl space and look at the direction of the joists. If the wall runs in line with the joists then it is almost certainly not structural.
If it does run perpendicular to the joists, then it might be structural. The next check is to open up the drywall where the wall connects to the ceiling, if the wall is poorly attached to the ceiling, it probably isn't structural.
"What if the wall is perpendicular to the joists and is fastened securely?"
Then you need an engineer. Don't play games with this, the risks of being wrong are to much to be worth paying the couple hundred bucks an engineer will cost you.
I have a question
Say you have two bedrooms and between them are two load bearing walls that makes a long closet and only one person going to live there like myself could I say about in the middle of the walls cut out like a double door a Joining the two rooms and making two short closets is this possible?
You did an excellent job of explaining how to know if a wall is load bearing. I have read some of the comments and just as expected the Mr. Betterthanyous are adding their two cents. Don't let that bother you, and thanks for the video.
Yeah, don't listen to the critics, just follow this guys advice and everything will be great, I mean sure, if you're unlucky you'll tear down a wind stabilizing wall which isn't mentioned here and your house will fall down upon you in time. But hey, why be such a sourdough and talk down this fine gentleman with such boring things.
Yeah ignore them power to the people ✌ and all that...
@@Ergil89 oh this is getting good. Would you say he's incompetent. I mean I need to know this things. And remember you can point out mistakes and still remain classy and respectful sir :)
Thank you for the great video I was wondering if you can help me figure out if I have a load bearing wall thank you
Load bearing walls do not always sit exactly on top of a beam below. I have had many cases over the years of where a wall holding the floor or roof above were off by as much as 3'. It seems to be more common in newer construction. Maybe due to better engineering in products. Engineer has saved my ass several times over the past few decades.
You are right. There are definitely other situations that are out of the norm. Thanks fore watching.
@@EmmettLeoHomes Why are you recommending people cut holes in ceilings or pop sheetrock screws or mess around trying to find old house plans with the city when they could simply go into the attic to look at the rafters without causing any damage and it would take less than 30 seconds???
Excellent video, Dan. Thank you
I used to frame houses and honestly, it's not that hard to tell. The peak of the roof will tell you everything you need to know, 90% of the time, because the rafters/trusses are perpendicular to the peak and parallel to the joists; so the load bearing walls are parallel to the peak.
Yeah. That’s the easiest way for 90% of simple homes, however people focus more on the 10% of roofs that don’t fit into that. Ahhhh TH-cam. Thanks for watching!
But just because a wall is parallel to the peak doesn't mean it's load bearing. That only tells you which walls *might* be load bearing. Our house has five different walls that run parallel to the peak. All five are offset from each other. I don't even know if all five walls are original to the house. Maybe if I could get into the attic I could tell whether any of the walls were load bearing. But that really depends on the type of truss. And that's above my pay grade.
Good to watch this after opening up my wall and realizing how that it's load bearing. No wonder why my walls are cracking on the second floor
😮
Good explanation on determining if wall is bearing or not. But there is s huge problem with the concept that it is acceptable to remove any non-bearing wall. The wall could be non-bearing and still be a shear wall, which is part of the lateral load resisting system for the structure. Removing a shear wall, even if it is non-bearing, could render a building unsafe in case of large wind or earthquake loads.
Correct. Just an overview. Where we are, residential structures don't often require shear wall strength other than exterior sheathing/structural framing. But I agree. Nothing should be removed without the proper diligence. Thanks for watching!
Clear & informative,
Thank you
great video, I used to watch this old house and the old houses broke a lot of rules but they still stand the test of time. not to mention balloon type construction used about 100 years ago. these building codes of today are just now being considered "time tested"
Pablo Bartelotte thanks for watching!
A stud wall that is not vertically load bearing can still have a structural function as a shear wall for racking stability. They may have diagonal bracing or ply/osb sheathing in addition to drywall to increase racking resistance.
Awesome advice. Thanks for watching!
@@EmmettLeoHomes Why don't you update your video with all these exceptions, warning, and potential dangers before people go ripping apart their houses on false promises? It's very irresponsible to claim any unskilled homeowner watching "will know exactly what is a structural wall by the end of this video!" because clearly they will not, and there's far more to home engineering than you can cover in a 10 minute TH-cam video.
Interested in what size post to use for holding up beam on first floor and in basement. You showed the post but could not see how many 2 x 4 were used,
Load bearing is not the only thing to consider when your removing walls, walls are also used to stop racking forces (wind)
Well taught. I found your knowledge through. Thanks for addressing replacing a load bearing wall. Great info.
It's usually typical a center wall will be your load bearing wall. But it can also depend on the shape and size of your roof. Smaller houses don't typically have load bearing walls unless the span of the roof extends over your house to encompass a deck or exterior room like a garage.
what about walls/ partitions that provide lateral bracing of the frame? often these may be non bearing yet are crucial to lateral drift-
You need to talk about loads and load transfer. That's how you identify structural elements.
NOT REALLY LOOK UP IN THE RAFTERS AND SEE THE SET UP
Would there ever be (ceiling) drywall between a top plate and a ceiling joist? I have a truss roof. Wall is running perpendicular to the ceiling joist (middle of house). Seems like it is non load bearing?
metalmassacre84 good observation. Partition walls with drywall between the two means that they installed them after the initial ceiling drywall was up, and then someone else renovated and left the small drywall piece there (and the wall).
Granted, there are times where people do stupid things, so beware and confirm prior to remove especially if it’s perpendicular to the trusses, but you have the right idea.
What does the support directly beige the wall look like? In the basement or crawlspace. That will be your best indicator.
Thanks for watching!
Emmett Leo Homes its a 1960s house. This wall separates the kitchen and dining area. Im trying to open it up. It seems to me that the load goes to the outside walls (not this interior wall). At first i thought it was load bearing but took off the wall drywall and saw the ceiling drywall sandwiched between top plate and ceiling joist. This makes me look around more. Im thinking its not load bearing
On just about any home with interior drywall you can hold a bright light against the sheetrock and spot all of the patch marks from the original compound / tape job. (likewise the nails / screws) This was pointed out to me by an old painter who said that's how he finds places that need touch up before the paint goes on.
Out here in Calif. we "shear" walls (usually exterior walls) does that make them "load bearing"
And then drill a 2” hole for a half inch pipe. That helps support walls too. And right near the edge!
Bob Garber 😂😂😂
I was looking at the holes nd the pipes. I was like those are some big ass holes for a tiny little pipe 😂😂
I keep the 2" bit over by the sky hook and board stretchers
A single top plate is a dead giveaway.
Thought I was the only one that saw those holes. That's when I ignored the rest of the video.
I am on phase 2 of cleaning land taking roots and rocks an stumps! Waiting to do siding and doors windows,.on a trailer on a reserve
Cool
Never rely on plans for joist direction. Things deviate from plans regularly; those changed plans are called "as builts". Verify please.
Correct. Trust but verify.
If this is true then a new set of plans must be submitted to the Building Authority for review and approval. If this is not done, your construction can be halted.
Very well done video. Very clear. Very concise. Very helpful. God bless.
Thanks Tom.!
Not mentioned. You need to be careful and it's a good idea to temporarily reinforce an area that is load bearing BEFORE you dismantle that wall. (It's also a good idea to take measurements from the beam to the floor whether in the basement or on the floor in critical spans.) This may eliminate any deflection in that beam, before you've installed the permanent reinforcement. Any movement due to shearing may possibly affect the finish in the dwelling, e.g., finish trim (Miters and so forth), dry wall, (Screws popping and butt joints appearing.) and possibly tile, etc.
Yes, the steps to remove the wall were not indicated as this was simple to identify the load bearing wall itself. Great advice. Thanks for watching!
Clear as mud. I definitely won’t be knocking down any walls by myself!
Thanks for this. I knew most of this before, but you gave few good additional tips for sleuthing it out. I'll mention one of my own personal hang ups. I cringe at the phrase "open concept". A concept is an idea. TV shows have made the phrase popular. It is the same as saying, "open idea." No, it is not an idea, it is an open floor plan. Do we say, oh it has a "front yard concept" or a "basement concept" or a "two story concept?" Sounds a bit odd, right? Yes it does. It's an open floor plan.
blaster 0416 thanks for the comment. Yes I agree, however “open concept” is colloquial solar people understand its meaning, albeit not entirely correct. Thanks for watching!
hey!!!
I have 20 ft span btwn 1st and 2nd floor (open floor concept 1st floor)
I like to do hiding lvl beam 2x10x20 2pices
pls let me know if it's enough?
You need that stamped by an structural engineer before doing any changes. And no, that’s probably not enough over a 20’ span with 2 levels. Make sure to get a professional in there before doing any work. Thanks for watching!
Another way is using a magnet. I carry strong but small magnets in my truck, plus a harbor freight camera. The harbor freight camera has a small head and only requires a quarter inch hole to view what's behind the drywall.
Nice video!
When we wanted to know if an interior wall between the living room and kitchen was load bearing, we had to do some looking. It was floor to ceiling on the main floor.
Below that, the downstairs rafters and the trusses in the attic were running from outer wall to other outer wall which spanned kitchen and living room. So, on the one
hand, our kitchen wall was sitting right on top of the steel girder running across the rafters but on the other side, that section of our house had the two sided roof with the centerline and the wall was only a partial wall (there were trusses that lacked that support - maybe 10' of them on one end.
On the basis of no reason to imagine one one truss should be different than the other and 4 of them spanned the roof without any fuss, we removed the kitchen wall and made it into an island. We let the city engineer agree with us after we got a carpenter and our own pictures and we've had no issues even with a fair bit of ice and snow load (the back part of the house has an extension where they kept the original roof and went from the centreline of the house and just put another roof over it at a lower slope. Our slope is actually low enough we need torch-on instead of shingles (if it were me, I would have popped a half stub wall at the centerline to keep an appropriate slant on the extended rear roof section, but hey, what do I know?).
For those who want to have low slope roofs in high snow and rain areas... torch-on is MUCH more expensive than shingle because of the insurance issues (ie your house could catch on fire).
You can use a magnet 🧲 to find the screws and find out which directions they go... just a helpful tip lol
Good IDEA buddy.. ! Thanks!👍
Can you give more info, which direction should it go?
Cenddie Alaban well if it’s a wall, the studs should be 16-24” apart and the screws should be 1 foot apart... just pretend you are erasing a chalk board and you will find the screws.
Well explained. Thank you for sharing
When checking a ceiling to find the joists direction a very easy method is finger tapping. tapping the ceiling creates a hollow sound were no joist is and a more dull sound where the joists lies. Another tip is to unscrew the ceiling rose and look closely in the gap as the electrician will try to fit a rose to a joist when possible
after watching this video, my load is downloaded inside a peak joist perpendicular beam 2x4 supporting a span in the frame structure nailed to wood in the basement and juxtaposed to the roof and since nothing was covered by drywall, wood doesn't matter so long as it is next to a beam that is next to stairs, then I found a nail in my foot and removed it and then looked for another perpendicular wall which ran the same way as the nail that went through my foot then I decided I don't need drywall in my house because if I cover up my studs I can't see the wood which can cause problems when I am looking for a load bearing wall but the structure of my house is open floor plan and there are no beams, but I would like to add them in 6 years so I need to plan to load another open living room without wood and flooring is optional since I float like a butterfly but I was thinking about moving so this all might be moot.
A man purchased a small one story house two doors down from me. He tore it down and built a two story home on top of the old foundation. Last year we had an extremely windy day her in Toronto (100km/hour+) and the house FELL DOWN!! It shifted and collapsed like a house of cards - my entire house shook and my cats got terrified from the “boom”. Everyone was out on the street in seconds because it sounded like something crashed from the sky. Thankfully no one was inside (it was still under construction) and the home next door got minor damage. I assume the inside had a complete open concept without proper beams to support the weight. Or maybe the old foundation wasn’t fixed to hold up a two story. It’s been over a year and there is just an empty space there now. I often wonder what’s going to happen with the space. The man was really nice - i think he was re-doing it to resell. Now he has a nightmare on his hands. Moral of the story, call a qualified engineer and contractor. I only ever saw him and two- three buddies working on the house - I assume they tried to DIY it. If in doubt, call a professional!!
Yup. You get what you pay for. Thanks for watching!
sounds like the foundation needs to be redone with the new design plan.
Is there always the support and concrete pad under the floors? I have log post, would there be these supports under the house of the posts that would be supporting? There is not way to see this open valted area in the attic, as the walls to the area go all the way up.
A general rule of thumb is the joists can span 1.5 times their height. A 2x6 can span 9 feet before it needs support.
Thanks for watching!
This is terrible advice.
Hungry by Nature why? It’s the new standard you’ll find if you google info about load bearing walls. My building inspector told me that as they started to run out of the old growth wood. The span lengths would shrink. My house is framed with 2x6 (full dimension lumber) and has unsupported 17’ spans. Under the modern code, I couldn’t do that without supports.
Billy bob Smith I just googled it and it said for decks. That’s funny because my friend is suing his contractor for building his house floor joists based off of decking info.
It’s terrible advice because you can just google the international residential code (IRC) and get the correct information on floor joist construction for houses. Also, not all wood species are the same. Anything after that is irresponsible information because the average person does not understand live load, dead load, or tributary area.
Thanks! I learned something.
A little knowledge is dangerous, the only thing that can be worst is teaching people with little knowledge. Good luck dude!
I have a house that was tiny and someone added on a kitchen & bedroom..... How do you know if the roof was just added on to a outside wall?
Great question. The only way for that is to stick your head up in the attic and look at the framing. YOu can also tell by the spans and how wide they are, but the simplest is just looking at the framing. If you don't know what you are looking for, bring someone in that does. Thanks for watching!
Thanks for responding!
Your homes look amazing.... I wish houses in the UK looked this good!
Thank you for saying that. I appreciate you watching!
Yeah what’s the deal with UK homes? Even new homes in the UK are designed terribly.
TomCook1993 hahaha move to Canada!
Emmett Leo Homes your not wrong there! It’s not easy to get accepted in Canada though
@@IlIlIlIlIlIlIlIl-v9h it’s more to do with the price of land
So I just bought a rancher. The wall between the living room and dining room is the load bearing wall. It has a standard size doorway between the two, but I want to open it up about a foot and a half on each side. Is that something I can do or would it have adverse affects?
Christopher Spencer is it is load bearing, the opening will have a header above the opening. This has to be elongated for the new opening.
However, and this is the most important part, the structure underneath which is currently holding the posts or carrying the load of the wall must be analyzed and if you are moving any weight point load, they have to be carried down to whatever foundation structure is below.
Best to start at the foundation and plan up from there for load bearing.
Best to consult an engineer or architect, and they will be able to draw a plan, and stamp it to avoid any liability issues for yourself.
Make sense?
Thanks for watching.
@@EmmettLeoHomes
Thanks for responding. It is a load bearing wall but the support column in the basement isnt directly under the door opening. The door is directly over the beam however
My wife found me with a stud finder😂😂
Eric Baker yeah she did!
NAILED IT !!!
Must've detected AC/DC....LOL
But it’s a king stud😁
Excellent presentation. Clear and straightforward.
michael thank you. I really appreciate the kind words!
Even with all of this, you may have trusses designed as clear span trusses, as in my house. In that case, there are no load bearing walls, on the upper floor. Of course, the only way to know is to have access to the original plans. Plans were submitted to your regional building authority. You may get that info from them.
Correct. Thanks for watching.
I live in an end townhome with a flat roof. I’m getting so many mixed answers. I have none of those posts in my basement. And the wall I want to remove runs perpendicular to the joists and aligns with the room wall above.
This is a great video. Thanks for explaining in a simple way. Really appreciate it!
Anne-Claire Siegert you’re very welcome. Thanks for watching!
Yes simple answers are best for your piece of mind with several tons of material above your head. Don't want to be troubled with a few simple details. Mechanno Toy 101 is sufficient.
Hi Emmett , Excellent video man . I found it really
Helpful and respect that you shared the knowledge for others
Much thanks for us all . Best wishes from Canada
I appreciate it! Thanks for watching! - Dan